Merriman enlists them along with Will Stanton, his protégé, to recover a golden grail needed to defeat the forces of the Dark.

[1] The figure of the "Greenwitch", and the associated all-female festival attended by Jane, has been compared to female fertility rites in European mythology.

[5] Both Rebecca Fisher of Fantasy Literature and Tara L. Rivera of Common Sense Media praised Cooper's writing, but similarly criticized the interactions between Will and the Drew Children.

In this dreamlike novel set in Cornwall, magic often occurs during the hours of darkness and yet readers are not left with the feeling that experiences have been merely imagined.

The Greenwitch, a figure created by village women, comes into possession of a great secret coveted by the powers of Light and Dark.