Elsie Shufflebottom is bored to begin with. As bored as a door nail... That is, until she is handed The Book of Providence by ageing librarian, Kerrigan Sheriwinkle, and asked to help in his search to find his heir. However, with Kerrigan's arch-nemesis, Mr Sparkles, waiting in the wings to steal both the book and the library, Elsie begins to realise that there is a much darker plot in motion. A whole way of life is in jeopardy, as Elsie finds herself in a race against the clock to unearth the truth. The answers, of course, are all in the book. The problem: the book is completely blank.