In the first instalment of a gripping new historical fantasy trilogy; a group of children with mysterious powers are hunted by a figure of darkness. 1882. North of Edinburgh; on the edge of an isolated loch; lies an institution of crumbling stone; where a strange doctor collects orphans with unusual abilities. In London; two children with such powers are hunted by a figure of darkness - a man made of smoke. Charlie Ovid discovers a gift for healing himself through a brutal upbringing in Mississippi; while Marlowe; a foundling from a railway freight; glows with a strange bluish light. When two grizzled detectives are recruited to escort them north to safety; they are confronted by a sinister; dangerous force that threatens to upend the world as they know it. What follows is a journey from the gaslit streets of London to the lochs of Scotland; where other gifted children - the Talents - have been gathered at Cairndale Institute; and the realms of the dead and the living collide. As secrets within the Institute unfurl; Marlowe; Charlie and the rest of the Talents will discover the truth about their abilities and the nature of the force that is stalking them: that the worst monsters sometimes come bearing the sweetest gifts. The first in a captivating new historical fantasy series; Ordinary Monsters introduces the Talents with a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world; and the gifted; broken children who must save it.