Will Poppy wanted to spend his time writing novels with his mother, but when she becomes ill and passes away, he finds himself moving to a run-down castle with an aunt he loathes and servants who are up to no good - with no desire to carry on writing, a curse on his new home, and a town that would rather see him move back to where he came from. Will has always been fascinated with the power of writing - he thinks there’s something almost... magical about it. So did his mother - who wrote her future bestseller with magical pencils. But when his mother suddenly passes away, Will finds himself stuck living with his awful aunt, unable to write a single word (despite the fact that two Muses - one each for him and his mother - will not leave him alone), and left with a mysterious package from the tenants now living in his old home, which includes an old picture of his grandparents and a mysterious piece of cloth with the words "The Gryphon of Darkwood" written on it.

When his aunt decides to move both of them to a small village, Will is excited for a new adventure - in a castle no less! But as if getting yelled at on the bus isn’t enough, Will discovers the morning after his arrival that "GO AWAY" has been boldly painted on the doors going into the castle. That, coupled with the fact that the servants who came with the castle mean to cause him harm, only adds to Will’s sense of dread about the whole village. That is, until he discovers the magic to be found.

What is the curse the villagers all claim has been on the castle for hundreds of years, and what does it have to do with the disappearance of a young girl forty years ago? More importantly, what’s The Gryphon of Darkwood, and what does it have to do with Will and his family?