Every scent tells a story.The last thing Nia wants is to be branded a "Sinsory." Where she comes from, that's just as deadly as the plagues that arrive and ravage every generation. That's why she keeps her unusually keen sense of smell a secret. Only two people in the city of Yerat know of her special abilities: her beloved Auntie and her best friend, Fox. But once the worst plague in a century hits their desert continent, all of that suddenly changes.That's when an invitation arrives in the shape of a jar of blackcurrant jam. Nia is asked to join the Cloister, a select and secluded school for children with heightened senses.There she meets Scentiers, like her, but also Gazers, Whisper-Gatherers, and many more, whose sensory powers go far beyond what regular folk can smell, see, or hear.It's there that Nia learns her nose knows far more than she ever dreamed . . . maybeenough to find the cure for the plague. Or even sniff out the sinister secrets hiding in the Cloister's walls . . .