A "disquieting" (The New York Times) and mesmerizing tale from an
award-winning British author about a mysterious group of children who
appear to a disfigured recluse and his country doctor--a tale that
"[stirs] the imagination in the manner of Roald Dahl or C.S. Lewis"
(Winnepeg Free Press).
In a sprawling estate lives Morgan Fletcher, the disfigured heir to a
fortune of mysterious origins. Morgan spends his days in quiet study,
avoiding his reflection in mirrors and the lake at the end of his
garden. One day, two children, Moira and David, appear. Morgan takes
them in, giving them free reign. Then more children begin to show up.
Dr. Crane, the town physician and Morgan's lone tether to the outside
world, is as taken with the children as Morgan, and begins to spend more
time in Morgan's library. But the children behave strangely. They show a
prescient understanding of Morgan's past, and their bizarre discoveries
in the mansion attics grow increasingly disturbing. Every day the
children seem to disappear into the hidden rooms of the estate, and
perhaps, into the hidden corners of Morgan's mind.
