Alone and penniless after his father is killed in a cotton mill accident, fourteen-year-old William faces the rest of his childhood in a brutal workhouse. Then his long-estranged uncle Seth sends for him, and William thinks his fortunes are changing. But arriving at Uncle Seth's grand house in North Wales, Jessop Rise, William encounters a ghostly figure. As the days pass, it becomes clear that the house is haunted by more than just one ghost. But who are the spectral creatures that prowl its shadowy corridors? What are they trying to tell William? And what is the dark secret that Uncle Seth has been keeping for so long? As William uncovers the clues, he finds himself caught up in a dark and terrifying mystery - one that will test him to the very edge of reason.