Blight

1883. James Harringley is summoned home to his rambling family mansion in Yorkshire. His father is sick and deranged, and James must confront the horrors he tried to forget: the labyrinthine house, the madness and secrets that poison their bloodline and, most frightening of all, the spectre of the Tall Man - an eerie visage who promises to whisk children away and make them royalty in the land of Faery.

James arrives to find his father and brother at war, and the groundskeeper's baby kidnapped, one of many child disappearances connected with the house and the nearby village. There are those who blame the Tall Man, while a newly arrived police inspector believes a more earthly culprit is responsible. James must sift through the ramblings of his father, the scepticism of his power-hungry brother and his own disturbing childhood to discover the truth.