Dark, gothic and delightfully macabre, the Iremonger family returns . . .

Foulsham, London's great filth repository, is bursting at the seams. The walls that keep the muck inside are buckling, and rubbish is spilling over the top, back into the city from which it came. In the Iremonger family offices, Grandfather Umbitt Iremonger broods. In his misery and fury at the people of London, he has found a way to make everyday objects assume human shapes-and to turn people into objects.

Abandoned in the depths of the Heaps, Lucy Pennant is rescued by Binadit Iremonger, a terrifying creature more animal than human. She is desperate and determined to find Clod Iremonger. But unbeknownst to her, Clod has become a golden sovereign and is "lost." He is being passed as currency from hand to hand all around Foulsham. Yet everywhere people are searching for him, desperate to get hold of this dangerous Iremonger who, it is believed, has the power to bring down the mighty Umbitt.

All around the city, things, everyday things, are twitching into life . . .