In his debut novel, Tim Westover welcomes readers to Auraria. Based on an actual Georgian ghost town, it is inhabited by moon maidens, a water guardian, a piano-playing poltergeist named Mr. Bad Thing, headless highwaymen, a giant terrapin who enjoys pontificating about the beginning of the world, and gold-obsessed people whose eccentric ways of life make them seem more like residents of Wonderland than the real world. Into this extraordinary environment comes James Holtzclaw, a man of strict logic and business practice, sent by his employer to buy up plots of land so his company can build a first-class resort on the property.