'Awonderfully ingenious novel, compelling, convincing and exciting' John Banville
A mystery unsolved to this day
A mystic who confounds the cynics
A writer looking for the story that will make his name
A ghost ship appears in the mist. To the struggling author Arthur Conan Doyle, it is an inspiration. To Violet Petra, the gifted American psychic, it is a cruel reminder. To the death-obsessed Victorian public, it is a fascinating distraction. And to one family, tied to the sea for generations, it is a tragedy.