Deborah Grantham, mistress of her aunt's elegant gaming house, must find a way to restore herself and her aunt to respectability, preferably without accepting either of two repugnant offers. One is from an older, very rich and rather corpulent lord whose reputation for licentious behavior disgusts her; the other from the young, puppyish scion of a noble family whose relatives are convinced she is a fortune hunter. The young suitor's uncle, Max Ravenscar,...

A family of "faceless" nobles reside in a secretive mansion alongside their living dolls, who act as both servant and face. Although Kate Shadow and her living doll, Emilico, hope to be one such pair, their impending "debut" and its possible consequences have cast an ominous cloud over their blissful existence. Strange monstrous creatures roam the halls, while rumors of discarding defective dolls circulate...Fearful of losing her place at the house,...