Abaton... A mysterious vanished city where the souls of great strangers are kept in the library... An ancient legend will remind itself when, in search of kidnapped children, Jacob, Emma and the faithful Addison, having confused the tracks of their pursuers in modern London, go to Victorian England. On a dangerous journey into the slums of Devil's Acre - an outlaw noose where it's easy to hide stolen goods - they are accompanied by the dark ferryman Charon, seduced by the prospects of career advancement, and Jacob's tamed Void. But here, at the very lair of the creatures, someone who believes in the return of the librarian has been waiting for them for many years...