A writer awarded the World Fantasy Award and the Philip K. Dick Award created an amazing yet realistic world, often compared to the works of Ray Bradbury. The story takes place in mystical California, where three orphans face mysterious events. A sinister carnival comes to town, led by a mysterious gentleman who can turn into a crow. Jack is offered an elixir that will allow him to move to another world, where a key to his past is kept. In that same world there are thirty silver coins with unusual power. Mr. Penniman wants to collect them all in order to gain immortality and trigger the end of the world.