The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff

Jedrington Secret-Past has a successful business until a sinister lawyer tells him he owes a debt and throws his family into prison. What is behind the sinister plan? Will Jedrington rescue his family in time for Christmas? And is there more to the name of Secret-Past than meets the eye? All will be revealed in a tale of hidden wills, brave urchins, giant clocks, misery, joy and treacle.

Jedrington teams up with a charming new business partner, but is he all he seems, or is he actually massively evil? And what is the awful secret behind the cryptic letter that has disturbed Jedrington's wife so greatly that she has made her way to End-It-All Dock? As the Secret-Past family's fortunes rise and rise it turns out that the foundations of their happiness are far from sound.

Stricken with grief after the death of his wife, Jedrington begins to question the morality of his business.

Reduced to poverty and gin addiction Jedrington is at his lowest, until his loyal and true servant Servegood restores him to sobriety. Reunited with Conceptiva, the two take the evil Mr Grimstone to court to demand the return of the business and their daughter. But when the judge turns out to be Grimstone's uncle Harshmore the case seems hopeless. Will the family ever be whole again?