This book by Brian Selznick follows a format whereby there are two stories in the book. The first is told over the first 386 pages and takes the form of a graphic novel. It starts in 1766 and runs through to 1900. Billy Marvel survives a shipwreck and then finds work in a London theatre; his family thrive in London and take work as actors in the theatre until 1900 when Leontes Marvel is banished from the stage. The second story starts in 1990 when Joseph Jervis runs away from school and seeks refuge with an uncle in London. The two stories encourage the reader to decipher how the two connect. The afterword says that the book is loosely based on the lives of two real people, Dennis Severs and David Milne. The Dennis Severs' House in East London is one of the capital's most intriguing tourist attractions and David Milne is the current curator of it. The book also has the most glorious gilded paper edges!