Young Clod Iremonger and his eccentric family, the “kings of mildew, moguls of mold,"? made their fortune from this collected detritus. The Iremongers are an odd old family, each the owner of the birth object they must keep with them at all times. Clod is perhaps the oddest of all—his gift and his curse is that he can hear all of the objects of Heap House whispering. Yes, a storm is brewing over Heap House and the house’s many objects are showing strange signs of life.