'A masterpiece' GUARDIAN'A wonderfully ingenious novel, compelling, convincing and exciting' John BanvilleA mystery unsolved to this dayA mystic who confounds the cynicsA writer looking for the story that will make his nameA ghost ship appears in the mist.To the struggling author Arthur Conan Doyle, it is an inspiration.To Violet Petra, the gifted American psychic, it is a cruel reminder.To the death-obsessed Victorian public, it is a fascinating distraction. And to one family, tied to the sea for generations, it is a tragedy. In salons and on rough seas, at séances and in the imagination of a genius, these stories converge in unexpected ways as the mystery of the ghost ship deepens.But will the sea yield its secrets, and to whom?