The book - set in the Scottish Islands, north of Scotland - explores good and evil in a small community.

During a visit to the Scottish Islands, Romilly time slips into Millie's life and is entranced by the Autumn Ghosts and the power of the past.

Part I Millie, sixteen year-old, goes to Karasay to stay with family friends as she is coming of age in 1901.

Millie accidentally stumbles upon Rodger’s chamber of horrors – an old mine shaft he had converted into a place full of animal skins, twisted skeletons, small human figures made of clay, and other implements of evil.

They parted on uneasy terms, and a few weeks later Millie felt compelled to write to Jocelyn and break it off with him, for his own safety.

Part II Romilly heard everything good about Karasay, and then the mysterious aspects as far as Millie’s behavior, which no one had every been able to explain.

After that, the ring easily came off her finger, and she was distinctly aware that Rodger’s ghost was removed from Karasay House.

She managed to surreptitiously place the ring in a historic museum collection without anyone aware, believing that in the locked-in location, its power was absent.

He chose Millie to be his wife, and threatened Jocelyn's life if she disobeyed or told anyone about his true nature and his evil lair.

James Graham – Charlotte’s older brother closest to her age, also open and positive, seventeen years old in Part I.

She exorcises Rodger's evil remnants with fire, breaking the spell over Mille and Romilly 'Joss Parsons descendant of Jocelyn Parsons, who meets Romilly after Rodger's spell is broken The Autumn People/ The Autumn Ghosts the Parson family of Millie's time, who return to their home on Karasay Island every year in the Autumn for a week or two The Desert Sun noted Ruth Arthur as one of the best in the specialized field of Young Adult supernatural fiction, possibly due to being born in Scotland, stating that her talent is in being able to capture "the world just beyond touch."

[3] Charlotte's Library Blog recommended it for how it tied the past to the present, while indicating that the characterization of Rodger and Jocelyn were without nuance.

[4] Read-at-Home Mom blog stated, "Dealing with the effect of the past on the present, this story is haunting but with a happy ending".