In Virginia Hamilton's Edgar Award-winning novel, teenager Thomas Small and his family must uncover the haunting historical legacy of their Civil War-era house Shortly after moving into an old, spooky home, thirteen-year-old Thomas Small and his family start hearing strange noises. The house has a past, and when Thomas discovers a hidden passageway that may have been part of the Underground Railroad, the family realizes the house has a history as well. To find out all there is to know about the House of Dies Drear, Thomas must explore secret rooms--and the secrets of lives lived centuries before, lives that tell the story of America's troubled early years.