When Reuben, otherwise known as Sunshine Boy, was sent to write a piece about the uncertain future of the giant house on the cliff, he wasn't expecting to warm so instantly to elegant heiress Marchent Nideck. Nor was he expecting to get caught up in a violent attack which will leave him changed in ways he could never have imagined.

The time is the present. The place, the rugged coast of northern California. A bluff high above the Pacific. A grand mansion full of beauty and tantalizing history set against a towering redwood forest. A young reporter on assignment from the San Francisco Observer, an older woman, welcoming him into her magnificent, historic family home that he has been sent to write about and that she must sell with some urgency. A chance encounter between two unlikely people, an idyllic night shattered by horrific unimaginable violence. The young man inexplicably attacked, bitten by a beast he cannot see in the rural darkness. A violent episode that sets in motion a terrifying yet seductive transformation as the young man, caught between ecstasy and horror, between embracing who he is evolving into and fearing who, what, he will become, soon experiences the thrill of the wolf gift.

A young man is bitten in the darkness by a creature he cannot see, setting into motion his transformation into a beast that is neither man nor wolf. As the desire to embrace his new form becomes too great to resist, he finds himself still wanting to perform good, even while in his most savage state. On a search to find out more about his new "gift, " he finds something even more unexpected: love.

A young reporter on assignment is attacked and bitten by an unknown beast in rural Northern California and begins a terrifying but seductive transformation into a being with a dual nature, both man and wolf.

It is the beginning of December. Oak fires are burning in the stately flickering hearths of Nideck Point. It is Yuletide. For Reuben Golding, now infused with the wolf gift and under the loving tutelage of the Morphenkinder, this Christmas promises to be like no other . . . as he soon becomes aware that the Morphenkinder, steeped in their own rituals, are also celebrating the Midwinter Yuletide festival deep within Nideck forest. From out of the shadows of the exquisite mansion comes a ghost - tormented, imploring, unable to speak yet able to embrace and desire with desperate affection . . . As Reuben finds himself caught up with the passions and yearnings of this spectral presence and the preparations for the Nideck town Christmas reach a fever pitch, astonishing secrets are revealed, secrets that tell of a strange netherworld, of spirits - centuries old - who possess their own fantastical ancient histories and taunt with their dark, magical powers.

The novel opens on a cold, gray landscape. It is the beginning of December. Oak fires are burning in the stately flickering hearths of Nideck Point. It is Yuletide. For Reuben Golding, now infused with the wolf gift and under the loving tutelage of the Morphenkinder, this Christmas promises to be like no other ... as he soon becomes aware that the Morphenkinder, steeped in their own rituals, are also celebrating the Midwinter Yuletide festival deep within Nideck forest.

The novel opens on a cold, gray landscape. It is the beginning of December. Oak fires are burning in the stately flickering hearths of Nideck Point. It is Yuletide. For Reuben Golding, now infused with the wolf gift and under the loving tutelage of the Morphenkinder, this Christmas promises to be like no other ... as he soon becomes aware that the Morphenkinder, steeped in their own rituals, are also celebrating the Midwinter Yuletide festival deep within Nideck forest.