The Peculiars is the story of Lena Mattacascar a teenager who doesnt understand why her hands & feet are so gangly & long & why she isnt like other girls & especially why her grandmother calls her a goblin. Lenas father who she has not seen since she was a little girl has disappeared to the far north in a wilderness called Scree. There it is said that Peculiars live people unacceptable to modern society as well as those who are strange" Or have "unnatural talents." On her eighteenth birthday Lena decides to go to Scree & search for her gather. on the train journey there she meets a young librarian named Jimson Quiggley who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the private home & library of a Mr Beasely. En route the train is stopped by wanted men who are being chased by the handsome young marshal! Tomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Leans gather is he is most interested & follows her to the northern city where the two spy on Quiggly & Mr. Beasly. Thus begins a love triangle between Lena Quiggly & Saltre as well as the strange tale of Mr. Beesly his home called Zephyr House & the strange folks who go there but who never come out again."