This book is a little different in that the House is woven into the story but is one of the little side tales rather than the focus of the book. The book itself is more about the Fisher King/dying god linked to the fertility of the land mythology and is a sequel to two others of his that were independent stories he tied together in this text (Last Call and Earthquake Weather which should both be read first). I have a slight niggle with his portrayal of Bacchus as being a more primitive version of Dionysus but other than that, it's a fantastic book. I recently reread all three and they're all on my favourite books of all time list. Tim Powers is known for taking true stories and putting an occult interpretation on them, which is why I love them so much - both the historical and esoteric aspects are really well researched and often I've gone off and researched the true tales for myself because I couldn't believe things really happened only to find out every time that they really did.