In a world whose seasons are defined by Christmas sales and Spring Fashions, hundreds of tiny nomes live in the corners and crannies of a human-run department store. They have made their homes beneath the floorboards for generations and no longer remember—or even believe in—life beyond the Store walls.

Until the day a small band of nomes arrives at the Store from the Outside. Led by a young nome named Masklin, the Outsiders carry

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Reluctant to believe that there's a world outside the department store in which they live, Torrit, Dorcas, and the other nomes look to Masklin, a newly arrived "outsider, " to lead them to a safe haven when the store goes out of business.