The Master of the Fallen Chairs by Henry Porter

Set in one of those vast and creaking old houses which has made for a wonderful setting for so many books (and films) before, thirteen year-old orphan Kim's unwilling stay with his elusive guardian develops into a whirlwind adventure, as nothing in the house is quite what its seems. Full of netherworld creatures, strange dimensions and ageless curses, this first book in a trilogy will delight fans of classic childrne's fantasy writers such as Alan Garner and Diana Wynne Jones.

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

'He came on the shortest day of the year between the storms that carried the sea twenty miles inland and the great snow of that winter. But before his arrival there was an equally mysterious disappearance!' The first in a trilogy, THE MASTER OF THE FALLEN CHAIRS sees thirteen-year-old orphan Kim living with his elusive guardian, surly tutor and various servants in a grand but dilapidated old house called Skirl. When one of the servant girls goes missing, a dark cloud descends on the house. The arrival of a stranger in the dead of night plunges everything further into mystery, and introduces a bit of magic to the mix too...