London 1905-It begins when a toymaker comes bearing a unique Christmas gift for his favorite niece, Olivia-a handsomely carved nutcracker doll. Anne, Olivia's young governess, believes that a girl of fourteen is much too old for toys. Olivia, however, refuses to grow up. She cares for the dolls as if they are dear friends. They speak to her. Anne merely humors the girl's pleasures. She has never had much use for fantasy. Yet not even Anne can deny the curse. At the stroke of midnight, Anne is immersed in the horrific world of her unstable charge when a bite from a mouse makes her the size of a doll. She must brave a world of mangled and demented toys that have come to life. Each has his own agenda-the most unrelenting of which is the mysterious Nutcracker, who becomes Anne's only sane ally. There is war in the lower levels of the Ellington house between the rodents and the toys, yet Anne's only concern is getting Olivia and herself back to their own world before they are stuck in this twisted reality forever, or worse: become subjected to the terrifying Rat King. The Nutcracker Bleeds is a mature, unusual, and horrific retelling of the classic Nutcracker story.