A spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.
Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline De Allaire is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…
A feminist Victorian whodunit mystery set in the world of spiritualism. It may sound like a heady, albeit alluring, mix, but Sarah Penner’s follow up to her hugely successful The Lost Apothecary does not disappoint. Meticulously researched, deftly crafted and compellingly told, The London Séance Society is the perfect novel to escape into and not come up for air until you’re finished.
Penner is a disciplined writer; she wastes no time in ushering you into a world of 19th century occult, and immediately loads the stakes so you have no choice but to continue reading. Lenna Wickes, devastated and grief stricken by the murder of her beloved, irrepressible younger sister, Evie, travels to Paris to study under the tutelage of the renown and alluring Vaudeline D’Allaire. Lenna is a reluctant student, sceptical of spiritualism, preferring the reality of fossils. It’s a divide that separated her from Evie, an aspiring medium.
With her sister’s untimely demise, Lenna finds herself doing what she least expected, in the hope she and Vaudeline may be able to uncover Evie’s killer. Things turn when Vaudeline is called back to London, the city she fled from, at the bequest of London Séance Society manager Mr Morely. Lenna accompanies Vaudeline as the plot twists, turns and delves into the world of the mystical and exposes the fraudulent with rigour and suspense. All the while a latent attraction between the women deepens as Lenna comes to terms with her sexuality.
Penner has cleverly constructed this novel with dual narratives. The first, from Lenna’s perspective is adroitly written in the third person, allowing us the distance to observe her self- awakening as she explores a new world and solves her sister’s death. The second is that of Mr Morely, written in the first person, offering a refreshing counterpoint – one of immediacy and transparent subjectivity.
Being steeped in the world of the Victorian era where – as Penner points out in her author’s notes – death and the supernatural were much both more part of daily life, is an absolute treat. It’s little wonder The London Séance Society is another instant New York Times bestseller for Penner. Filled with thrills, spills and cleverly constructed turnarounds, it’s difficult to put down.
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