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Title: The Séance

Author: John Harwood

Narrator: Fiona Hardingham, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-02-14

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 126 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A haunting tale of apparitions, a cursed manor house, and two generations of women determined to discover the truth, by the author of The Ghost Writer.

Sell the Hall unseen; burn it to the ground and plow the earth with salt, if you will; but never live there

Constance Langton grows up in a household marked by death, her father distant, her mother in perpetual mourning for Constance's sister, the child she lost. Desperate to coax her mother back to health, Constance takes her to a séance; perhaps she will find comfort from beyond the grave. But the meeting has tragic consequences. Constance is left alone, her only legacy a mysterious bequest that will blight her life.

So begins this brilliant and gripping novel, a dark mystery set in late-Victorian England. It is a world of apparitions, of disappearances and unnatural phenomena, of betrayal and blackmail and black-hearted villains - and of murder. Constance's bequest comes in two parts: a house and a mystery. Years before, a family disappeared at Wraxford Hall, a decaying mansion in the English countryside with a sinister reputation. Now the Hall belongs to Constance, and she must descend into the darkness at the heart of the Wraxford mystery to find the truth - even at the cost of her life.

Members Reviews:

Great Victorian Period Read

What made the experience of listening to The Séance the most enjoyable?

I think that the multiple narration, broken into sections worked well and added to the books overall appeal.

What other book might you compare The Séance to and why?

None that I can think of.

Which character as performed by the narrators was your favorite?

I really liked the narration of the male characters, but felt the author has a wonderful grasp of the female characters.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It did keep me wanting to listen to more once the story got going. It was a little slow to build, but got better as it went on.

Any additional comments?

For a girl, growing up in the Victorian era has its own difficulties, but for Constance Langton things are far more ghastly than properly worn bustles and guarded reputations. Her mother is in an everlasting state of mourning over the loss of her youngest daughter Alma and her father is as detached, cold and indifferent as a wet fish. Forlorn, Constance makes a desperate attempt to bring her mother peace by arranging a séance which leads to Constance finding herself all alone in the world.

An unexpected inheritance befalls her in the form of an old, dilapidated and crumbling mansion with an ominous history. Constance becomes obsessed with disentangling the web of peculiar and eerie happenings the mansion has held for several generations and in doing so, finds her mind on the precipice of insanity and her life in mortal peril.

The author, John Harwood, does an excellent job of portraying the female character in this Victorian setting, which makes it easy to identify with the characters and follow the storyline with eager interest. The twists and turns of the mysteries surrounding the mansion and Constances life bind into a clever, believable conclusion.

I listened to the audio version of the book and I felt the narration was good although it did take me a bit to warm up to one of the narrators.