The Seance

Possible spoilers ahead; read at your peril:First let me say that this is not a ghost story nor is it horror. For that reason I removed a star for false advertising. I would classify this novel as a Victorian gothic mystery in the style of Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt. It is told in 6 slogging parts so if you're looking for a good bedtime story, this is it because it will definitely put you to sleep. I removed another star because there were loose or fuzzy ends to the story and mystery readers find this frustrating.To be fair, the story picked up after the first 50% and for a while it was a page-turner but you have to really work to get there. The end...yawn-o-rama, not worth the journey! I'm really surprised that so many men found this a good story considering it should appeal mainly to women who are into Victorian novels.As a mystery, it was a meh... I've read better. What really irks me is that I paid 9.99 for it so I expected a good story. If you're looking for a great haunted house novel try "Slade House" by David Mitchell; that is a well-spent 9.99 at Amazon.

What a wonderful Victorian mystery, full of dread and that constant heavy feeling that something terrible is about to happen and well, something terrible does always happen, though not as one would expect. I loved this novel, probably more for what it did in showing the sad, true plight of Victorian women of the same class as the two narrators in this story, than for the horror of "THE LIE"--which is one of the big themes of this novel. How our lies and secrets keep us separated from the good that can come from living an open honest life.This is my first Harwood novel, but it won't be my last. The author has a gift for his fine and delicate techniques in characterization. All his characters are so well drawn that I don't think I will ever forget them, even the smaller secondary characters.And of course, he gave life to the Gothic form, by presenting us with a big old crumbling mansion that was just as much a character as the people. Ah, that house. I hope it has fallen in by now! It seems so real in my mind. But it is the life of the Victorian woman here that is center foremost in my mind. What a horrible, ghastly tale of two women almost destroyed by a culture that deemed them property or burdens.

THE SEANCE, by John Harwood is a gothic, Victorian-style mystery. I have to say that I really enjoyed the author's writing style, and will be searching out other books by him in the near future. Using the technique of telling the tale with a series of narratives written by various people, we are taken further back in time to the legends and stigma surrounding Wraxford Hall. This decaying manor is somehow traced back through the lineage and left to a young woman, Constance Langton--recently orphaned by parents that she never really felt "bonded" to.Through the various diaries and narratives, we are given pieces of a puzzle going back decades, entwining many lives through its mysterious pages.The menacing air hits immediately, and we are mere witnesses as Constance delves in deeper, determined to get at the root of what happened in that manor to make its reputation so bleak.A great, slow-burning story for those who like to build upon the atmosphere and characters while leading to the ultimate conclusion of a tale that has never been known before.Recommended!

This story was told in 6 parts by 3 different characters. I really enjoyed the narratives of the two female characters, but found John Montague's narrative rambling.Constance Langston's first-person story of her lonely childhood and strained relationship with her parents in Part 1 was perfectly paced and seemed to be building up to something really interesting.John Montague's narrative started out with much atmosphere and promise of strange and exciting mysteries to be revealed in Part 2. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before his part of the story seemed to ramble on and on providing many details which didn't seem to have any relationship to the central mystery. Indeed, by the end of the book, I was certain that if a third of Montague's narrative had been edited out, it would have improved the pacing of the story tremendously.When Eleanor Unwin's narrative began, the story became energized again and started slowly weaving enticing plot threads which promised to lead to satisfying conclusions. Alas, just as things seemed to be about to come to a head, the narrative switches back to John Montague's perspective. Fortunately, Montague's narrative is not as rambling as before, and I was hopeful that the final part would wrap up all the interesting threads. Unfortunately, after the slow (and extremely detailed) build up, I found Part 6 to be both over the top, and yet very predictable.So, although I felt that large segments of John Montague's narrative were pointless and rambling, and the ending was less than satisfactory, it was not so disappointing that it ruined the rest of the book for me. However, I could not enthusiastically recommend it to my friends.

I found The Seance to be a charming book, that very much succeeded in it's purpose of emulating Victorian-era Gothic novels. Somewhat Bram Stoker in style, and Anne Radcliffe in plot. The three narrators are all likeable and interesting; and the story-- though it has some slow moments-- is generally suspenseful and full of action. My only true qualm was that I found the ending rather lackluster in comparison with the rest of the book. But overall, an excellent book which I would recommend to other lovers of this genre.