Skip to main content

Review: The Spiritualist, by Megan Chance


One wintry evening in 1857, Evelyn Atherton allows her husband to convince her to attend a séance at the home of wealthy society lady Dorothy Bennett. When a gun misfires during the séance, Peter Atherton, a well-known lawyer and son of a wealthy New York family, determines to find out why. But soon after, Peter turns up dead, and Evelyn is the chief suspect. She then determines to find out who really killed her husband—and her suspicion immediately determines that Michel Jourdain, a famous medium, must be Peter’s killer.

There were a few things about Chance’s portrayal of New York in the mid-19th century that bothered me a bit. First, I thought it was a little odd how the society matrons welcomed Evelyn, an outcast, into their midst, without question. Second, the author is maddeningly unspecific when it comes to details about the city in that period. Where on Fifth Avenue, for example, was Dorothy Bennett’ house? (my best guess is near Washington or Union Square, since the wealthy elite hadn’t yet moved that far uptown). Also, I thought it was uncharacteristic for Evelyn to go by herself into what I assume, from the description the author gives us, is Five Points, though yet again, Chance is unspecific. Its like she didn’t really do her research in that aspect. Also, I thought the heroine was a little bit too gullible at times. So much for being the daughter of a private investigator.

However, I really enjoyed the mystery. It was extremely unusual, and even though I guessed pretty early on at what part of it was, the full thing came as a complete surprise. The way that each character managed to subtly manipulate one another was pretty ingenious, too. The best parts of this novel were the séances, and its fascinating how Evelyn transforms from being an unbeliever to a participant. Evelyn’s discoveries are unsettling, and that’s what’s so great about this book—nothing is what it seems. The book is fast-paced and enjoyable for the most part.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks for the head's up. This one is on my nightstand and ready to go. I'm glad to know it was a quick read.
Anna said…
Sounds like an interesting book. I'm not an expert on history, but I would assume it's important to do research on the setting if you're writing historical fiction.

--Anna
http://diaryofaneccentric.blogspot.com
Anna Claire said…
Thanks for the recommendation. It's going on my TBR list.
Ladytink_534 said…
Nothing can yank you out of a book faster than a poorly researched book in a preious time period :(
Michelle Moran said…
Oh... my editor sent this to me several months ago and I'm ashamed to say I haven't gotten to it yet. I'm going to put this on the top of my TBR now :]

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars...

Review: The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y.K. Lee

The Piano Teacher is a complicated novel. On the surface, it’s about a love affair between two British ex-patriots in Hong Kong in 1952-3. Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong with her husband Martin at a time when the world is still recovering from WWII; Claire takes up work as a piano teacher for the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family, where she meets Will Truesdale, the Chens’ enigmatic chauffeur. The book jumps back in time between the 1950s and the beginning of WWII, when Will is interned in Stanley, a Hong Kong camp for enemies of Japan. On “the outside” is Tudy Liang, Will’s beautiful Eurasian lover. There’s no doubt that Lee’s writing is beautiful. But there’s something lacking in this short, terse novel that I can’t quite put my finger on. First, I think it’s the tenses she uses when taking about each story: that which is set in the 1950s is in the past tense, while the war scenes are talked about in the present tense (confusing, no?) The interpersonal relationships of the m...