John Harwood, The Séance
Although I had thought that the ending of The Ghost Writer , John Harwood’s first novel, could have more developed, I remember liking the story and the creepy atmosphere very much, which is why I decided to read The Séance…
The Séance is narrated by several characters, and its action spans over a little more than twenty years. Constance Langton, the first and last narrator, is drawn into the world of séances because her mother remains inconsolable years after the death of Constance’s sister Alma. Almost in spite of herself, she becomes a medium, starting to fake the presence of the spirit of her sister for her mother alone and then while attending séances, which ultimately leads to a tragic event. Some time afterwards, she learns that she is the heir of a gloomy mansion, Wraxford Hall, on an old monastery site called Monks Wood, and which was a scene of a murder and several disappearances in the past…
At the beginning, I thought that The Séance had good premises, with a young woman faking visions to alleviate her mother’s suffering. Then, I found the part narrated by John Montague, a solicitor, about his meeting with Magnus Wraxford, the mesmerist, and the disappearance of his uncle Cornelius at Wraxford Hall quite boring, though it should have been scary, creepy and intriguing. My interest was regained with the whole part narrated by Eleanor Unwin, her visions, her love story with the young painter and her unhappy marriage: her narration is in fact the best part of the novel. But in the end, when Constance Langton’s narration is resumed, and everything is supposed to be explained, the story is once again hard going and uninteresting. The explanation of the mystery is very basic and doesn’t account for all that is mysterious in the novel, but it involves a few tricks and devices that evokes dusty Victoriana.
A book should be better than the sum of its parts, but here, the parts, although contributing to the same story, are very unequal, and do not fit together well. Even the title, The Séance, does not give a good idea of what the novel is about, since a couple of séances only occur un the first part, and the theme of mediums and spirits only serves to create an atmosphere and does not contribute much to the plot. It remains very peripheral to the central “mystery”, which in fact is not very central, and not much of a mystery either. I found the novel completely heterogeneous and disjointed, ultimately uninteresting despite the good parts and the fact that Constance and Eleanor, the two female narrators, reminded me of heroines of Jane Austen or Charlotte Brontë. Mostly, I resent the fact that I completely lost interest in the last twenty pages, not caring one bit about the completely anticlimactic ending.
I do not understand all the good reviews and ratings… If you are in the mood for an excellent Victorian ghost story, try Sarah Water’s The Little Stranger instead…
Rating: 2/5
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