The London Séance Society
Sarah Penner Park Row, 2023 (Hardcover edition) 352 pages Disclosure: This review is based on a close reading of the text and publicly available publication details. It evaluates narrative craft, thematic content, and genre positioning. Overview Sarah Penner’s The London Séance Society is a Victorian-set historical mystery that blends atmospheric supernaturalism with procedural intrigue. The novel follows Vaudeline D’Allaire, a celebrated spiritualist who claims to summon murder victims, and Lenna Wickes, a skeptical American who seeks answers about her sister’s death. When Vaudeline is summoned to London to assist in a high-profile case, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy, drawing them into the elite and secretive world of London’s Séance Society. Penner fashions a mood-rich tale that balances occult spectacle with investigations into grief, gender, and social power in late nineteenth-century London. Synopsis and Structural Overview The narrative moves primari...