The Seance - by John Harwood (Paperback)

About the Book

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 The Séance, John Harwood's brilliant second novel, a gripping, 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 murder. For Constance's bequest comes in two parts: a house and a mystery. Years before, a family disappeared atWraxford 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 theWraxford Mystery to find the truth, even at the cost of her life.

Book Synopsis

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 The Séance, John Harwood's brilliant second novel, a gripping, 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 murder. For Constance's bequest comes in two parts: a house and a mystery. Years before, a family disappeared atWraxford 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 theWraxford Mystery to find the truth, even at the cost of her life.

From the Back Cover

From the International Horror Guild Award-winning author ofThe Ghost Writer comes another mesmerizing gothic tale

"Harwood has written a true gothic, and invented a supremely creepy house to stage it in."
Salon.com

Wraxford Hall, a decaying mansion in the English countryside, has a sinister reputation. Once, a family disappeared there. And now Constance Langton has inherited this dark place as well as the mysteries surrounding it.
Constance grew up in a house marked by the death of her sister; she is no stranger to mystery, secrets, and dark magic. In a desperate attempt to coax her mother back from perpetual mourning, Constance once took her to a seance, seeking comfort from beyond the grave. But tragic consequences left her alone in the world alone with Wraxford Hall. Saddled with this questionable bequest, she must find the truth at the heart of the disappearances, apparitions, betrayal, blackmail, and villainy that mark its legacy, even at the cost of her life.

"Wilkie Collins would be proud: this is a Victorian world of mesmerism and spirits, vapours and delirium, doomed inheritances, shivery maids and spooky visitations in the night."
Times (UK)

"Perfect fare for a standard dark and stormy night."
Kirkus Review

John Harwood's debut novel, The Ghost Writer, won the 2004 International Horror Guild award for Best First Novel and the Dracula Society of Great Britain's Children of the Night Award for "outstanding writing in the gothic genre." Harwood lives in Victor Harbor, on the coast of South Australia."

Review Quotes

Praise for The Ghost Writer "Elegantly paced and delightfully macabre, [The Ghost Writer] celebrate[s] the Victorian school and its obsession with the past's authority over the present, the thin line between affection and obsession, the glimpse of the lurid from the corner of the eye."--Washington Post Book World "The Ghost Writer manages to evoke both the confident past and the more anguished present of the genre, and even to suggest, slyly, that although the illustrious tradition of the genteel British ghost story remains with us, we need to be very, very careful about disturbing its rest."--New York Times Book Review