Hazardous Spirits

August 15, 2023
A middle-class Scottish couple dives into Spiritualism surrounded by the bohemian Bright Young Things. After the national trauma of the Great War, and the even greater personal trauma of the death of her beloved older sister, Dolores, Evelyn Hazard dreams of being nothing more than a normal middle-class housewife. But her husband, Robert, who still feels guilty that his weak heart exempted him from fighting, has other ideas. He's been contacted by the spirit world and is determined to refine his "gift" at Edinburgh's local Spiritualist Library and Psychical Research Centre. Despite Evelyn's objections, soon Robert isn't merely a patron of the library but a medium himself, conducting s�ances to speak to the dead. Before long, Robert and Evelyn are touring the country alongside a psychic child prodigy and socializing with aristocrats and military heroes--a life that seems even better than being normal, as long as Evelyn doesn't think too hard about whether or not Robert really is "gifted." As juicy as the concept and setting of this novel may be, Salam's failure to persuasively depict this historical moment is a problem. Spiritualism was hugely popular in Great Britain in the 1920s, for instance, which makes Evelyn's abject horror at the thought of Robert expressing interest in the practice ring false. Salam's vision of gender and marriage at this time is equally muddled. Evelyn imagines divorcing Robert after his foray into spiritualism, wondering, "Was this the sort of thing one divorced over?" In reality, divorces were rare, and only granted in cases of adultery and abandonment. These lapses might make more sense if the characters were more idiosyncratically drawn; instead, they lack depth and are burdened with confusing backstories that are never fully explained. A historical novel that skimps on history.

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August 21, 2023
In Salam’s densely atmospheric latest (after Belladonna), a woman in 1923 Edinburgh grapples with her husband’s newfound obsession with the spirit realm. Evelyn Hazard quietly gave up her baby for adoption a decade earlier, a secret she shared only with her sister, Dolly, before Dolly died. Now, she worries her husband, Robert, will contact Dolly’s spirit and learn the truth. Evelyn trails him to the Spiritualist Library, where she’s mistaken for Dolly and eventually reveals herself to Robert. She then begins accompanying him to a spiritual hall, where she’s dismayed to discover Robert’s “spiritual tutor” is a child named Clarence who speaks with crowds about deceased relatives. Robert picks up the skill, too, forging a traveling I-see-dead-people act with Clarence, and Evelyn comes along for the tour. Due to their travels, Evelyn’s social circle widens, though she continues to wrestle with her feelings about Robert’s calling to clairvoyancy: “If Robert was right, then she had only ever known half the world.” When a child goes missing, people clamor for Clarence and Robert’s assistance, and Evelyn questions her husband’s sincerity. Though the reader might grow tired of Evelyn’s continuous dread over her secret being revealed, Salam crafts a believable portrait of the 1920s spiritualism scene. Historical fiction fans will savor this.

September 1, 2023
With hardly a person who did not lose a loved one to the Great War or the flu pandemic, 1920s Edinburgh is full of ghosts. When Evelyn's husband, Robert, announces he can communicate with spirits, he wants to use this newfound ability to help the grieving. But Evelyn, horrified, summons the doctor, who tells her Robert is either mad or a fraud--or telling the truth. Evelyn is torn between which explanation she believes in this brooding gothic novel. As Robert starts holding public sessions under the tutelage of a child medium with an unerring ability to share messages from the dead that go beyond mere guesswork, Evelyn is drawn into a glittering world that celebrates her husband's gifts. But as she wonders whether he is indeed able to communicate with the departed, it's with a growing fear that a secret will be revealed that she thought her sister took to the grave. This darkly atmospheric tale asks where the line between charity and deceit lies in a society haunted by those gone too soon.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2023

In 1920s Scotland, the ordinary life of young wife Evelyn is upended when her husband, Robert, claims he can communicate with spirits. Evelyn believes that Robert may be going mad, but when his apparent skill catches the eye of prominent spiritualists, he joins forces with child medium Clarence, and they're soon swept into a glittering world populated by aristocrats and war heroes. As Evelyn sees how Robert can comfort grieving families with his spirit readings, her skepticism fades to grudging belief. Evelyn is dazzled by their improved social standing and supports Robert, despite the rift it causes with her very proper family, until a series of disturbing events force her to question what, or who, can ever really be known. Salam (Things Bright and Beautiful; Belladonna) deftly renders a historic Edinburgh still reeling from the trauma of World War I and a pandemic that killed so many. This book is, in turn, both a moving exploration of collective grief and wryly funny. VERDICT Readers of gothic mysteries, historical fiction, and domestic drama will all find satisfaction within Salam's atmospheric, layered world.--Lacey Tobias

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