The Seance - Hardcover

Harwood, John

3.55

7,524 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151012032 ISBN 13: 9780151012039

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009

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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 s�ance: 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 S�ance, 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.

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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."

About the Author:

John Harwood is the author of two previous novels of Victorian Gothic suspense. Aside from fiction, his published work includes biography, poetry, political journalism and literary history. His acclaimed first novel, The Ghost Writer, won the International Horror Guild's First Novel Award. He lives in Hobart, Australia.

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