The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner (2023)

The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner (2023)

Laura’s Rating: 1.5/5 Stars

A story of romance and danger set during the height of Europe’s fascination with contacting the dead.

Plot: Lenna Wickes travels to Paris to meet the famous spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire in hopes of discovering the truth about her sister Evie’s death. Evie had been an apprentice of Vaudeline, so despite not sharing her sister’s beliefs in the occult, Lenna attempts to study under Vaudeline as well. After the death of a prominent spiritualist in London, Lenna must enter the world of spiritualism if she hopes to uncover the sinister truths going on among occultists.

Analysis: I’m not sure of the exact historical accuracy of the book, but it focuses on the Victorian fascination with spiritualism and the occult. The themes of science vs. spirituality were common at the time, including in books from that period. One interesting concept explored in the story is how performing séances and acting as mediums was one of the few ways women of the era could gain autonomy in male-dominated spaces. 

I was hoping for a book featuring dark and mysterious Victorian séances, but instead I got a light mystery with an unnecessary romance. There are only a couple of séances in the whole book and only the one near the end is actually spooky and interesting.The romance between the main characters lacks chemistry, making their interactions feel clunky. The characters also had stupid plans and there were leaps of logic that had to be made to go along with the plot.

The story is told from two perspectives and I understand why this was done, but I didn’t enjoy the alternating points of view and I wish the author had found a different way to reveal information. At times, I had trouble paying attention and there were a few complications that made it difficult to keep track of the details. Overall, I was bored by this book and didn’t care much for the characters.