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 Wri...
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Aug 09, 2011
Hannah
rated it: 
I rated John Harwood's debut novel, The Ghost Writer, 2 stars, but this second novel is definitely a big improvement, and kept me interested (and creeped out) the entire time I was reading it.
The Seance is certainly a send up of all the classic Victorian gothics of the 19th century, (without all the flowery and overly melodramatic dialogue). Harwood's prose is almost flawless in it's execution, and he is a master in drawing the reader into an implausible world and making them belie More...
The Seance is certainly a send up of all the classic Victorian gothics of the 19th century, (without all the flowery and overly melodramatic dialogue). Harwood's prose is almost flawless in it's execution, and he is a master in drawing the reader into an implausible world and making them belie More...
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Apr 03, 2011
Michael
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Review from Badelynge
The Seance by John Harwood is set in the 1880s and is the story of Constance Langton. She becomes involved in spiritualism in an effort to lift her mother from the crippling grief of losing a child. Constance, due to the lack of regard and love from her parents has always had the nagging feeling that there is some mystery about her heritage, believing herself to be a foundling. Through diaries and journals and the aid of a world weary solicitor called Mr Montague she d More...
The Seance by John Harwood is set in the 1880s and is the story of Constance Langton. She becomes involved in spiritualism in an effort to lift her mother from the crippling grief of losing a child. Constance, due to the lack of regard and love from her parents has always had the nagging feeling that there is some mystery about her heritage, believing herself to be a foundling. Through diaries and journals and the aid of a world weary solicitor called Mr Montague she d More...
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Mar 06, 2009
Diane
rated it:
John Harwood's debut novel The Ghost Writer was one of those novels that will go down as a favorite of mine, so naturally when Harwood's second novel , The Séance, was recently released, I could not wait to read it.
The Séance is set in Victorian England and has all the elements which make for a great gothic mystery. There is a cursed run down mansion, a ghostly suit of armor, lightening bolts that strike out the blue, apparitions and other strange phenomena.
Constance Lang More...
The Séance is set in Victorian England and has all the elements which make for a great gothic mystery. There is a cursed run down mansion, a ghostly suit of armor, lightening bolts that strike out the blue, apparitions and other strange phenomena.
Constance Lang More...
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(2 people liked it)
Mar 09, 2009
Lori
rated it:
Just as it appears Winter may be releasing the shores of Lake Erie from its death grip, I have found the perfect late autumn/winter read. In The Seance, John Harwood has recreated the best aspects of gothic dread. As in Harwood's freshman novel, The Ghost Writer, a major character in this story is a place: the decrepit Wraxford Hall...permeated by the stain of a violent past and filled with ominous secrets.
The troubled young woman who inherits Wraxford Hall has also inherited abil More...
The troubled young woman who inherits Wraxford Hall has also inherited abil More...
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Feb 20, 2009
Nancy
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"sell the Hall unseen; burn it to the ground and plough the earth with salt if you will; but never live there." This is the advice to Miss Constance Langton from John Montague, the solicitor who as advised Miss Langton of her inheritance of Wraxford Hall.
The Seance is set in Victorian England, and Constance Langton has lost her mother and her cold and distant father has moved away. Living with her uncle, she notices an advertisement asking her to reply. It is then that More...
The Seance is set in Victorian England, and Constance Langton has lost her mother and her cold and distant father has moved away. Living with her uncle, she notices an advertisement asking her to reply. It is then that More...
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(3 people liked it)
Mar 07, 2009
Anne
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Feb 02, 2012
Barb
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This was a dark, suspenseful, atmospheric, "gothic" tale, complete with ghosts, mysterious disappearances, a haunted house and a tragic death or two.
John Harwood carefully builds his mystery by offering the reader the history of Constance Langton's childhood. Her sister, Alma, died when she was not yet four years old, her mother, devastated by the loss, never recovered enough to develop a loving relationship with Constance. As a young woman Constance inherits Wraxford Hall More...
John Harwood carefully builds his mystery by offering the reader the history of Constance Langton's childhood. Her sister, Alma, died when she was not yet four years old, her mother, devastated by the loss, never recovered enough to develop a loving relationship with Constance. As a young woman Constance inherits Wraxford Hall More...
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Oct 06, 2010
Guido
rated it:
“The Séance” is a wonderfully mysterious novel set in Victorian England. It is an utterly enchanting read that draws the reader into its magic and then takes them on a ride of apparitions and spooky encounters.
The most striking thing about the book is its voice. Very restrained and personable, the first-person narrative puts one right in the head of the main characters. Told in part through diary entries - much the same way Bram Stoker fashioned his classic “Dracula” - the story unf More...
The most striking thing about the book is its voice. Very restrained and personable, the first-person narrative puts one right in the head of the main characters. Told in part through diary entries - much the same way Bram Stoker fashioned his classic “Dracula” - the story unf More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Blair
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After a somewhat dry and uninspiring start, this book developed into an excellently crafted and superbly chilling cross between a period mystery and a ghost story. I was impressed with the author's handling of both plot and characterisation; though the narrative is composed of personal accounts written by different characters at different times, it flows perfectly, and the ending ties up a great deal of loose ends without seeming implausible. The only thing I was unsure about was the juxtapositi
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Oct 25, 2011
"Fantasmas, poderes sobrenaturales, sesiones de espiritismo y una mansión con un oscuro y misterioso pasado son algunos de los ingredientes de esta novela que nos lleva a las brumas del Londres del siglo XIX, para todo lector, joven o adulto, que se atreva a adentrarse en ella. “Venda Wraxford Hall sin verla, quémela entera y are la tierra con sal, si ese es su deseo; pero jamás viva allí". Éstas son las instrucciones que recibe Constance junto con una herencia inesperada: una lúgubr
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Aug 03, 2011
"Angleterre, fin de l'ère victorienne. Constance Langton reçoit la visite d'un avocat, John Montague. Celui-ci lui annonce qu'elle vient d'hériter d'un manoir de famille dans le Suffolk, Wraxford Hall, et lui conseille de vendre la propriété sans perdre une seconde. Wraxford Hall jouit en effet d'une sinistre réputation : ses précédents propriétaires y sont morts dans d'étranges circonstances et une jeune femme, Eleanor Unwin, y a mystérieusement disparu avec sa fille. Quels terribles secre
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Jul 17, 2011
Hilary
rated it: 
Almost the best thing I can say about this book is "I liked the cover". It's a pastiche of the great Victorian Gothic novel, with overtones of Wilkie Collins. Sadly, the great Victorian public had more patience and more time on their hands than I do, and had also been less exposed to popular culture (there having been less of it around at the time) and were thus possibly less able to predict every. Last. Word of the storyline. There are no twists and no surprises: it does exactly what
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Mar 17, 2009
Catherine
rated it:
I really enjoyed the author's excellent use of multiple narrators. The various narrations rested in each other like nesting boxes and each moved seamlessly into the other.
What I also so hugely appreciated is that the author grasped the reader's intelligence. Maybe it's what I've been reading as of late but I'm sick to death of being pound over the head by whatever details the author deems significant.
No words are wasted in "The Seance" and just as much, there's no over sim More...
What I also so hugely appreciated is that the author grasped the reader's intelligence. Maybe it's what I've been reading as of late but I'm sick to death of being pound over the head by whatever details the author deems significant.
No words are wasted in "The Seance" and just as much, there's no over sim More...
Jul 19, 2011
Janet
rated it:
John Harwood really knows how to write the perfect gothic ghost story. He's got all of the elements - a decaying mansion in a spooky, isolated wood, a damsel (or two) in distress, charming villains, journals that appear at appropriate times to give readers pieces of secrets to help unravel the mystery (or to throw out red-herrings) ... He writes great gothic characters who converse as if Wilkie Collins gave them the words. He creates an atmosphere of gloom and describes scenes with pitch perf
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Jun 03, 2011
Tony
rated it: 
There is a good story here but it is buried beneath the tedium of excessive Victorian pleasantries and feints too clever for their own good. The late Nineteenth Century setting is perfect for this sort of story as superstition and mystery are still commonplace although being gradually worn away by the advance of science and technology. The characters attempt to provide rational and scientific explanations for phenomena but retain the hopes or beliefs that something supernatural may account for t
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Jan 30, 2011
Irina
rated it:
I gave Mr. Harwood's second book 4 stars. This book delivered in all fronts. Mystery, murder -including the alleged one of an infant-, apparitions, romance and of course, the inheritance of the sinister mansion upon which the stories and personages revolve around.
The author manages to keep his readers wondering and guessing what could have happened without being predictable and he manages to tie the ends smoothly without rushing to the final unraveling of the mysteries.
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The author manages to keep his readers wondering and guessing what could have happened without being predictable and he manages to tie the ends smoothly without rushing to the final unraveling of the mysteries.
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May 10, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
This is a hard book to describe, so I'm just going to steal the jacket description:
"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 seance: perhaps she will find comfort from beyond the grave. But the meeting has tragic consequences. Constance is left alone, her only legacy a bequest that will blight More...
"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 seance: perhaps she will find comfort from beyond the grave. But the meeting has tragic consequences. Constance is left alone, her only legacy a bequest that will blight More...
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Jan 20, 2010
Harry
rated it: 
I always think the sign of a good book is when one reaches the end and feels a sense of loss that the experience of reading it is at an end. Note I said GOOD book and that's my problem believe it or not. This book was good but should have been great.
With subject matter like seances and manor houses, Victorian London and mysterious deaths and visitations this book should have been sinister, gripping and dripping in atmosphere but unfortunately it lacked the ambience and thrills one expe More...
With subject matter like seances and manor houses, Victorian London and mysterious deaths and visitations this book should have been sinister, gripping and dripping in atmosphere but unfortunately it lacked the ambience and thrills one expe More...
Oct 25, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
Alright...the title makes it sound a little (or a lot) on the dark side. And I admit that I normally stay away from scary stories that even hint about the occult. I don't like being afraid. However, I picked this up because I wanted a little bit of a fright (it is October, after all, and I feel culturally obligated...that or I was feeling some nostalgia for my childhood days and the ghost stories I loved to read then). I promised myself I would stop reading it if it went too far down the occult
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May 12, 2009
Sara
rated it:
I put this on request from the library and promptly forgot why, so when it came I had no feelings of eagerness to jump in or anything like that. I enjoy a good gothic novel now and then and this doesn't disappoint.
I can't properly summarize the plot, it's so full of twists and turns and characters. The story is told in six installments, each a story of its own, and from a different character's point of view. I wish I'd read this in December or January - the weather would've been More...
I can't properly summarize the plot, it's so full of twists and turns and characters. The story is told in six installments, each a story of its own, and from a different character's point of view. I wish I'd read this in December or January - the weather would've been More...
Mar 13, 2011
Diane
rated it:
This Gothic mystery/supernatural thriller is written in the Victorian style. Set in late 19th century England, it begins with a young woman taking her mother to a seance to conjure the spirit of her younger sister who died in early childhood. When her mother commits suicide following the seance, the young woman becomes estranged from her remaining family. Later, she learns that she is to inherit an old, ruined manor house that has been the site of several mysterious events and is said to be h
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Jul 06, 2010
Sira Yvonne
rated it:
Two generations trying to find truth and essentially love in their own ways. A young Constance, trying to aid her depressed mother, attends a seance. Soon after, the horrific past of her family proves to not just be a rumor but very real and very dark. She is given an abandoned hall that is plagued in mystery and only she holds the keys to the truth of what happened there.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It has bits of horror and mystery and is set in my favorite era. I felt pity More...
I really enjoyed reading this book. It has bits of horror and mystery and is set in my favorite era. I felt pity More...
Oct 18, 2009
RJ
rated it:
October, Halloween, what better than a Victorian ghost story with female heroines? I quickly picked this up for some seasonal-eerie reading.
Nicely paced, strangely constructed and interesting story of a young woman whose mother has recently died, a mother trapped in a nearly 15 year depression over the death of her 2nd child. The mother (and father's) lack of sympathy and caring for her eldest daugher, Constance, is a striking question in the first 3rd of the book? Is Constance ev More...
Nicely paced, strangely constructed and interesting story of a young woman whose mother has recently died, a mother trapped in a nearly 15 year depression over the death of her 2nd child. The mother (and father's) lack of sympathy and caring for her eldest daugher, Constance, is a striking question in the first 3rd of the book? Is Constance ev More...
Dec 12, 2011
Bianca
rated it:
This book was simply brilliant. This is foremost a mystery set in gothic fiction times.
Constance Langton is a devoted daughter to her mother who was grief stricken after her younger sister died at age 3. Her father was a cold and distant man who barely spoke to his daughter. After her father leaves her mother, Constance becomes involved in seances to communicate with the dead thinking that her mother will be somewhat restored knowing her child is safe in Heaven. Her mother suicides and More...
Constance Langton is a devoted daughter to her mother who was grief stricken after her younger sister died at age 3. Her father was a cold and distant man who barely spoke to his daughter. After her father leaves her mother, Constance becomes involved in seances to communicate with the dead thinking that her mother will be somewhat restored knowing her child is safe in Heaven. Her mother suicides and More...
Sep 12, 2010
Sariah
rated it:
A gothic mystery set in the late Victorian period. Constance Langton inherits an old manor house from a distant relative. The manor in question has been the scene of several mysteries deaths and disappearances through the years. The woods that surround it are believed to be haunted. Like a true Victorian mystery, the story is told through various first person accounts recorded in diaries and letters. The story is interesting and held my attention throughout but, something was lacking. By the end
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Nov 14, 2009
Kelly
rated it:
I absolutely had to read this when I saw several critics had compared John Harwood to Wilkie Collins. Is it as good as Collins' novels? No, yet I think this is as close as any modern writer could ever get. The Victorian setting is dead on-- for a majority of the novel, it was easy to forget that Harwood is a modern day author and not Victorian. And the style is very Collins-ish.
There were a few problems, though. The narratives didn't flow together as well as in Collins' work an More...
There were a few problems, though. The narratives didn't flow together as well as in Collins' work an More...
May 21, 2009
Kim
rated it:
I didn't expect to like this book very much, perhaps because it was chosen by the book club I am in and the last several books they have picked i really didn't like, so I was expecting it to be another "dud". I was pleasantly suprised to find that I liked it. It was quite enjoyable. It has a victorian feel to it that was well done. If you like that type of book you might like this, I loved the picture of Dorian Gray and this has that 'turn of the century' feel to it. It has certain
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Jan 22, 2012
Brad
rated it:
Meh. It was ok for passing the time, but I won't be recommending it to anyone. The Victorian setting is suitably ominous for a possibly supernatural mystery. The Victorian obsession with spiritualism provides a nice undertone of part skepticism part belief. The story never quite reached a properly spooky tone, however. I never felt like any of the characters were in serious danger, except perhaps during the brief climax which is followed by such a lengthy and comparatively dull denouement that
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Jun 25, 2010
Paula
rated it:
The Séance tells the stories of Connie Laughton, John Montague and Eleanor Unwin, individuals who are all connected to the bleak Wraxford Hall, a place shrouded in mystery since the disappearance of John Wraxford in 1821 following the death of his son, Felix in 1796 who fell from the gallery above the Great Hall. John Wraxford's body was never found and history repeats itself when Cornelius Wraxford disappears without a trace in 1866, to the eventual disappearance of Magnus, Eleanor and Clara W
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Jul 29, 2009
Natasha
rated it:
The subtitle "a Victorian Novel"--along with the lovely cover--were enough to ensnare me. I lugged this darling home from England in my suitcase and thankfully it did not disappoint! (Yes, I often buy books for covers alone…)
This book is told in a series of narratives from three different character perspectives and I will say it's a wee bit slow to start, but what mystery isn't as the foundations need to be set? I also loved the historical references, especially as I love More...
This book is told in a series of narratives from three different character perspectives and I will say it's a wee bit slow to start, but what mystery isn't as the foundations need to be set? I also loved the historical references, especially as I love More...
