The London Seance Society

Written by Sarah Penner

Narrated by Lauren Irwin and Alex Wyndham

"An atmospheric and evocative whodunnit steeped in suspense, mystery, and illusion." —Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the author of the sensational bestseller The Lost Apothecary comes a spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.

1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. With shared determination, the women find companionship that perhaps borders on something more. And as they team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…

Written with intoxicating suspense and sultry prose, The London Séance Society is an entrancing tale that blurs the lines between truth and illusion, and reveals the grave risks women will take to avenge the ones they love.

"Penner brings history to vivid life in this atmospheric and evocative whodunnit." —Nita Prose, author of The Maid

Named a Most Anticipated book by Good Housekeeping, Washington Post, Bookpage, CrimeReads, Readers Digest, Popsugar, LitHub, E! News, Goodreads, and more

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio
• Release date: Mar 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781488218415

Sarah Penner

Sarah Penner is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary which will be translated into forty languages worldwide and is set to be turned into a drama series by Fox. Sarah spent thirteen years in corporate finance and now writes full-time. She and her husband live in Florida. To learn more, visit SarahPenner.com.

Reviews for The London Seance Society

[Becki Cavanaugh · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I only made it two hours (20%) into this book before having to give up. This was painfully boring and every character was awful and unlikable.

[Gonzalo Battaglia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book paints a good picture of spiritualism and victorian life. I commend the author for doing the research. The protagonist, Lenna is well drawn and easy to follow in the story. In fact, i wish the whole book was from her point of view. I'm ambivalent on the common technique of writing in the first person but switching perspective among characters. First person is often thought to be more "realistic" than third person narration since the story is told by someone who participates in the story rather than a disembodied voice. But the truth is that it is very limiting in terms of storytelling (thus sometimes needing a second narrator) and honestly when does someone actually give a comprhensive account of their lives? In the past the first person narration was given with a plot and form device that explains how the audience is reading the account (a journal, a diary, a letter) but in this book its patenly obvious at least in the case one character that he is not and never will write the account down. So it rings false. Moreover, I don't think the book needed it. Having the second pov does make for a plot twist, one of the narrator turns out to be not what we expect but its a lame surprise, at least in my opinion. It would have worked better if we had not had access to the second narrator's states of mind. If this book needed a second narrator it should have been Evie, Lenna's deceased sisiter... as told through a journal or letters (both of which are mentioned). Also the relationship between the Lenna and Vaudeline could have been explored further if we had stuck with one narrator and that would have strengthened the reader's bond with the protagonist. The book also fails in maintaining the mystery and esoteric appeal of spiritualism by giving us too many answers... the book begins with Lenna studying mysticism but unsure about its veracity but then it all shifts at one point giving us a glimpse of n the world of the dead... this kills the atmosphere and makes this more science fiction-y where everything can be explained.

[Marion Smith · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This ends with chapter 21… there’s a total of 42 chapters in the book.

[Jennifer Prins · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The audio abruptly ends and you don’t get the end of the story… what happened??

[Evis · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is only a partial version of the book. Very disappointed that this now counts as one of my eight books for the month. Kind of a rip off to be honest.

[Christina Ramirez · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is not even the full book. It’s missing almost half.

[Katy Burden · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For anyone that was worried about the audiobook not being complete, Scribd has corrected this issue and the whole book is now included.

[Erin Bahnsen · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is only half of the book. It was well done but you don’t get to finish the story.