On the surface this was an enjoyable read, but I think it's marketing as a historical comedy isn't helping.

I struggled with the pacing of this book a little and found it quite slow for most of the book, meaning also that the character development was quite slow. There was a fair amount of classism in the book which never really seemed to be resolved, and also sexism where Mrs Wood, a woman working for her own living, was very negative about her best friend fighting for women's equality - was a strange take i didn't necessarily expect.

Having said that, this was still enjoyable and I loved all the séance scenes and anytime we got an inside look into the medium's and how they worked.

I thought this book was so interesting! I loved that the narrator was the story itself and the interweaving of folk tales to reshape the narrative throughout, used both as a way to reveal new things within the story but also by the characters themselves to help them work through their issues.

Took me a long time to get into this book but i did enjoy the cast of strong women. Thought the trial was the best section of the book, but I don't think Van Cleve got any kind of punishment for his actions the entire book.