Getting Into Seance Society by Sarah Penner
I picked up Seance Society Sarah Penner after finishing her previous book, The Lost Apothecary. Different genre entirely, but she's got a similar knack for historical detail that pulls you in without being obvious about it. Seance Society is a dual-timeline historical fiction novel. One thread follows Violet Pemberton, who's trapped in a suffocating marriage in 1920s London and discovers her aunt's secret involvement with a spiritualist society. The other thread jumps back to the Victorian era, showing how that society was founded. The two timelines converge in ways that actually matter to the plot. Penner doesn't waste time with pointless red herrings. What makes this work better than most historical fiction is how grounded the séance scenes feel. She researched actual Victorian spiritualism practices—table rapping, direct voice phenomena, the whole movement—then wove them into a mystery that isn't just spooky atmosphere. The occult elements serve the story rather than the other way around.
How to Approach the Book
Read it straight through. It's roughly 380 pages and moves at a steady pace. The dual timeline can throw you off in the first fifty pages when Penner is setting up both periods. I found myself occasionally checking which year I was on. Just push past that. By page seventy you'll know which is which and stop second-guessing. Don't skip the end matter. Penner includes author notes about the real spiritualist movement, and it adds useful context about how common these séances were and how many people were genuinely convinced they were talking to the dead. That background changes how you read certain scenes on a second pass.
The One Thing Nobody Warns You About
The romance subplot comes on a bit slow, and if you're reading this expecting the same kind of sharp romantic tension as The Lost Apothecary, you might find yourself waiting longer than you'd like. The central relationship develops gradually across both timelines. It works once it gets going, but be patient with it. I also ran into a small issue on my Kindle copy where the page numbers for the two timelines kept mixing together in the device's notes feature. Makes bookmarking tricky. I ended up just using physical sticky tabs instead. Not a book problem, but worth knowing about if you're reading digitally.
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Who Should Pick This Up
If you're into historical fiction with a mystery bent, this is a solid choice. The supernatural angle is handled with restraint—you won't find yourself wondering whether to take the ghost stuff literally or not. Penner keeps it ambiguous enough that both readings work. The 1920s setting gets proper attention too, with details about postwar London society that feel researched rather than invented. It's not perfect. The ending resolves some threads neatly and leaves others slightly loose. A few secondary characters get short shrift. But for a first read, it holds together well enough that you won't be annoyed. Pick it up wherever paperbacks are sold or on Kindle. No reason to wait for anything else.
