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  • Published: 1 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9781409001188
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

The Seance




The breakthrough novel from one of Australia's finest writers - a gripping story of ghosts, betrayal and murder in Victorian England.

London, 1881. Constance Langton lives in a gloomy home with a distant father and a grief-stricken mother; seeking refuge and comfort, she secretly attends a séance which has tragic consequences. Left alone, her only legacy is a mysterious inheritance that will blight her life and take her deep into a world of apparitions, betrayal and blackmail, black-hearted villains - and murder.

  • Published: 1 August 2011
  • ISBN: 9781409001188
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304

About the author

John Harwood

John Harwood was born in Hobart, Tasmania. Educated in Tasmania and Cambridge, he went on to become Head of the School of English and Drama at Flinders University, Adelaide. He is the author of two books of criticism, Olivia Shakespear and W. B. Yeats and Eliot to Derrida: The Poverty of Interpretation and the novels The Ghost Writer and The Séance.

Also by John Harwood

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Praise for The Seance

A brilliant, post-modern Gothic tale

Philip Womack, Daily Telegraph

An elegant, original and exciting mystery story

Literary Review

An entertaining read

Daily Telegraph

Atmospheric... Harwood's writing adds a layer of ironic distance to fog effects, black-hearted villains and other old chestnuts

The Times

Brilliantly atmospheric dark mystery... Try this if you like being scared out of your wits

Daily Mail

Everything you could possibly ask for from a novel in this genre

Financial Times

Harwood again proves himself a gifted storyteller... Seamlessly plotted, it is utterly compelling and full of suspense

Mail on Sunday

Harwood hops between narratives and time to give us a full history of the hall and its occupants, and his research, while impressive, never overwhelms the plot or his characters. Collins and Braddon would be proud

Lesley McDowell, The Herald

John Harwood's brilliant second novel, a gripping, dark, mystery set in late Victorian England

Next Read

Superbly realised... reminds us that the real horrors lurk within the reader's mind

Independent

The narrative, gracefully conceived, beautifully achieved, races along

Daily Telegraph

Awards & recognition

Aurealis Award

Winner  •  2008  •  Aurealis Award (Horror)