The Séance
By: John Harwood / Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren
Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
More a creep show than a horror fest but still soooo verrry Gothic!
I guess I went into The Séance with such high expectations (I mean look at the narrators! It HAD to be of such high quality to be given to them, yes?) that of COURSE I was doomed to be disappointed. And I am somewhat. While there is a Mystery, and there is some Suspense, it winds up falling short of Thriller, especially with an underwhelming ending.
Still, look at the narrators!
Constance starts life as a happy child, but illness takes the life of a younger sister, and that totally sends mum into a grieving spiral of doooom. Forever trying to make her mum happy, bring her some peace, Constance—as a young woman—tries “channeling” her sister during a séance to tell her that all is well. This makes mum happy until it’s not enough, and Constance ups her séance game until FINALLY mum feels pleased and peaceful. Which brings about an unfortunate end for Constance.
… Whoopsie…
Since dear ol’ dad chucked it all in and left the family earlier, Constance is pretty much on her own until a long lost uncle takes her in, and until she finds that she’s the inheritor of an old and mouldering estate. The lawyer, John Montague, tells her of its terribly troubled past (Murders! Disappearances!) and advises her to burn it to the ground! Plow the soil with salt! Run, run like the wind! NATurally, Constance becomes beguiled by the history of the place, Wraxford Hall, and is further enticed by journals Montague and Nell Wraxford left behind.
There are ghosts (Nell’s “visitors”), and all sorts of terribly late Victorian preoccupations with séances and electricity (Think lightning rods and cables being rigged to suits of armor), and there are questionable circumstances attached to possible murderers, plus some good old fashioned villainous deeds.
Most of all, we listeners get to hear yet again of the deplorable life conditions for women in such an age. Constance is left unmoored with her mother’s passing, dependent upon men for her upkeep, and Nell reeeeally faces the unthinkable when her one true love meets his demise, and she’s left to marry… or be cast upon the streets, perhaps hoping for a position as a governess at the very best to keep a roof over her head.
All this is told through Constance’s view, narrator Katherine Kellgren; John Montague’s revealing journal, narrator Simon Vance; and Nell Wraxford increasingly questionable diary, narrator Fiona Hardingham. The weakest part of the story is Montague’s, but hey: Simon Vance is one of The Best Narrators out there, so even tho’ Montague is on the periphery, his sections really glow with life and humanity, even as Montague is bemused and ever-increasingly haunted. Hardingham as Nell Wraxford is awesome, and tho’ I’ve dinged her in the past for making her male voices overly imperious, I noted that she did that here only when the character became imperious himself.
Now Katherine Kellgren… Ooooh: She’s a Love Her or Hate Her Narrator, and I suggest listening to the Sample audio before taking the story on. I like her cuz she reeeeally throws herself into the narration, FEARlessly, and that can turn people off. There was one part where she’s got Constance jabbering away, and I thought: Holy cow, Constance; you’re overwrought. But then the character Constance is squawking to point out that she’s “overwrought”, and I felt relieved that it wasn’t just me. Soooo, listen well to that tell-tale Sample audio; Kellgren has a bit of an edge to her voice, and imagine that creeping up to a bit of a screech now and again as author John Harwood ever expands this late Victorian stage to include Mayhem! and Chaos!
All is well and good throughout the story, with creepiness abounding through deaths foretold, and emotional abuse/manipulation being ramped up during the stories. But all is NOT well when we come to the last 30 mins. of the audiobook, and things are resolved with a mighty Thunk, being laughably explained away and dismissed. Still, there’s an emotional element Harwood adds to Constance’s story of Yearning for a Mum-Hug that had me with a lump in my throat.
I can’t say that I loved the story, but I did indeed feel a smattering of goosebumps early on, especially with Nell’s visitors/premonitions, and I CERtainly found Vance’s narration to be solemnly delightful. It’s just that some screeching here and there and a pat ending kept this from being a proper Horror pick.
But if you want Gothic? Oh my, look no further than this! And if you happen to be an Audible Premium Plus member? Oh my again: This puppy is free to check out!
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