book review the london seance society

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The London Séance Society

Written by Sarah Penner Review by J. Lynn Else

In 1873, the London Séance Society is a gentlemen’s-only club whose president’s murder during an All Hallows Eve soiree has been unsolved for months. Society vice-president Mr. Morley (told in first-person narration) is pressured to produce answers. There’s only one person he can think to call on: renowned medium Vaudeline D’Allaire. Meanwhile in Paris, since her sister’s murder, Lenna (told in third-person narration) has taken an apprenticeship with Vaudeline, who specializes in helping people connect with unsolved murder victims. Lenna struggles with her grief and trusting in that which she can’t see, including a growing affection towards her teacher. Despite having fled London a year earlier for her safety, when Mr. Morley requests Vaudeline’s services, she agrees. Lenna hopes when in London Vaudeline can shed light on her sister’s murder too.

The story is about connections. From the living to the dead, to the characters and their inner circles, the complex web of these connections slowly unravels until the truth is at last unveiled. Penner flips back and forth through time, mostly through character recollections. As past tense verbs aren’t often employed, it’s easy to mix up the past versus present narratives. While Lenna and Morley interact within the same time and place, the changing of narratives from first and third person within the same scenes feels disruptive to the story’s flow. Character-wise, Lenna is frustratingly inept and often hinders her own plans with rash decisions. Plus, it takes her a bit too long to figure things out. A small historical note: the women are referred to and sign off as “Ms.,” a term not in use until the 1950s.

During the seances, a lush gothic atmosphere permeates the narrative in entrancing and spine-tingling ways. Readers will also enjoy the multiple twists and turns of the plot in this supernatural murder mystery.

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Book Review: The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner

Hey, The Lost Apothecary fans! Looking forward to Penner’s new book, The London Séance Society ? So was I! Read on to find out why I didn’t love it as much as her first.

The Summary

May mercy be upon the man who finds himself the enemy of a vengeful medium…

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. But as the women 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…

The London Séance Society started out in such an interesting way: with a séance! It really pulls you in and gets you excited for everything that’s about to follow.

There are some real positives about this book. When you read through reviews, you’ll see a lot of comments about the dark, gothic vibes, which I’ll agree was really the star of the book. It really pulls you right into the whole séance scene and makes you feel like you could be sitting around the table with them. Very cool stuff.

Another thing I loved about this book is Vaudeline. She’s just awesome – a stand-out woman when it was incredibly hard to be such a thing. She knows what she wants, and she’s not afraid to go for it. Not to mention, she’s in touch with the spirit world 👻. In my opinion, she stole the show, and the female narrator, Lenna, was just okay.

The last thing I’ll touch on (no spoilers, don’t worry!) is the ending of the book. Things got pretty intense at the end with a very dark, very high-stakes séance. The whole book really is leading up to this one big thing (it’s talked about through a lot of the story), and the big thing didn’t disappoint for me. It actually gave the book back half a star!

Now, the parts I didn’t love so much…the pacing. Somehow I was bored at times, and just wanted to get to the juicy stuff. It seems like that’s what the author was trying for, as there’s some sort of “dun dun dunnnn” reveal/revelation at the end of just about every chapter for a good stretch. That kind of pacing made it a little cliché for me.

There’s also one point near the end of the story where you find yourself yelling at a main character, “What the heck are you doing?? Don’t you think maybe you should get the heck out of there?!?” There was just this whole plan put together, and then the character arrives where she’s supposed to get something and leave and she just….sits there. It didn’t make sense to me and made me want to throw the book down. Come on, character, get your act together.

So, overall there were some pain points for me, but the ending redeemed the book a little. I have no doubt The London Séance Society will have many fans and delight readers everywhere, but for me it was 3.5 stars.

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I'm currently a full-time writer/content strategist with an English degree living in Minneapolis, MN. I created Literary Quicksand to feed my love of books, writing, and community. More About Me

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Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, the london séance society.

Sarah Penner follows up her debut novel, THE LOST APOTHECARY, with THE LONDON SÉANCE SOCIETY, a spellbinding work of historical fiction set at the height of Victorian London’s obsession with the spiritualist movement.

“Established in 1860, the mission of the London Séance Society is to provide clairvoyance and mediumship services throughout the city of London, with the intent of providing peace to mourners and satisfying the populace’s growing curiosity about the afterlife.”

A stalwart skeptic, Lenna Wickes has watched for the last few years as her sister, Evie, has become enamored of spiritualism and the techniques and methods of the London Séance Society, which has been governed, run and populated exclusively by men. But Evie’s obsession with the afterlife took a shocking turn when she was found murdered in the backyard of the hotel that their parents run, leaving Lenna desolate and unmoored.

"[T]he novel is never overly sentimental. Instead it finds its strength in solid character development, a riveting mystery, and the fun that encourages us to seek out tarot cards, ouija boards and palm readers."

Evie had long raved about the work of one spiritualist in particular, Vaudeline D’Allaire, an acclaimed medium whose work with the spirits of brutally murdered girls and women has solved more than a few cases and earned her a devoted following. Shortly before Evie’s murder, Vaudeline fled London for Paris following a few difficult cases, vowing never to return again.

Although she has never taken an interest in the spiritualist movement herself, Lenna knows from Evie’s constant chattering that séances are most effective on the grounds of the spirit’s death. Desperate to contact Evie both for closure and to find out the truth about her murder, Lenna does the only sensible thing she can think of: she heads to Paris to study under Vaudeline, assured that even the staunchest of skeptics can take an academic approach to the afterlife to unlock its secrets.

But across town, trouble is brewing at the London Séance Society. Once an esteemed business respected by citizens far and wide, it has fallen victim to ugly rumors. Despite its aim to provide peace to mourners and satisfy the public’s curiosity about the afterlife, the Society has begun to resort to cheap parlor tricks --- ventriloquists speaking in haunting voices; trick candles that burn down to reveal the perfume or cologne of the deceased, just at the right moment; and overlaid photographs that look about as realistic as today’s worst Photoshop fails. (Sharp readers will notice that the word “truth” is never mentioned in their slogan.)

Even worse, there are whispers that the widows and families who once turned to the Society for comfort have been met with astronomic pricing and manipulations, with more than one grieving widow ending up married to a Society gentleman long before the appropriate mourning period is over. Luckily, Mr. Morley, the vice president of the Department of Spiritualism, is looking into the matter. He has to, or else he will lose his place in the Society and the respect of its president, Mr. Volckman.

As Lenna proceeds with her studies under Vaudeline --- finding herself, to her shock and horror, to be quite adept at responding to cues from the spirits --- a letter arrives, informing Vaudeline that Volckman has been murdered. It is revealed that Vaudeline had been helping Volckman investigate the rumors plaguing the Society. When some of the men in the Society caught wind of her efforts, Volckman encouraged her to flee for her safety.

Now, with Volckman dead, Morley has asked Vaudeline to return and perform one last séance to discover who killed him and, presumably, who is behind the deceitful acts penetrating the Society’s innermost circle. It is a dangerous mission, but Lenna knows that following Vaudeline may help her find answers as well. Once the séance for Volckman is complete, Vaudeline has promised to do another for Evie.

With ghosts creeping on the edge of each page, two homicides and a plan for an even riskier séance underway, Lenna and Vaudeline are facing a daunting task. But as the women hide away in the basement of the Society’s headquarters and work with Morley to investigate Volckman’s last moments, it becomes clear that there is far more going on in the Society than the murder of its president.

Sarah Penner is a gifted writer of historical fiction. Her choice here to focus on Victorian England, with all its idiosyncrasies and quirks, is a smart one, as is her premise centered on spiritualism. THE LONDON SÉANCE SOCIETY is no work of fantasy, but Penner doesn’t completely shut down the idea of mediumship or the afterlife, grounding her narrative in science and unprovable truths that even a skeptic like Lenna cannot quite deny. At the same time, she expertly lays this intriguing element against its more human, emotional counterparts: grief and mourning.

Although Lenna embodies a sense of longing for contact with the afterlife, the novel is never overly sentimental. Instead it finds its strength in solid character development, a riveting mystery, and the fun that encourages us to seek out tarot cards, ouija boards and palm readers.

Reviewed by Rebecca Munro on March 24, 2023

The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner

• Publication Date: April 30, 2024
• Genres: Fiction , Gothic , Historical Fiction , Historical Mystery , Mystery
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Park Row
• ISBN-10: 0778334430
• ISBN-13: 9780778334439