Publisher's Synopsis
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE longlisted for the ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, i PAPER, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR AND THE SUNDAY EXPRESS 'A page-turner with the authority of history' PHILIPPA GREGORY 'As gripping as a novel. An engaging, unsettling, deeply satisfying read' SARAH WATERS 'A wonderful book about the world of mediums' HILARY MANTEL, Open Book, BBC Radio 4 London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home. Nandor Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical research - begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed. With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting. 'An empathetic, meticulous account of a spiritual unravelling; a tribute to the astonishing power of the human mind - but also a properly absorbing, baffling, satisfying detective story' AIDA EDEMARIAM A PICK OF THE AUTUMN IN THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER AND THE GUARDIAN
