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The Spirit Engineer is, of course, a fictionalisation—though one whose genre is as ambiguous as its characters. The novel is an interesting exploration of the early 20 th-century obsession with spiritualism, but the style may deter some readers. In my personal experience as an artist it took a while for me to find my 'style' i would describe my art now as illustrative, i like to work in what i consider a fun child friendly illustrative style, my love of books from a young age i think has fed into my artwork.
This was a rather creepy read, made even more chilling after finding out that it's based on real history and events!Once I was in and felt fully immersed the pace quickened and it started twisting my mind, got me questioning got me wondering. Not just to its terribly flawed, terribly damaged protagonist, but to the people around him who are, in their own ways, just as exploited as he is: by poverty, by gender, by sexuality, by age, by class, by their own losses. I didn’t expect William to be so witty, but within the first couple of chapters, I had laughed out loud at some of the one-liners.
It was that macabre sense of ‘I can’t look away at this inevitable train wreck’ that is part of the gripping feel of the story. It was flipping brilliant, I have literally just finished it, I think I read it in 4 sittings in the end, I couldn't put it down today I just needed to finish it.Not only was this a great atmospheric read for Halloween, but a fascinating insight into the life of William Jackson Crawford. The author also captured the connections between historical context and events and the character voices. William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him seemingly from beyond the veil, placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind.
The Goligher Circles were managed by Kathleen’s brother-in-law, a ship’s plumber and plumbing supplies merchant named Samuel Morrison, who had married her eldest sister, Rebecca. Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review! West A modern woman falls through a hidden hole in the grass and appears in a bygone age where her every value, behaviour, opinion and experience condemns …more A modern woman falls through a hidden hole in the grass and appears in a bygone age where her every value, behaviour, opinion and experience condemns her as a witch. Not surprisingly, in a book which delves into the afterlife, the epilogue is titled 'the Beginning'.Part horror, part history, The Spirit Engineer is a chilling and thought-provoking tale of exploitation, faith, deception, fraud, seances, hubris, and prejudice. Obsession starts to take over Williams life as he becomes engrossed with experimentation on all that he does not understand ranging from tricks, to delusion, to even harming those around him all in the name of science and belief. In this novel, an engineer sets out to prove by scientific method the veracity of a spirit medium through whom he is able to hear the voices of his dead mother, son and brother-in-law. While the story occasionally suffered from issues with pacing, particularly in the middle (there are a lot of characters to keep track of, and they're not quite distinct enough), the end makes up for this tenfold. Crawford, apparently convinced by Kathleen’s command of various psychic phenomenon, begins a scientific investigation into her … um.
As the author of my gothic historical fiction novel, The Spirit Engineer, what I wouldn’t give to sit with Kathleen over a cup of tea in 1970, just before she passed away. Kathleen Goligher continued to hold seances following William Jackson Crawford’s death, though the scepticism around the Goligher Circle was growing, with pamphlets and articles in print, casting derisory doubt around Crawford’s methods, conclusions and motives.That is, until one day his wife is seen taking part to try and recover what she has lost and William may finally start to believe that maybe the veil between the living and the dead is more tangible if only he can figure out just how it all works so that he may lay claim to being The Spirit Engineer. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen’s parlour tricks gone too far? You ll meet the gods and goddesses, discover powerful invocations, and explore ways to celebration Pagan festivals and holidays. Duckworth Books has acquired2016 "Big Brother" finalist A J West's debut novel, The Spirit Engineer. A tragic death sees Elizabeth Crawford seeking answers in the spirit world, and William Crawford sees himself drawn in as well.
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