A tussle between two mediums in the late 1800s ends with a more mature understanding of women supporting women than their behaviour might have suggested.

Violet Wood dragged herself up from a poor start in life where her mother sold her to a man who started her off as a medium, touring and holding seances for money. Eventually she works only for herself but feels that she must keep her beginnings a secret, particularly as her mother had been a disgraced medium who had been found out. She is ably supported by her assistant Sarah Newman who is drawn into the world of Suffrage, culminating in writing a leaflet which is to be distributed across London but is the end of her medium work.

Emmeline Finch turns up out of what seems nowhere desperate to be a medium, but in reality having been the daughter of the woman who took Mrs Wood’s mother into their own home and looked after her. Mrs Wood takes her on as a protégé but gradually discovers Emmie taking over seances and introducing characters of her own until she feels she is ready to be launched on her own and uses Mrs Wood to do so. This ambition is eventually her downfall but it takes a while to get there.

The book is an entertaining read with a cozy feel to it. It isn’t deep and meaningful, just a romp based on real events through Victorian England. It’s a beach read and none the worse for that.