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Book Reviewed by:It's 1922 and Martin Finch is on the case of a lifetime—to determine whether a beautiful Philadelphia socialite is able to contact the spirit realm. He is prepared to debunk a fraud but instead the man of science falls in love with the medium in this debut historical thriller.
In the tradition of Carter Beats the Devil and The Alienist—a historical page-turner and the debut of a spectacular young talent.
It is 1920s Philadelphia, a time when the feverish popular obsession with the paranormal is confronted by the inevitable ascendance of the scientific method. With everyone from Houdini to Arthur Conan Doyle weighing in on the existence of parapsychological phenomena, the media is as fixated on the sensational debate as scientists and would-be psychics. Indeed, in 1922, Scientific American offers five thousand dollars for evidence of "conclusive psychic manifestations."
Inspired by this real-life event, Inamorata follows Martin Finch, a twenty-three-year-old Harvard graduate student and member of Scientific American's investigative committee, on the case of a lifetime—an attempt to determine whether Mina Crawley, a beautiful Philadelphia socialite, is able to contact the spirit realm. In the tiny upstairs room of the Crawleys' elegant Rittenhouse Square townhouse, Finch is prepared to debunk a fraud. But instead the man of science breaks the cardinal rule of psychic investigation: Never fall in love with the medium...
Inamorata, Gangemi's first published novel, features a cast of skeptical graduate students, morphine addicts, beguiling spirit-mediums, sadistic gynecologists, peg-legged Filipino butlers, and a talkative ghost. For historical fiction buffs who like their reading matter a little bit thrilling and more than a touch on the strange side...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Interesting Link:
A reproduction of
Houdini's
pamphlet exposing Margery The Medium.
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Happiness belongs to the self sufficient
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Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife
I adore séances, skeptical graduate students, peculiar sex scenes, beguiling and contra-dictory psychic mediums, and forgotten history Inamorata has all this and more. Mr. Gangemi has constructed his tale with skill, panache, and dry humor. I stayed up very late reading this, and the characters got into my dreams. It’s a wonderful book.
