Hazardous Spirits set in 1920s Edinburgh

Submitted: 2nd October 2023

Ghostly goings on in a city already known for its gothic charm? Sign me up!

BookTrail Locations in Hazardous Spirits

Boarding Pass Information: Edinburgh

Author guide: Anbara Salem

Genre: gothic

Food and drink to accompany: nothing you’ll be too scared

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BookTrail Locations in Hazardous Spirits

This book was right up my street. You know when a book not only draws you in but keeps you there in suspended animation? This is an example of when a book and its setting merge for maximum effect. The gothic, dark, twisty overtones of Edinburgh just suit this story down to the ground.

It’s about the spiritualist movement of the early 20th century. Is there a world beyond ours? What other realms exist outside of our own reality?

Evelyn’s husband tells her he can speak to the dead. They can’t tell anyone otherwise they would be disowned and shunned from society and they’re already down on their luck as it is. Evelyn supports him however and becomes deeply involved in his world of spirits. When her husband starts communicating with her dead sister however, her world spirals out of control.

This book had the atmosphere, the jeopardy and the chills by the bucketload. There was so much to enjoy and I carried on reading even when I felt a bit nervous that something was going to happen. No chapter breaks for me! This dark, murky world of Edinburgh mixed with the shadowy world of spiritualism was magic on the page. The world building, the scenes, the filmic nature of it all was wonderful.

I loved the way the author wove in commentary and social awareness into the novel. The 1920s were a very different time and spiritualism was almost an obsession. It was the subjects and visions just out of reach that were the real catch for me however. You know when sometimes you turn your head too quick and think you’ve seen something out of the corner of your eye? This book gives you LOTS of those moments and it chilled me and excited me in equal measure.

It’s what you don’t see, what isn’t mentioned, that floats around your vision as you read that is the real star of this already amazing show.