The Spiritualists
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The Witch Haven meets Divine Rivals in this magical, “high-stakes page-turner of a thriller” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) of a young clairvoyant who gets dragged into a dangerous game of revenge alongside a mysterious thief in early 1900s New York City.
Stella Bohdan is never alone—never—and yet she is the loneliest person she knows, dead or alive. A gifted psychic who can hear the voices of spirits, all Stella wants is to con enough people to survive on the brutal New York City streets and find a way to deal with the tragic death of her sister.
Performing seances in parlor rooms and tarot readings by candlelight, Stella is barely holding on. Until she meets Pax, a mysterious young man who offers Stella an invitation and a promise: Join a secret group of talented mystics who explore the darker realms of spiritualism, and together they will get revenge on her sister’s killer.
But how can Stella admit she is the reason her sister is dead?
In the hope of righting past wrongs, Stella joins Pax and his team of mystics. It’s soon clear there is more behind their partnership than just vengeance.
They must tread carefully though, because in the world of spiritualism, not everything is what it seems—especially when communing with the unknown.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grieving young grifters plot revenge in this YA debut from O'Donnell Tubb (Fowl Play), an exuberant historical fantasy set in 1912 New York City. Seventeen-year-old clairvoyant Stella Bodhan ekes out a living reading fortunes and holding seances until "true believer" Pax Princip, 20, recruits her to a nascent bureau of psychics. The bureau's stated mission is to ease sorrow by facilitating communication with the dead, but that changes after Stella and Pax meet Nirav, a soothsayer who paints his prophetic visions. Stella and Pax each lost a sister in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a tragedy for which factory owner Max Blanck was recently exonerated, and one of Nirav's paintings places Pax and Stella at Blanck's upcoming victory celebration. Upon learning that Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the world-famous Hope Diamond will also appear at the event, Pax and his intersectionally diverse band of mystics hatch a plan to infiltrate it and ruin Blanck. Convoluted character backstories make the tale feel a bit overstuffed, but burgeoning romance and rollicking hijinks elicit continued reader engagement. Stella and her dead sister, Daisy, take turns narrating, their tones breezy despite some dark subject matter, including the factory fire and the Titanic's sinking. Ages 14–up.
