Seduction

M.J. Rose

In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with the likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus—and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.

Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey—where Hugo conducted the séances—hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different—Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.

What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists.

My Thoughts

This was a great read from start to finish. I liked the interchanging story line between Victor Hugo in the 1850s and current day Jac L’Etoille. The tale covers many topics - reincarnation, mythology, spiritualism, and Celtic lore. The author masterfully weaves the past and the present together and by the end, we get to see how everything and everyone connects.

This is the fifth book in The Reincarnationists series. I have only read one other book from the series, but did not feel this in any way kept me from enjoying this one. I liked the mystery and intrigue, the ookie spookie undertone. Ms. Rose has quite a talent for keeping the reader engaged. I definitely want to read the other books in this series.

My thanks to Atria Books, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.

Publish date: May 7, 2013.