Margery and Me
Sometimes what makes a book unique is its perspective. The narrator in this novel about the 1920s spiritualism craze is a spirit himself, Walter. An older brother who can’t move on from a train yard accident, Walter follows his younger sister Mina as she leaves their Canadian farm and their abusive father. With a pretty face, a nice figure, and a charismatic demeanor, Mina wrangles two husbands, a cadre of adorers and, thanks to Walter’s persistence, a career as a séance medium, “Margery.”
The novel focuses on Mina’s years proving her authenticity to a spiritualism investigation board for the journal Scientific American. Pushed by her second husband, physician Roy Crandon, Mina channels an irreverent Walter for friends, investigators, and luminaries of the day, including Harry Houdini. As years pass, Mina’s hangers-on drop off, and members of the board who once supported her, denounce her as a fraud.
It is difficult to write a book about a real person, as life rarely follows a narrative arc. While the premise is engaging, it was difficult to maintain interest when no real stakes existed for making the investigators believe in Mina’s talents. Since the book is well-written, with an unusual narrator, those with a special interest in either the 1920s or spiritualism would enjoy this.
