Hazardous Spirits

Evelyn Hazard is a housewife whose husband, Robert, has opened up to her about his 'gift'--he can sense spirits and speak to the dead. The Hazards have had enough issues with their social standing--Evelyn can't afford to have a full-time servant, her now-deceased older sister, Dolores, has already brought shame to their family with her divorce, and her mother and sister are putting pressure on her to have children, despite her blatant discomfort with babies. If her family found out about Robert's newfound obsession with the occult, they'd most likely disown them.

As Evelyn attends more of Robert's shows, she gets pulled into the world of mediums and spirits. Robert and his tutor, a ten-year-old boy named Clarence, are making accurate observations about the souls with which they're communing. Evelyn fears that a secret only Dolores knows will be unearthed if Robert or Clarence can communicate with her beyond the veil, and the threat of this reveal sends her spiraling.

I don't know what I was expecting when I read 'Hazardous Spirits', but I ended up enjoying it way more than I anticipated. Anbara Salam's observations of upper-middle class society and rich people living in excess hearkens to 'The Importance of Being Earnest', with loving descriptions of unappealing food and the secrets held by every character. I can see some readers being turned off by the shallowness of the characters, Salam's writing proves that there's more going on under the surface than meets the eye. As an adult woman who never wants children, I found Evelyn's distance whenever the subject was brought up relatable.

I'll definitely seek out Anbara Salam's other books now--her writing voice is intuitive and funny, and I really want to read the other things she's written!

This is one of my favorite reads this year. The writing is excellent. I found myself highlighting several sentences and I rarely do that. The characters and settings are described so well that I feel like I almost watched a film.
I am a person who is very curious about Mediums, but I don't know if I whole heartedly believe in them. This book made me pause and think even more.

Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam puts the reader in the years just after the first World War, after the population has been battered by both the war as well as influenza. So many people have been lost, instantly, healthy and young people taken in the very prime of their lives. This, naturally, led to an uptick of Spiritualism, where the survivors were left to grapple with their grief and seek answers pertaining to the Unknowable.

Robert Hazard, an accountant who sat out the war due to his health, startles his wife Evelyn one day in late autumn by announcing that he can speak to and hear spirits. She is horrified, and seeks out a doctor, who assures her everything is fine and that if it continues, he may be going crazy, a fraud, or it could all be real.

Evelyn is deeply concerned with her husband picking up spiritualism, as she frets about what other people will say or think almost as much as she worries that her deceased sister will bring forth a message that will ruin Evelyn's life. Evelyn has to choose whether to encourage her husband or forbid him from what brings him happiness, and as the days progress, she finds herself torn between believing it nonsense and hoping that it may be true for the comfort it could offer to those who have lost loved ones.

This sort of book is right up my alley--spiritualism, historical fiction (I generally prefer 19th century, but this is close enough)--yet I didn't love it as much as I could have. I found Evelyn to be a grating character in many instances, vacillating back and forth, crying and running about. It also seemed a little hollow to me, like I was waiting on a precipice of something huge that never came. It's an enjoyable enough book, though, and would be perfect to read during October for Halloween.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.