WINNER OF THE HISTORICAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION DEBUT CROWN AWARD 2022
'A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power'
DERREN BROWN
'Haunting, witty and deeply moving'
JODIE WHITTAKER
'Such a deliciously creepy, unsettling read… a melancholic gothic triumph. Gave me all the same feelings as one of my most favourite books ever, Frankenstein'
JENNIFER SAINT, bestselling author of Ariadne
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Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism, attending séances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.
William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him – seemingly from beyond the veil – placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen’s parlour tricks gone too far?
Based on the true story of Professor William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, and with a cast of characters including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, The Spirit Engineer conjures a haunted, twisted tale of power, paranoia and one ultimate, inescapable truth...
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*MORE PRAISE FOR THE SPIRIT ENGINEER*
'A work of true invention and drama that moves at a cracking pace from the very first page and keeps you guessing'
JEREMY VINE
'Set in a historical moment where science and spiritualism meet, The Spirit Engineer is an ingeniously plotted debut novel'
SARAH BURTON, author of The Strange Adventures of H
'It’s clever, it’s quirky, highly entertaining, but carries a chill as cold as the grave'
ANNIE GARTHWAITE, author of Cecily
'Dark, powerful and twisting – The Spirit Engineer will leave you wondering what is real and what is illusion'
W. C. RYAN, author of A House of Ghosts
'The Spirit Engineer is a delight of a debut, an atmospheric and entirely gripping chiller that calls to mind the best of M.R. James and E.F. Benson, without in any way paling in comparison'
BILLY O'CALLAGHAN, author of Life Sentences
'Based on an absolutely astonishing true story, it kept me guessing right till the end'
FRANCES QUINN, author of The Smallest Man
'A marvellous and menacing gothic chiller, filled with secrets and soaked in atmosphere'
NEIL BLACKMORE, author of The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle
'With a skilful misdirection that any Edwardian spirit medium would be proud to demonstrate, A.J. West soon turns the screw in this fascinating novel'
ESSIE FOX, author of The Somnambulist
'Gripping from the outset – A.J West immerses readers in the spiritualism of 1914 Belfast with great skill. A wonderful debut'
SAM HURCOM, author of Letters from the Dead
'Part horror, part history, The Spirit Engineer is a chilling and thought-provoking tale of exploitation, faith, deception, fraud, séances, hubris, and prejudice... Fans of Penny Dreadful and The Nevers will love it'
GEORGE RUSSELL, author of The Ship of Dreams: The Sinking of the Titanic and the End of Edwardian Belfast
'Is Goligher a fraud? Is Crawford himself a reliable narrator?... West answers these questions with ingenuity and invention'
THE SUNDAY TIMES
A.J. West was born in Buckinghamshire and not very comprehensively educated at a comprehensive school in Newport Pagnell. Growing up, his teacher parents read him stories by Blyton, Milne, Dahl, Lewis, Lawrence and Graham and he found a passion for old-fashioned tales that mixed fear and fun. He went on to study English Literature at university in Preston, Lancashire before graduating to become a radio and television producer, news presenter and journalist at the BBC in London and Northern Ireland, where his fascination with William Jackson Crawford’s story began. After a characteristically strange twist in events he became a television personality before embarking on a new career as a PR and communications director. During this time, he has written for national newspapers and appeared on network current affairs programmes on radio and television. To find out more about the author visit: www.ajwestauthor.com
