The Spirit Engineer: Winner of the HWA Debut Crown Award 2022

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I love the fact that one book can make you want to laugh, cry and hide behind a cushion in one sitting. Split into four parts, the first three were interesting and well written, but the fourth part was something else! Knowing that the book was based on a true story, I deliberately avoided looking into the characters before reading it and the final scenes were so explosive and hard-hitting as the truth was revealed. I could barely bring myself to read on as it suddenly dawned on me the way in which the story was heading, while at the same time I was unable to put it down. An authentic, engrossing and emotional novel. Oh, Darwin, Darwin, Darwin,' said Stoupe. 'The very enemy of magic himself. Very well then, perhaps not butterflies but even Mr Darwin would struggle to explain where we go when we die. He might be up there now, in fact, sitting on a wooly mammoth and thinking himself a perfect clown."

As a child, Kathleen helped her family pay their way, blouse-cutting for the large factories which made up the city’s world-dominating textile industry. The women of Ulster were renowned for their skilled needlework, though the Goligher family were likely more involved in the less-skilled pattern-cutting trade, trimming linen into shapes to be stitched elsewhere. The remuneration was meagre, though poor families such as the Golighers were at least able to afford food and benefit from a grace and favour home supplied by their employers.William’s father, Robert, lived until 1933, thirteen years longer than his oldest son, William and a full 37 years longer than his late wife. This is barely a reflection of my conversation with Cathryn who has been generous and understanding of my creative process. I think it’s fair to say the family have been delighted to find some new evidence of Kathleen’s fascinating story but are, at the same time, surprised to discover that the kind, fun, uncomplicated woman they knew and loved was part of a foggy and emotionally-charged story of duplicity, worldwide fame, infamy, derision, adulation and, ultimately, suicide.

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 I am nervous about but fascinated by how people used to believe in spiritualism and seances in years gone by. The other thing I love to read about is actual historical figures who believed, dabbled in or forwarded the cause. Conan Doyle for example believed that the Cottingley Fairies were real. There's a real brilliant sense of the time period that this story is set around, the whole idea if there is life after death is such a fascinating one that is wonderfully challenged in the quest of seances being faked.See the public records image below and the details copied below for clarity. Readers of my historical novel The Spirit Engineer will note that the fictional family is a complete facsimile of the family in real life, even down to Rose, their ‘general servant’. It was around this time that Kathleen’s mother passed away, and one can only imagine the emotional pressure of the situation in which the young medium found herself. By d’Albe’s account, it seems clear that tensions were high between the Golighers and the respected – and clearly disappointed – investigator. As the book went on, I found myself theorising what was coming, all of which turned out to be wrong. By the ending, I had no idea what I believed. Part of me was bracing myself for an ambiguous ending, but I needn’t have worried. The book was wrapped up in a way that truly made me want to throw it across the room, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Kathleen’s family are absolutely clear that she was in no way a seeker of the spotlight later in life; her public performances having switched from communion with the dead to ballroom dancing with her husband at company functions. The Spirit Engineer was a surprise for me in so many ways. It is a debut novel written with such confidence, and the level of research (and resulting historical accuracy) into the world of spiritualism in the early 1900’s, creates an unsettling atmosphere, which perfectly represents the struggle between the desperate need to believe in the paranormal phenomenon and the scientific and logical arguments which counteracted it. Set in a historical moment where science and spiritualism meet, The Spirit Engineer is an ingeniously plotted debut novel.’ Spiritualism was quite an obsession in the 1900s, especially for the middle classes. To some it was a harmless parlour game. To the true believers it was a desperate attempt to cope with loss and find consolation. AJ West has gone and taken one of my favourite subjects, actually two things to read about, and woven a fascinating and gloriously gothic tale.This was a rather creepy read, made even more chilling after finding out that it's based on real history and events!! Is there something out there?! There are no heroes or villains in the traditional sense in this book. There are just the deceivers, the deceived and the deceivable. There is considerable mind play for the reader in this book as one tries to navigate the mind of the narrator and principal protagonist.

The entire book carries an air of mystery throughout, and at times the story is quite chilling. The reader never really knows what to believe. Are ghosts and the spiritual real, or just an elaborate hoax? At times, the book reads like a psychological thriller because of this. UNSURPRISINGLY, my favourite genre of books are usually to do with politics. If not politics, history, and if not that travel or sport. The unsinkable Titanic had sunk. Belfast was in mourning. The Great War was eating up a generation of young men, leaving not just empty chairs in many homes but literally thousands of broken hearts all with a need for answers to inexplicable loss. Belfast, Crawford tell us was "hiding in its own madness".Poor Dr. Crawford! He committed suicide in Belfast in 1920 and left a note saying that his research into Spiritualism had nothing to do with his self-murder. I am very sorry indeed that this sincere investigator became his own judge because what he had written had been done in good faith. Regular visitors to my blog know that I read a lot of cozy mysteries, mysteries and historical fiction. I tend to shy away from ‘ghost stories’ or anything paranormal. I’m a scaredy-cat, honestly – I don’t sleep well after reading or watching anything scary. But I saw a blurb about AJ West’s The Spirit Engineer on Facebook and was intrigued. And so I went down the rabbit-hole. West himself is personable and charming online (I’ll be posting an interview with him soon) and as soon as I saw that The Spirit Engineer was available on Netgalley, I jumped on the Request button and even though I did receive an ebook from the publisher, I also ended up purchasing a signed hardcopy for my bookshelves (it’s a gorgeous book). Mr Donaldson was, from what I can tell, an enthusiastic Spiritualist, with as much faith in ghosts as his medicinal herbs, and it transpires that he encouraged Kathleen to continue with private seances for a decade after they were married, acting as intermediary and booking agent for this wishing to take part in circles. Their now-deceased children had very vague memories of some strange goings on upstairs while they were expected to keep a distance. Their daughter apparently listened to the seances from the bottom of the stairs, never full understanding what they were. There's a real sense of history and atmosphere throughout this book. You sense William wonders what his wife is doing when she starts to visit seances but it's the only way she can deal with her grief. But when he goes along to see for himself - and to rubbish it all! - he hears voices that trouble him and sets him off on a path to discover just what those involved with seances are up to. Is it all theatre or is there a genuine connection to the spirit world. Set in Belfast, 1914, this haunting historical fiction centres on high society’s obsession with spiritualism following the sinking of the Titanic, attending seances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.