Mrs Wood is the most successful medium in Victorian London. Together with her assistant, Miss Newman, she hosts spectacular séances that have made her the talk of the town and brought the rich and famous to her door requesting private consultations. Of course, Mrs Wood can’t really communicate with spirits, but she doesn’t feel too guilty about what she’s doing – after all, a widow has to make a living somehow and this is the work she’s been raised to do. Recently, however, things have started going wrong. There are reports from America of mediums promising to materialise full spirits and although Mrs Wood disapproves of such things, she worries that her own more traditional shows are losing their spark. When she hears the unmistakable sound of a yawn during one of her séances, she knows she has to take action.

The answer to Mrs Wood’s problems arrives in the form of sixteen-year-old Emmie Finch, who wants nothing more than to become a medium. Impressed by the girl’s talent and enthusiasm, Mrs Wood agrees to take her on as an apprentice. Miss Finch is an instant hit with Mrs Wood’s friends and clients, but is she really the sweet, innocent young woman she appears to be or has Mrs Wood made a big mistake?

The Other Side of Mrs Wood is Lucy Barker’s debut novel and a very enjoyable one! It took me a few chapters to get into the story as the beginning was quite slow, but by the middle of the book I had been completely drawn in. At first I wasn’t sure whether I liked Mrs Wood, but I quickly warmed to her. It was nice to have an older, more mature heroine, who is starting to worry about greying hair and aching bones, has already been married and divorced before the story begins and is devoting herself to her career rather than looking for romance. The beautiful young Emmie Finch, on the other hand, is portrayed as the novel’s villain, but whether she really is trying to cause trouble or whether it’s all in Mrs Wood’s mind is something you’ll have to read the book to find out!

Apart from a subplot featuring Mrs Wood’s assistant Miss Newman, who is involved in the early women’s rights movement, this is not really a book that tackles a lot of deep issues and I enjoyed it primarily for its entertainment value. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a silly, frothy book in any way – it’s well written, evocative of the Victorian era, and I learned a huge amount about the 19th century fascination with spiritualism. It was interesting to read about the techniques used by mediums to produce dramatic effects, the etiquette of hosting a meeting of the Circle, and the preparations that go into holding a Grand Séance. What I found particularly intriguing was that although Mrs Wood, like her rival mediums, lives in fear of being caught out and exposed, she doesn’t actually view herself as a fraud or a con artist. She believes she is using her skills to bring comfort to other people and although she has no qualms over using trickery to ‘apport’ (transport using spiritual means) small objects and even herself, she feels that materialising full spirits is a step too far!

The Other Side of Mrs Wood was fun to read (except when I became infuriated by the actions of certain characters!) but I can’t agree with the publisher’s description of the book as an ‘irresistible historical comedy’. It was amusing in places but not particularly funny and definitely not what I would call a comedy. Misleading description aside, it’s an impressive first novel with a great twist at the end and I’m already looking forward to Lucy Barker’s next book.

Thanks to Fourth Estate for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

This is book 25/50 read for the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.