Written accounts of the Civil War have been further enhanced by photographic documentation provided by Matthew Brady. In this historical fiction novel, Brady has sent an apprentice, Edward Moody, to photograph the carnage at Antietam in 1862. After viewing the photos of dead bodies and horse carcasses, woodcuts and other nesses started to appear in newspapers. Why not raise up the dead through spiritual communication? Brokenhearted wives and mothers felt hopeless. Communicating with a lost son or husband by capturing his spirit could often promote inner peace.

In 1870, Edward Moody claimed to capture the ghost of a deceased loved one. A spectral image appeared in a photo created in his studio. Customers from all walks of life frequented his business in the hope of reconnecting with a shadowy loved one faintly appearing in the background. His fame spread despite the naysayers who tried to expose him as a fraud.

Abolitionist Senator James Garrett tried to placate wife Elizabeth by sitting for a spirit photo despite his abhorrence of Moody's methods. Elizabeth had been informed in writing, by Moody, that her son William, who died eighteen years ago, had communicated from the spirit world and she must sit for an immediate photo to be reunited with him. Development of the photo is troubling. In lieu of William's ness, the shadowy image of a young woman appears. Moody knows her, but so does James Garrett. Garrett must obtain the negative, and soon.

"The Spirit Photographer: A Novel" by Jon Michael Varese is a novel about spirit photography, fact and fiction. A journey undertaken to the bayou interjects Reconstruction Era thinking, bounty hunting, and the practice of voodoo. For this reader, of greatest importance is continued recognition of all aspects of the Civil War Era through the medium of photography. An excellent Southern Gothic debut novel I highly recommend.

Thank you W. W. Norton & Company and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Spirit Photographer".97 s Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader2,278 31.4k

4 glowing stars to The Spirit Photographer! ?? ?? ?? ??

It’s 1870 in Boston, and photographer Edward Moody’s job is to capture spirits of departed loved ones in photos. The word on the street is that Moody is a scammer, but at the same time, his popularity is spreading, and his work is in high demand.

Moody ends up developing a photo with a “real” spirit connected to himself instead of his paying client. As a result, he travels to Louisiana to resolve some of his past.

The Spirit Photographer is a southern Gothic mystery taking place during the fascinating time of the Reconstruction. It’s well-written with round characters and took me on quite the thrill ride! Just who was that spirit captured in Moody’s photo?

Another fabulous recommendation from my friend, Fran!

Thank you to Jon Michael Varese, Overlook Press, and Netgalley for the ARC. The Spirit Photographer releases on April 17, 2018! 2018-reads arcs historical-fiction ...more77 s Cheri1,873 2,729

!! NOW AVAILABLE !!

”Banner of Light
”Boston, Massachusetts Saturday, August 5, 1865
“A NEW PHASE of spiritual manifestations is exciting a great deal of attention and wonder in those who take an interest in the grand and beautiful subject of spirit communion. If this phenomenon in spiritual manifestation be genuine, it is the greatest and the best yet given to outside perception and bears incontrovertible evidence of the truth that spiritual communications are what they claim to be, viz.: actual manifestations of the ‘dead’ to the ‘living.’”

Edward Moody once apprenticed to famed photographer Matthew Brady, photographing the fallen.

”My subjects today did not make appointments for their sittings. They were photographed as they fell, their hands clutching the grass around them, or reaching out for help that never came. The red light of battle is faded from their eyes, but their lips are still set with that last fierce charge which loosed their souls from their bodies. The ground upon which they lie is torn by shot and shell, and the grass trampled down by the tread of hot, hurrying feet. Little rivulets that can scarcely be of water are still trickling along the earth tears over a mother’s face.“

After the days of such scenes were behind him, the lure of offering peace, perhaps even hope, to the families of those who have lost loved ones. Moody, returned from apprenticing for Brad, has his own thriving photography business. While not all of his photographs include spirits, many do include those who have passed beyond the veil. Still, many consider him a fraud, but each time some person, some group tries to expose him as a fraud, scrutinizing each step of his work, his fame grows. As his fame grows, more grieving widows, and mothers mourning the loss of children flock to him as word spreads.

”I cannot shake from my thoughts the one side of these pictures that the sun did not catch…the one phase that has escaped our photographic skill. It is the background of widows and orphans…mothers, sons, daughters…torn from their natural protectors by the remorseless hand of battle. This war has made thousands of homes desolate, and has forever quenched the light of life in thoughts of hearts. Imagination must be the one to paint all this desolation, for I cannot – broken hearts cannot be photographed.”

Within these pages is a mystery beyond how Moody manages to capture the images of the departed, involving the image of a woman who appears in the photograph of a Senator, who agrees to sit for this photograph only to placate his still grieving wife, and the wife who is depending on their son’s image appearing. When a ghostly image appears that is not their son, each is struck by their own thoughts.

Getting to the bottom of this mystery sends Moody traveling to the bayous of Louisiana, while the Senator’s wife sinks deeper into her own thoughts pondering why this woman’s image would appear in their photo, and why now. The Senator only knows that public opinion is not only against the practice of spiritual photography, but also that if the photograph is leaked, too many questions would arise, and his political aspirations would be shredded.

Whispers of voodoo haunt these pages, as answers are sought, a journey to see if enough light is cast upon the darkness, will truth bring peace.


Pub Date: 17 APR 2018

Many thanks for the ARC provided by The Overlook Press1860s 1870s 2018 ...more42 s TeresaAuthor 8 books946

I first encountered this author when he came to speak to us at a meeting of the local Dickens Fellowship last month. It was a joy to listen to and discuss Dickens with him. He’s the Director of Public Outreach for the Dickens Project at the University of California, so I wasn’t surprised that he knew his Dickens, and the time period. The most touching of his stories dealing with the Project had to do with their work with underserved high school students in the area, and the effect reading Dickens has had on their lives. When asked, he briefly spoke on his novel. I was so impressed with him, I went to a couple of the panels he was on that weekend at the Tennessee Williams Fest. Subsequently, I bought this book: not a book I would’ve bought otherwise. When I heard him say Beloved was one of its inspirations, I was intrigued, though cautious, as Beloved is one of my favorites. I needn’t have worried: happily, inspiration does not mean imitation.

Varese’s story moves from 19th-century Boston to Reconstruction New Orleans and beyond its city limits; and while I can’t speak to the authenticity of the former, I can to the latter and there’s not a false note. I now wish to ask him if he took a tour into the deepest of Louisiana swamps, as his characters’ journey into that heart of darkness is brilliant. I was reminded of the gorgeous prose of Constance Fenimore Woolson’s description of the St. Clair Flats (a place already lost before she wrote of it so vividly) in a short story of that name. Varese’s sentences are gorgeous as well; and there are scenes I don’t think I’ll forget, including one near the end.

In our meeting with Varese, he mentioned that in the French Quarter on a side wall of the Royal Orleans Hotel—formerly the St. Louis Hotel and Exchange— a word referring to the former hotel’s slave auction block is still visible. https://images.app.goo.gl/V8N5gjyu1s1... As with this novel (and there is a scene in that side street), the word on the wall is a chilling reminder of a past that was not so long ago, and of a heritage that is insidiously still with us.

*

Addendum (May 1, 2019):
Serendipitously, just today, our resident geographer extraordinaire Richard Campanella posted a photo from 1916 that captured the demolition of the St. Louis Hotel: https://twitter.com/nolacampanella/st... I asked him about the wall with the word on it. His reply: That wall was part of four stores built into the Chartres St side of the old hotel, which were left intact. I believe they were still in place until plans for the new hotel called for the full parcel. Architect Sam Wilson kept the facade and embedded it into the new building.26 s Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede1,953 829

The Civil War may be over, but it has left a lot of women mourning husbands and sons. This has seen an increase in spiritualism. And in Boston, there is a man, Edward Moody that is said to be able to take your picture and you dearly departed will appear as a ghost in the picture. Despite many people proclaiming he's a fake, so far no one has been able to expose him as a fraud. However, when he's taking the photographs that should show the ghost of the dead son to an abolitionist senator instead of boy there is a beautiful woman in the photograph, a woman Edward recognizes...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!read-201818 s Rebecca3,781 3,124

Varese’s debut novel was inspired by the life story of the real-life father of spirit photography, William H. Mumler. His fictional stand-in here is Edward Moody, who was a battlefield photographer under Matthew Brady and now owns his own photography studio in Boston. Moody considers himself to be doing a service to the bereaved by fabricating family photographs in which the ghost of a departed loved one appears. But his own loss looms large, and he must undertake a quest to the New Orleans bayou to find out what really happened. This all sounds rather more exciting than it actually is. Steven Price’s By Gaslight, The Spirit Photographer is too long and melodramatic, often requiring a major suspension of disbelief. The novel is capably written and plotted, but doesn’t stand out in the sea of historical fiction or live up to its exciting premise. What with Varese’s academic background, he may have been better off writing this as nonfiction.

See my full review at The Bookbag.historical-fiction reviewed-bookbag victorian-studies14 s Cindy951 35

The title and cover photo drew me to this novel. I've been really into historical fiction lately and as a genealogist, this was my kind of story.

It's set after the Civil War has ended and a photographer, Moody, has had his fill of photographing depressing battle field images. So he sets about doing photographs in which the deceased images show up in portraits of family members.

There was a big belief in spiritualism at that time and the author certainly did a good job at facts on that. Also how things were during that period in history. The part set in New Orleans was described very realistic. I could see the Spanish moss hanging from the trees from the descriptive words of the author. It was an interesting book that anyone into historical fiction would enjoy!

* I was provided an ARC to read from the publisher and NetGalley. It was my decision to read and review this book.2018 2018-netgalley7 s Rachel Bea358 126

be back for a review2018-releases books-of-20197 s Nell Beaudry146 41

I didn't love this. I recently read a great non-fiction on the subject of Spirit Photography. Varese has managed to take a spectacularly interesting subject, dumb it down, add a half-baked mystery, some dull characters impossible to connect with, a little bit of extra-marital drama and frustrated love, and package it up as a novel. The only saving grace was the language, which was quite lovely. This suffered from bad characterization, choppy pacing, and an uninspired plot. Shame.adult eps historical-fiction ...more4 s Melissa JoulwanAuthor 14 books513

The author of this book is a follower of my blog, and I got a preview copy. I'm so lucky to be in contact with such talented, intelligent people! I devoured this book in two days—I needed to know the truth about the spirit in the photograph!

The book jacket copy is practically a checklist of things I love in fiction: turn-of-the-century hijinks, cities I've visited, a flim-flam man, a ghost, secrets and betrayal, voodoo, court proceedings, and a story woven from the facts of history.

The cast of characters are very vivid, and while I dis some of them for being just awful people, they feel true and real, which makes them compelling. Everyone has hidden depths and should not be taken lightly, especially Moody and his partner-in-crime Winter. And Mrs. Lovejoy, the landlady, is a true delight.

Jon does a brilliant job of putting the reader RIGHT THERE when Moody and Winter venture into the Louisiana bayou; I swear I could feel the humidity and see the ripples in the water myself. Through his characters' speech and his descriptions, he clearly illuminates the sometimes dramatic differences between the north and south during the crucial years just after the Civil War. "In New England, memories were locked behind brick walls and heavy doors. Here, the trees seemed to weep with them."

The book kicks off with plenty of energy and intrigue, and the ending is very satisfying. In between, there are plenty of high-stakes conversations and action, as well as some difficult discussions of race relations and sexism that feel particularly apt, given our current politics. (Warning: There's some tough language, so if you're sensitive, keep this in mind.) The ramifications of the central plot echo through all of the characters' lives and no one is left untouched by the beautiful and tragic experience of the spirit in the photograph... including me.20184 s Jason1,246 121

What a wild ride!
The book is set just after slavery ends, the freed slaves are trying to find their place in the world and things are on the edge of heading back to how they were, whilst all this is happening there is a spirit photographer, named Moody, at the centre of a battle between scientists and the spiritualists. Mixed into all this action is a ghost story and a cracking mystery.

The research is first rate, in fact you get a nice list of books at the end if you want to look into things further. You get some fantastic characters in Moody, Winter and the demon- Wilcox who is hunting them. Between some of the chapters are included newspaper cuttings showing both sides of the battle between the scientists and the spiritualists, these make a great addition. As things start to reach a crescendo one of the best part of the book happens, Moody's day in court and the interesting arguments between the prosecutor and defence lawyers.

I really enjoyed this thrilling book and can't find any fault, a wonderful debut. Not sure I can think of another writer to compare this to.

Blog review here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...read-in-20183 s Beth Sponzilli291

I found this an interesting topic, something I have not seen in historical fiction. Edward Moody, based on an actual so called Spirit Photographer, tries to help grieving widows or mothers after the civil war with showing their loved one in a photograph. Until this scheme proves to find an actual spirit. This story isn’t quite what I expected but still proved to be an adventure to read.3 s Bonnye Reed4,351 75

GNab Jon Michael Varese brings us an excellent tale based on facts of the reconstruction years following the Civil War. We travel from Boston to New Orleans and into the cypress swamps with photographer Edward Moody and his black assistant Joseph Winter following the long cold trail of Isabelle, once loved by both men in their own way. And with Senator James B. Garrett and his wife Elizabeth we are exposed to the vague influence of Washington DC and the already looming spyglass of public awareness on all things political. Things legal greet us from the very public trial of Edward Moody for swindling many credulous persons, leading them to believe that his spirit photographs are true representations of the spirits of their lost love ones. In the process we find complete immersion into the spirit of life in this telling decade of American History, as the nation tries to heal and move onward from the devastation of the Civil War.

I found this novel very informative of many facets of life in the 1865 - 1870's America. Varese presents us with aspects of travel, police procedures, immersion of freed blacks into the cloth of civilization, and even Voodoo practices as well as the history of the Spiritualists and Scientists in America during those critical years.

But The Spirit Photographer: A Novel, is first and foremost an entertaining tale, hard to put down. I can happily recommend this novel to friends and family. It is difficult to believe this is a debut novel. I will look for more coming out by this gifted author.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Jon Michael Varese, and The Overlook Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

pub date April 17, 2018
The Overlook Presskindle-or-pdf read-20183 s Contrary Reader156 19

I really enjoyed this one. Having read Lincoln in the Bardo and not being able to quite engage with its creative narrative- this book shared similarities and delivered. It manages to weave many heavy plot threads and still keep your attention due to its pacy development. I felt that it’s emphasis on slavery, barbarity and the civil war made for an interesting story that helped me understand this time in history and how lives were affected. Perhaps more emphasis could have been made on emotions, but I get this didn’t fit the pacy/ action approach. Loved all the southern flourishes. The swamp scenes were really eerie6 s Deanne Patterson2,050 80

Taking place in Boston in 1870 after the Civil War is over. Photographer Edward Moody sees all the stress and sadness from the widows and mothers of the departed. He promises to capture the ghost of ones dearly departed loved ones. After the Civil War interest in Spiritualism increases. This photographer takes pictures of live people but when developed a spirit from the person's past shows up in the photo with them. This Southern Gothic mystery takes you from the streets of Boston to the bayous of Louisiana during the fascinating time of the Reconstruction. You will not want to put this one down once you start it. It has many characters that may be confusing at first but these well written character's all come together at the end.
Pub Date 17 Apr 2018
I was given a complimentary copy of this book by The Overlook Press through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.netgalley netgalley-for-april-20182 s Onceinabluemoon2,615 67

4.5 what a ride, knew nothing when I started and was drawn in instantly, shocked to find this was historical fiction and thoroughly enjoyed ever minute. I think it's best to know nothing, then no expectations and everything is new and unfolding, right down to the historical events of the time. Creative story telling, enjoyed the angle from the supernatural to tell the story. Loved the ending. 2 s Merryl137 1 follower

Congratulations Jon Varese on a thoroughly enjoyable debut novel! Varese takes the reader on a journey from Boston, Massachusetts through to the swamp lands of New Orleans as we follow the main character, Edward Moody and his companion Joseph Winter as they travel through the post-civil war America in search of the elusive Isabelle.

The Spirit Photographer is a highly entertaining Southern gothic mystery novel that successfully blends fact with fiction. Varese has created dynamic characters who change and grow as the story unfolds although I would’ve to have known more about Moody’s reason for creating spirit photography.

I look forward to reading Jon Varese’s next novel !2 s Sarah BradleyAuthor 20 books13

I was initially really excited about this book, based on the back cover blurb. And there were moments of real brilliance. However, this book is densely written, marginally involving too many characters, that ultimately, I was left wondering if the conflict upon which the plot is based was really worth all the effort. 2 s Caroline136 2

A friend’s first book about two con artist “spirit” photographers during the post civil war who hoodwink people into thinking they’ve taken pictures of ghosts, but who then surprisingly make an authentic spirit photograph of someone they both once knew. This book felt impeccably researched and hugely creative! Really impressed at the moodiness he was able to instill in the pages — definitely spooky and redolent of that Southern decay and swampiness. It was a little hard to keep the characters and their motives straight at times, but I d the historical detail and I found the plot oddly resonant with what’s going on today in the media — ie, real vs fake news, and groups of people who aren’t willing to accept evidence against their beliefs. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review1 Fred Forbes1,025 58

May be a bit too literary for readers looking for something quick and breezy but great descriptive detail and interesting interpretation of the days of spiritualism and Reconstruction. Excellent sense of place, both North and South and good character development. Attracted initially by my interest in photography and enjoyed the description of the old procedures and processes but the story held my interest and served as my "lunch read".1 nikkia neil1,150 19

Thanks Edelweiss for this ARC.

A epic saga that will have you jumping, outraged, and elated at different times. Loved reading about my home state of louisiana too.
edelweiss1 Kate163 9

Spent more time reading Wikipedia pages about the premise of the novel than ACTUALLY being into the novel. 1 Dawn325 2

There were places in this book where it was a great storyline. But 310 pages was way too much for anyone to handle.1 Kaitlyn lovell352

This wasn’t my favorite book but it was a good story. The historical fiction was a little much for me. The time period made the pace of the book seem slow even though it should have been faster. It wasn’t a bad read just not for me
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