The Haunting of Alma Fielding : A True Ghost Story

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE A page-turner with the authority of history PHILIPPA GREGORY As gripping as a novel. An engaging, unsettling, deeply satisfying read SARAH WATERS A wonderful book about the world of mediums HILARY MANTEL, Open Book, BBC Radio 4 London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home.

Nandor Fodor a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical research begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss and the foreshadowing of a nation s worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor s obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed.

With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor s enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting. An empathetic, meticulous account of a spiritual unravelling; a tribute to the astonishing power of the human mind - but also a properly absorbing, baffling, satisfying detective story AIDA EDEMARIAM A PICK OF THE AUTUMN IN THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER AND THE GUARDIAN