The Haunting of Alma Fielding: SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020

by Kate Summerscale

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Book cover for The Haunting of Alma Fielding

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE
longlisted for the ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION


A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, i PAPER, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR AND THE SUNDAY EXPRESS

‘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
  • ISBN10 1408895455
  • ISBN13 9781408895450
  • Publish Date 1 October 2020
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 22 July 2021
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Imprint Bloomsbury Circus
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 368
  • Language English