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High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance

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When mischievous sisters Maggie and Kate Fox hear that their dreaded niece, Lizzie, is coming for a visit, they immediately start thinking of ways to get rid of her. Their prank takes the form of rapping noises that spell out messages from the dead, but instead of making Lizzie flee in fear, their plan backfires, and soon they have not only Lizzie and their family convinced, but the whole town.

All of a sudden, neighbors want to hold séances to give messages to their deceased loved ones, an innocent man is accused of murder, and a reporter comes to investigate, turning their harmless little prank into something much bigger.

The girls are thrilled with all the attention, but when their older sister, Leah, makes a visit and witnesses a spirit rapping for herself, she immediately sees through their shenanigans and recognizes that it is one of their tricks. Rather than turning them in, however, she gives them a choice: come with her and allow her to take charge of the rappings and make the decisions, or be revealed as frauds. Under Leah's control, the spirit circles turn into a business venture, as she starts charging admission and adds a vast arsenal of spooky tricks to the evening's entertainment.

The sisters travel around holding séances, and their fame grows, giving rise to spiritualism and mesmerism, and causing many more "mediums" to be discovered. Not everyone is impressed, though, and more than once they find themselves confronted by disbelievers and skeptics, even having to flee for their lives on occasion.

One of these skeptics is Elisha Kent Kane, a charismatic and well-known Arctic explorer who, despite his misgivings about her occupation, takes a great liking to Maggie and begins to court her. He insists that she give up the spirit rapping and the deception, even offering to provide her with an education and place to stay in order to improve her social status. Maggie finds herself with a decision to make, as she is torn between her feelings for Elisha and what he can provide, and her old way of life and the acceptance of her family.

HIGH SPIRITS is a fascinating book, made even more interesting by the fact that the story of the Fox sisters is based in truth. I enjoyed every second of reading it, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Readers will be swept along with Maggie and Kate as they bamboozle an entire nation, and will feel for Maggie as she debates whether or not to leave the profession and then has to deal with the consequences of her decision.

Dianne K. Salerni has written a brilliant debut novel and I am eagerly awaiting her next.

Reviewed by: Andie Z.

High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance is a novelistic treatment of a real incident from American history, the story of the Fox sisters, whose childish pranks of communicating with the departed were taken seriously first by family members, then neighbors, and then the community, ultimately growing into a genuine phenomenon. The resulting movement, known as spiritualism, became quite the rage from the 1840s until after the Civil War. Traces of it are not unknown today.

By the time they reached young womanhood Maggie and Kate Fox had achieved near-celebrity status. The proceeds from their appearances financed their blue collar family and allowed them access to the highest circles of society in New York City, Philadelphia, and so forth. Maggie, in particular, developed a relationship with Elisha Kane, an adventurer and explorer whose exploits earned him his own corner in history and fiction.

For this reader, however, the history is not ultimately the point of the book. The story is a rewarding and entertaining study of two sisters, their family, and their acquaintances, as they grow and develop and mature (or fail to). The author has done a splendid and totally convincing job of filling out their lives and personalities and putting real flesh on the bare bones of history. The romantic relationship between Maggie Fox and Elisha Kane is especially well depicted, for example. Good historical fiction is capable of putting us not only in other minds but in other eras, and High Spirits does this beautifully. One can read all the history one wants of the position of women in Victorian society but this book can show us what it actually felt like.

In addition the story is masterfully written and edited. All in all this is a first-class novel.

When the Fox sisters (note the last name; in Japanese folklore, the fox, or kitsune, is notorious for being a wily trickster) allow a simple prank to explode into a national obsession during the mid-19th century, there is no turning back.

High Spirits is a crafty, enchanting, mesmerizing read set against the spiritualism crazes of the era; mediums claim to reach into imaginative shadowrealms, psychics chant, and illusionists ensnare generations. The prose pulls a rare feat; author Dianne Salerni writes with such effortless skill that she captures the directness of youthful observation without sacrificing the complexities of an innocent game snowballing into massive layers of deceptive cunning.

Locations are rendered in a credible way; creepy Hydesville is the ideal setting for a tale steeped in the devilish folklore the Fox sisters have grown up with. In a way worth pondering, their hoax seems an inevitable development given the family and society in which they find themselves.

What's especially noteworthy is the way the author handles dialogue and dynamic character change. Skillfully portrayed, believable personalities spring to life, and then flower distinctively: The fame from their hoax grants each clever sister a path of fate. The decisions are plausibly, joyfully managed. It swiftly promotes reflection on the choices any of us would make in the same situation. In archetype terms, which sister are you?

High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance is a delightful discovery, mixing the right combinations of gothic mystery and conspiracy. But it does more than that; it showcases an author with real passion and talent.

Brian Trent
Author

Some movies bring tears to my eyes; books seldom do.

High Spirits starts with the haunting of Hydesville in 1848. It follows the real life adventures of two sisters, Maggie and Kate Fox. Maggie starts the story by telling us that she began the `deception' when she was too young to know right from wrong. Kate, the younger of the two, regrets her sister's use of that word. To Kate, the dead are real, and the spirits talk to her.

I have well over a hundred books sitting on bookshelves in my study. Some of them I've already started. Since I lost interest in most of them, the bookmarks are still waiting between early pages for me to return. Many of the books I buy end up neglected orphans in need of foster parents.

Books on the best seller lists seldom satisfy me, because they are shallow or seem like a story I've already read. It's almost as if most of them were chosen by those politically correct people we know are out there monitoring what we say and think and learn--people very much like a `few' of the characters in High Spirits.

However, when I find a novel worth reading, it's like walking into an undiscovered country. High Spirits was one of those.

High Spirits is about the lives of the Fox family and two sisters that are devoted to each other. Kate and Maggie are credited with starting the spiritualist movement as a prank. When I first picked up High Spirits, I thought I was going to be reading about ghosts and romance.

To my surprise and satisfaction, I soon discovered that High Spirits offers much more. High Spirits turned out to be a story told on many levels. At times I found myself chuckling. At other times I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat wondering if one of the characters I liked was about to suffer a horrible fate.

High Spirits is also about a dysfunctional but loving and loyal family surviving in a cruel world. On a more personal note, they are like us. It is easy to identify with them. When danger looms from skeptics that threaten Maggie's life, her older sister Leah Fox rescues her in a daring and risky escape that leaves Maggie in heart-pounding terror. Just thinking about myself in the same situation under the same circumstances had me breaking out in a cold sweat, and I'm a combat veteran that served in Vietnam. Maggie was a young girl.

The romance in High Spirits arrives later in the story. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the most widely celebrated American adventurer of the day, eventually walks on stage and fall "madly" in love with Maggie. What turns out to be a complex relationship stands equal to Romeo and Juliet; Tristan & Isolde, and Tony and Maria of West Side Story. That's as far as I'll go. My lips are now zipped shut. Hollywood, pay attention. Stories like this are rare, and Maggie and Elisha were real people.

In High Spirits, the harsh lines that separate the privileged and powerful from the working class show that dysfunctional people come from all levels of society. However, those at the top have the power to do more damage. What they are capable of doing to hurt others is more like a tidal wave washing over distant shores and leaving nothing but destruction and misery in its wake. When Elisha's mother interferes with his love for Maggie, horrible consequences are set in motion.

Although High Spirits reveals that most of us are human at heart, a few inhuman monsters populate our world and wreck havoc wherever they can for selfish, egotistical reasons.

If you are looking for adventure, romance, heartbreak, a bit of history, and a story that will touch you, I recommend this novel. Reading High Spirits will be a journey of discovery that might squeeze out a tear or two like it did for me.

This true story gives the reader a peek into life and customs in America in the mid 1800's through the lives of the Fox Sisters. Maggie and Kate play a prank on their cousin to try and scare her into thinking that there is a ghost in the house. The prank quickly draws the attention of friends and neighbors who believe that the sisters have the ablilty to receive messages from the deceased. Rather than confess their stunt, the sisters work at developing and expanding their "talents" drawing even more people into their Spirit Circles. Maggie's eventual romance with Dr. Kane, the explorer, is especially heart wrenching as she struggles against his powerful upper class family to validate his love for her. And just when you're about to finish the book, thinking that you know all the facts, the entry on the final page will leave you wondering all over again....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Ms. Salerni has written a captivating novel about two sisters who play a prank on a friend and then find that they can fool most people with the same scam because most people believe what they want to believe.

Using this principle, the sisters and their relatives develop a detailed scheme in which people pay to hear from their dear departed relatives. The hoax threatens to fall apart and land them all in serious trouble many times, but it is most threatened when one of the sisters falls in love with a dashing, erudite adventurer, who is immediately skeptical of the sisters so-called gift.

The book takes a few twists it probably did not need, but overall it is very well written, carefully crafted and engaging. The author demonstrates a broad knowledge of antebellum 19th century America, its language and its customs, which makes it educational as well as entertaining. Small details are provided which give depth and texture to the work. Recommended especially for women and teenagers.

Barry Yelton
Author of Scarecrow in Gray, a Civil War Novel

From the moment you meet Maggie and Kate Fox you are reeled into their world of ghosts and the spirit world. However, this book also paints a clear picture of what life was like for young women at the turn of the century. You will be rooting for Maggie and Elisha,the young lovers, along the way. High Spirits is an enjoyable read.

There is little I can say about Dianne Salerni's High Spirits that has not already been adequately stated by other reviewers on this page. Although this is Ms. Salerni's first novel, this is not her first book. She has previously published three short teaching manuals of an academic nature, and her experience as a schoolteacher and writer shines from the text of High Spirits. As the well-known curmudgeon of the iUniverse, I can unabashedly say that POD books would not suffer a bad reputation if they all read as fluidly and seamlessly as does High Spirits. The typos are few and the editing is tight. You will feel as if you know The Fox Sisters personally as you turn the final page.

High Spirits is a truly spellbinding book that held my interest from the very first page. This story shows that when you believe in a dream or think that you have a special talent you can do what you want with it. The parts of the book that held my interest the most were the parts when the girls tricked people into believing them and got away with it. I would recommend this book for people twelve years of age and above. I would recommend it for this age range because while it is a good book it does have some parts that are a little hard to understand.

I can't wait to read more of this author. Very well written and informative at the same time. I couldn't wait to look up the Fox sisters and Elisha Kane on the internet while only halfway through the book. Even knowing the ending I couldn't put the book down. Much better written than most of "best sellers" I have recently purchased on my kindle.