There is an ocean of souls coming, Professor, can you feel them? So many dead. More of them every day. Listen to your lost ones, before their voices are drowned in the flood.”

Ten gazillion sparkling stars for the creepiest, most galvanizing and mind-blowing story I have ever read! Gripping from the outset - A.J West immerses readers in the spiritualism of 1914 Belfast with great skill. A wonderful debut." - Sam Hurcom Spiritualism was quite an obsession in the 1900s, especially for the middle classes. To some it was a harmless parlour game. To the true believers it was a desperate attempt to cope with loss and find consolation. A spooky tale of frustrated ambition, hidden loyalties, and desperation, told with wit, charm and devastating twists. A Gothic novel that also manages to make you laugh, even if you shouldn't.’ Ok, now that I vented off, I have to say I’m irrevocably in love with the author A.J.West and I solemnly swear that I will read anything and everything he writes, period. The story of The Spirit Engineer takes place in 1914 and it takes you to amazing places with significant real-life events of the period including Titanic and World War I. You even get a glimpse of two key figures in the story, which was such a pleasant surprise that I still couldn’t recover from the events of that chapter. The style and narration is so witty and charming that I do not remember when was the last time I laughed and felt chills at the same time. The unexpected twists and turns was too much for me, I stopped guessing the end after a while and just went with the flow.The Spirit Engineer by A.J. West has won the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) Debut Crown Award 2022. How does it feel, to see a dying child? One does not feel at all for there is nothing in the mind to make sense of it. Nothing, but one's own death.” The plot is fast and evenly-paced. Part of the reason that I couldn’t stop reading this book is because there is always something chilling, or hectic, or haunting happening. There are several twists near the end that just left me gasping (one of which I saw coming a mile away but one that completely blind-sided me!) It had me thinking about the story long after I had finished reading it. Brilliant, haunting characters Well what a rollercoaster of a ride this was as West manages to make you feel both sympathy for the very flawed main character William, and then detesting him. This is a character who makes very questionable choices, but despite this I was still gripped and desperate to learn how it ends. And boy what an ending - I honestly didn’t see that end coming and those plot twists really came out of the blue.

Set in Belfast, 1914, this haunting historical fiction centres on high society’s obsession with spiritualism following the sinking of the Titanic, attending seances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.At the turn of the summer season, there is nothing better than a ghostly tale to prepare us for autumn and Halloween. But, don't get me wrong, The Spirit Engineer is by no means a ghost story. However, it all starts to unravel, leaving the reader not knowing what is real and what is not, those who believe, and those who only believe they believe, until the final part, in which (no spoilers) everything is explained, to great effect.

Until a couple of weeks ago I had no idea that this book was coming out this year. I hadn't heard anything about, I hadn't seen anything about it. When I saw it available on NetGalley I just thought it sounded interesting and thought it was worth requesting. I love the fact that one book can make you want to laugh, cry and hide behind a cushion in one sitting. Split into four parts, the first three were interesting and well written, but the fourth part was something else! Knowing that the book was based on a true story, I deliberately avoided looking into the characters before reading it and the final scenes were so explosive and hard-hitting as the truth was revealed. I could barely bring myself to read on as it suddenly dawned on me the way in which the story was heading, while at the same time I was unable to put it down. An authentic, engrossing and emotional novel. I loved this book and when I can get a hold of a physical copy I will be so I can keep it and re read it again. A spooky tale of frustrated ambition, hidden loyalties, and desperation, told with wit, charm and devastating twists. A gothic novel that also manages to make you laugh, even if you shouldn't.’ JONATHAN HARVEY, PLAYWRIGHT It is difficult to comprehend the importance of Spiritualism to Edwardian society, a way of making sense of the world, a need to be able to cope with what was thrown at them at the time of the Great War and having the huge Titanic disaster occurring just prior to this too.

It appears Kathleen ceased all spiritual mediumship in her mid-thirties. Indeed, she stopped mentioning her paranormal past altogether, her fame slipping into silence and a unmentioned secret. She married and had her own children, her husband setting up a seemingly successful herbalist business before running a cinema in Holywood (Northern Ireland). The only apparent memory of her past life was the name the Donaldsons chose fo their homes as their family grew. They called them ‘Nacoma’, which was the name of Kathleen’s spirit guide: an aberration of a Native American chief who had some notoriety in Victorian popular culture. The family, particularly William, become increasingly involved with a young medium. At first, William is determined to prove her a fraud; then he becomes a supporter, gaining fame by publicizing her abilities and his scientific proof that these are genuine. A gripping, gothic story anchored in the political and spiritual chaos of Edwardian Belfast. Part horror, part history, The Spirit Engineer is a chilling and thought-provoking tale of exploitation, faith, deception, fraud, seances, hubris, and prejudice...

It is interesting that this straight laced man of science becomes completely enamored of the spiritual world - he has suffered some personal losses and after the sinking of the Titanic, his reaction to the rising popularity of seances to commune with dead friends and relatives, causes him to become a famous spiritualist himself with a wealthy sponsor. Set in a historical moment where science and spiritualism meet, The Spirit Engineer is an ingeniously plotted debut novel.' SARAH BURTON, AUTHOR OF THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF H This is a haunting story (pun sorta intended) that shows not everything is what it seems, not everyone is who they say they are, and if you wait until about 75% in, the dynamic duo of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini make a chapter long cameo. The unsinkable Titanic had sunk. Belfast was in mourning. The Great War was eating up a generation of young men, leaving not just empty chairs in many homes but literally thousands of broken hearts all with a need for answers to inexplicable loss. Belfast, Crawford tell us was "hiding in its own madness".The book is about psychic phenomena, mediums, religion. It is about faith, and beliefs. It is also about grief, obsession and exploitation, and about ambition, lies and deception. As the story progressed it got increasingly more creepy, and I felt utterly transported into the seance scenes. This is a book that makes you feel as though you have read it with all 5 senses. Each of the characters were brilliantly developed, and I loved watching our morally grey main character become consumed by his obsession, and how his relationships were strained and tested as a consequence. Such a deliciously creepy, unsettling read… a melancholic gothic triumph. Gave me all the same feelings as one of my most favourite books ever, Frankenstein' Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne The main character William is very complex and I did swing to and fro between liking and disliking him numerous times but that’s what makes it interesting. A delight of a debut, an atmospheric and entirely gripping chiller that calls to mind the best of M.R. James and E.F. Benson, without in any way paling in comparison' Billy O'Callaghan, author of Life Sentences