The ever generous Beth Fedyn sent me this copy of Rochester Knockings: A Novel of the Fox Sisters written by Hubert Haddad and translated by Jennifer Grotz. The Fox Sisters grew up in a “haunted” house just outside Rochester, New York. The younger daughter challenged the ghost haunting the house and established communication with the Dead. News of this spread and the Fox Sisters became famous for communicating with the Spirit World. In fact, the Fox Sisters launched the Spiritualist Movement. As their fame grew, the Fox Sisters moved from Rochester to New York City where they conducted hundreds of seances. The Fox Sisters became the most famous mediums of their time. Of course, this all unraveled, but that’s part of the suspense in this historically accurate novel. Thanks, Beth! This was a compelling reading experience!
That Fox sisters story really is crazy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters
And it happened in enlightened New York less than two hundred years ago …
Thanks, George, for this!
That poet Haddad from Tunisia also sounds interesting – but there are just too many books to read …
Wolf, the Fox Sisters are local legends around here. This novel captures the strangeness of their story.
Sounds great!
Patti, Beth has excellent taste in books.
Granted people were less sophisticated then about the ways of the con artist, but there are still many, many credulous people today.
Look at the fools following Donald Trump.
Jeff, if Trump started doing seances, his poll numbers would go up!
Buncha hooey. I don’t buy ghosts, spiritualism or “haunting”, so I doubt reading about such scams would interest me.
Rick, ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS captures the sensation the Fox Sisters generated with their spiritualism. Clearly, it was a lot of hooey, but the story is historically accurate and the characters are compelling.
Rochester Knockings – well, of course I thought of you, George.
Glad you liked it. Didn’t know (or remember) it had a basis in reality – thanks, Wolf.
Yet another book to add to the ever- growing TBR list.
Beth, thanks again for ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS. It really made the Fox Sisters come to life!