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He was a professor of engineering at the old Belfast Municipal Technical College and Queen's University. Crawford was part of an aspiring class in the busy industrial metropolis of Belfast. Gripping from the outset - A.J West immerses readers in the spiritualism of 1914 Belfast with great skill. A wonderful debut." - Sam Hurcom Anyone who follows me will know that more often than not I’m let down or deflated by an ending. Impatient and a need for closure to a story that I often don’t get…I am thrilled to say this ending took me by the hand, slapped me round the face several times only to give me a gentle kiss goodbye. An absolute dazzler of an ending. Imagine all those lost souls trapped beyond the veil, watching us as we go about our lives. I think I should like to die a grizzly, unavenged death in a hotel room, wouldn’t you? Imagine the scandalous things one would see, floating above the bedrooms.” This is a book full of mystery, paranormal occurrences and betrayal. It was an interesting concept and I didn't mind the writing however it definitely wasn't my favourite novel I've read lately. I liked the idea of having an engineer coming to terms with the existence of an afterlife and being haunted by people who died both in his past and his present. I really hated the ending though, I feel like it didn't add to the really interesting first three quarters of the novel. What exactly did having the main character essentially molest the woman he thought was a psychic for years add to the story in any way? I wish the author had just left it at William essentially having a split personality when he was awake vs when he was asleep as that would have been a really great twist by itself.
This one is a perfect creepy read for spooky season. I especially loved the fact that this was based on a true story, so it felt like while I was entertained I was learning a fun piece of history. The author has documented his research and I would urge you to watch this along with the book, it’s fascinating to see the institute where William worked along with other pieces of evidence that appear in the book.The Spirit Engineer opens up to scenes of upper-middle class domesticity, a beautiful family with less than beautiful pride. The man of the house, William Crawford, is immediately thrust into the spotlight and never steps out of our view the whole time. He is sexist and classist, such as you would expect with the times and his status, but it made for a strange feeling - how odd it is to go through the story loathing the main character for their attittude but being so intruiged in their life and still hoping for their success along the way.
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. With such public notice he is receives a request to meet with Arthur Conon Doule and Harry Houdin which provides the reader with historical balance. A marvellous and menacing gothic chiller, filled with secrets and soaked in atmosphere, in which the ghouls and fiends are not of the other world, but this one...’ With a skilful misdirection that any Edwardian spirit medium would be proud to demonstrate, A.J. West soon turns the screw in this fascinating novel... Not surprisingly, in a book which delves into the afterlife, the epilogue is titled 'the Beginning'.Aunt" Adelia, a wealthy widow who has "taken the family under her wing," helping them manage economically while consistently proving an unwanted, disruptive presence The novel opens in 1914 as his wife Elizabeth is still reeling from the death of her brother who was aboard the Titanic and like many at the time found comfort in spiritualism. As a child, Kathleen helped her family pay their way, blouse-cutting for the large factories which made up the city’s world-dominating textile industry. The women of Ulster were renowned for their skilled needlework, though the Goligher family were likely more involved in the less-skilled pattern-cutting trade, trimming linen into shapes to be stitched elsewhere. The remuneration was meagre, though poor families such as the Golighers were at least able to afford food and benefit from a grace and favour home supplied by their employers. However in the last few chapters I was practically on the edge of my seat and on closing the book found myself straight onto Google researching 😂 Got to admit I did like that ending and didn’t see it going that way at all. Really brilliantly done. 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
This is barely a reflection of my conversation with Cathryn who has been generous and understanding of my creative process. I think it’s fair to say the family have been delighted to find some new evidence of Kathleen’s fascinating story but are, at the same time, surprised to discover that the kind, fun, uncomplicated woman they knew and loved was part of a foggy and emotionally-charged story of duplicity, worldwide fame, infamy, derision, adulation and, ultimately, suicide. This fantastic debut needs to be added to everyone’s list, and being released in October, it is THE spooky book to read this Halloween. WJC’s mother Agnes died of a pulmonary embolism arising from a pre-existing thrombosis. Whilst it may be co-incidental to the birth of the youngest child, I have it on very good authority that PEs are more common in pregnancy/childbirth so your suggestion that she died inchildbirth is not too far off the mark. The inspiration to write The Spirit Engineer appeared, appropriately enough, one dark Belfast night in the middle of a winter storm. I was reading Harry Houdini’s diaries when the great magician mentioned, in passing, a meeting with a ‘mad’ professor. Crawford’s story is virtually unknown, yet any novelist would struggle to find a tale steeped in such gothic tragedy. Let me prepare you – this book is gripping, thrilling, and mind-twisting. To know that it’s based on a true story makes it even more interesting. I was completely hooked and couldn’t put this book down until I was done (and yes, I read it with the lights all on).
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There are few deaths so horrible as dying from cyanide poisoning, so while William may have found it easy to acquire the means for his own death, perhaps we can assume he didn’t realise how arduous his journey to the afterlife would be. Either that or his pain was already so acute, he didn’t care. We can only speculate, using a few scraps of evidence. I suspect there may be more and the College of Psychic Studies in London apparently holds some of William’s letters, though more recent correspondence to his family and to myself has been inconclusive on the matter. I would love to see what they hold in their archives. See the public records image below and the details copied below for clarity. Readers of my historical novel The Spirit Engineer will note that the fictional family is a complete facsimile of the family in real life, even down to Rose, their ‘general servant’. West has mixed fact with fiction and shrouded it all in a gothic veil of mystery. There are some disturbing subjects and ideas to come from this book. Of course, seances and dabbling in ‘ the other side’ are not going to be easy experiences. I just loved the way you are invited to belief or not, but to experience the world of those trying to understand it all. 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.”
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