In this electrifying literary debut, a young woman who channels the dead for a living crosses a dangerous line when she falls in love with one of her clients, whose wife died under mysterious circumstances.
In an unnamed city, Eurydice works for the Elysian Society, a private service that allows grieving clients to reconnect with lost loved ones. She and her fellow workers, known as "bodies", wear the discarded belongings of the dead and swallow pills called lotuses to summon their spirits—numbing their own minds and losing themselves in the process. Edie has been a body at the Elysian Society for five years, an unusual record. Her success is the result of careful detachment: she seeks refuge in the lotuses’ anesthetic effects and distances herself from making personal connections with her clients.
But when Edie channels Sylvia, the dead wife of recent widower Patrick Braddock, she becomes obsessed with the glamorous couple. Despite the murky circumstances surrounding Sylvia’s drowning, Edie breaks her own rules and pursues Patrick, moving deeper into his life and summoning Sylvia outside the Elysian Society’s walls.
After years of hiding beneath the lotuses’ dulling effect, Edie discovers that the lines between her own desires and those of Sylvia have begun to blur, and takes increasing risks to keep Patrick within her grasp. Suddenly, she finds her quiet life unraveling as she grapples not only with Sylvia’s growing influence and the questions surrounding her death, but with her own long-buried secrets.
The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy is a mix of science fiction, paranormal, crime drama and mystery-thriller. The book's description doesn't do the story justice. In fact, the description is a bit misleading. Edie doesn't become obsessed with the Braddocks, she becomes possessed by Sylvia, the dead wife, while falling in love with Patrick, the widowed husband. Breaking several rules of the Elysian Society in the process.
Sylvia's death is ruled an accident, but some think it was a suicide, while others believe she was murdered. Due to the nature of their mindsets before death, channeling loved ones who take their own lives is considered dangerous for Bodies...more so for those who were killed violently. Edie keeps telling herself Sylvia's death was accidental, but when an unidentified young woman is found murdered, the Elysian Society comes under scrutiny. Who are they to decide which people are allowed to be brought back? What if their clients are lying just so they can hurt the dead yet again?
Edie's main reason for becoming a Body is to detach herself from her past, but there are too many similarities between Edie, Sylvia and Hopeful Doe to ignore. Too many people are asking too many personal questions. Edie wants a life with Patrick, but she doesn't know what his true intentions are. More importantly, Edie doesn't know her own intentions...she barely recognizes herself anymore.
This novel is so complicated, with secrets within secrets, I'm surprised this is a debut novel. Murphy does an excellent job making the reader feel like a Body channeling Edie. I recommend this to anyone who is looking for something that stands out from all the mainstream lit.
As always,
AstraDaemon
