The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey
By: Kathleen Kaufman

5 Stars

This story was fiction and magic. Twos stories that blended into one about two women brought together through shared pain and mysticism. Through love and blood. This story was Lottie, and this story was Nora.

This story was written to mesmerise. It has all the things a historical should have. It had the drama and the history, which showed that it was well researched. It also was filled with an aspect of fantasy and the impossible in all to real settings. I honestly found this book to be well written with complex characters and fantastical happenings. The characters captivate more and more as the story progresses. During this story, I had all the emotions possible, from happiness to sadness, to being completely shocked by the end, but pleased at the ending all the same.

*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Reviews

Thank you to NetGally for the arc of this book. Victorian spiritualism is one of my special interests, so I devoured this book. I really enjoyed the cozy horror elements to the story and the two different POV‘s. I look forward to reading more from this author.

The story of these two women, years apart, was pretty interesting and compelling but the story was bogged down by the fact that the book itself was just too long for my taste. Nora's story held my attention, going from a charlatan to a true psychic, but I got bored while reading it. Lottie's too was interesting, who isn't interested in a woman unjustly locked up in an insane asylum (just me?), but also suffered from the slowness of the writing. It dragged a bit. That said, the story as a whole was decently interesting and deserved at least 3 stars.

Thanks to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for the e-arc.

I loved this book, I’m glad it ended up leaning more towards historical fiction than fantasy. The book is a dual timeline, alternating between Nora and Lottie. Both women are looking for freedom, Nora freedom from people trying to capitalize off of her, and Lottie is quite literally looking to be free. In the end, both women were saved by other women, which was something I really enjoyed.

This was a really great read for historical fiction enthusiasts- I loved the fake/ not fake mesmerist lore, the darker vibes- this is a perfect read for fall - if you love stronger women, spooky feels, somewhat dark “academia”- you’d like this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing an arc!

I love a good period drama, and Nora Grey definitely scratched that itch. With an air of mystery, a sprinkling of magic, and an exploration of the ties that bind family across generations and oceans, Nora Grey has everything one could want in a historical fantasy with a feminist bent.

This gothic tale had me hooked from the beginning I loved the characters and the gothic atmosphere but the pacing was a bit slow at times. In this book we follow 2 main POV’s during two different time periods. Lottie a pregnant woman who ended up in an asylum after her husbands death struggling to survive and not lose her baby. We also follow Narnia a young girl exploited by her father to scam people into believing she could contact dead loved ones. We find out throughout the book how these two tales intertwine while exposing the horrible conditions that women faced at the turn of the century. I found this book pretty captivating but there were a few points where Lottie’s story was so bleak it was a little hard to push through and slowed down the pacing quite a bit. While I learned quite a bit from these chapters they could be a bit much to stomach when it came to the torture of Lottie. With that said I loved the writing in this book it was really a great story and the writing for the most part was a compulsive read. I enjoyed this so much I have already recommended it to a few people.This was my first book from this author and I really look forward to picking up more in the future. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

Nora has a talent with the tarot cards and a father who makes his living scamming people with fake seances. After encountering Edinburgh spiritualists who realize that Nora can communicate with the dead her fortunes start to change. However she is haunted by the ghost of Lottie, a coal miner's widow who was imprisoned in a mental hospital and may have ties to Nora and her father.

I was completely hooked and pulled into the world of Nora Grey by the end of the first page. I love how Kathleen Kaufman structured this book using both of the timelines and point of views to build a well rounded story with a satisfying conclusion. I found Lottie and Nora's stories both heart-wrenching and triumphant. Taking place in both 1900 and 1866, the historical details in this book were quite eye opening to me as well. I enjoyed the peeks into the tricks of the trade of Victorian-era seances and mysticism while also enjoying the magic of Nora being the real deal. I was heartbroken over Lottie's experience in an abusive 1860's asylum. Kathleen's research was so well done. I highly recommend this book.

This was such a cool story and yet so tragic at times, showcasing how men used exploit women for their powers, yet would cry witch if these women scared them too much! Nora is so cool and her powers as a medium were awesome, really enjoyed this story:)

A thoroughly intriguing and engaging read about Nora, a mysterious young woman from a poor background, but whose journey is one that hooks the reader throughout the whole book. There are several layers, ensuring the mystery endures, amidst moments of pure sorrow, along with her triumphs. The dual narrative also includes the story of another young woman, one that must ensure seeming impossible pain and sorrow, though her trials are inextricably linked with Nora and their journey to find and understand each other is the only way Nora can find her future.
The writing is well managed, with the characters’ lives skilfully interwoven throughout and some lovely lyrical language to lose yourself in.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Wow, what a read. This book is a historical paranormal fantasy set in 1866 Wales and 1900-1902 Scotland, following two young women as they discover psychic abilities, interspersed with excerpts from news articles and transcriptions of documentaries about the history and events of the story.

Nairna/Nora's storyline is the dominant thread for the book. Living in poverty as a teenager, she is taken around the countryside by her father to perform tarot readings at fairs and seances in dark parlors. While I felt that we were a little too far from Nora's interior thoughts especially after the first few chapters, resulting in a lackluster backdrop for her motivations and personal decision making, her journey from fraud to genuine psychic and the steps she takes towards independence from her father and the others who wish to take advantage of her was still gripping. I personally felt that her chapters were somewhat lacking in the description department; her POV focuses a lot on how she psychically interprets other characters, rather than giving us a solid look at them or her surroundings, and features a lot of multi-course meals that are somehow completed during very short conversations.

Lottie is a young, pregnant widow who-after attempting to receive death benefits for her late husband, who was killed in a mining accident-is carted off to a hospital that amounts to an insane asylum for women. We follow her journey as she fights for freedom from the repressive walls she is now trapped within. Her chapters carried a lot more emotional depth, at least in my opinion, than the chapters from Nora's POV. The description of her grief and her surroundings are poignant and really drive home how desperate Lottie is to escape, and how poorly off she is as a resident of the asylum.

The story really shines in the last 40% or so. I couldn't put the book down after starting this section. The first 30% was unfortunately dragging for me, which had me putting the book aside a few times, with the middle 20% gradually ramping up the intrigue in the plot and characterization for both POVs.

***
Stop here if you don't want slightly spoiler-y content:
I cried with the final parts of Lottie's story. For Nora's, however, I was left feeling a little confused. I don't blame her for having a negative view of men due to her father's self-centeredness and the greed of the men from St. Cyprian's, but she feels the same way about most of the women she encounters as well, and the sudden conclusion that she is never going to be interested in romantic relationships because of that felt... abrupt? Almost baseless? After having had interest in one towards the beginning of the story, and no real introspection about it through the story moving her towards disinterest, it almost felt like some scenes or paragraphs had been removed that took some context with them. I think this might be a symptom of the reduced interiority we received for her character. The events in the story are certainly good enough reason to come to this conclusion, but there was no evidence they were impacting her this way until the last few pages. It had her final decision falling a little flat to me personally.

The witchy side of me that loves spooky season, Tarot cards and gothic anything was immediately drawn to this book. And it did not disappoint. Sometimes when a novel changes POVs or switches between time periods I find myself liking one much better than the other so my reading experience feels bifurcated. But I didn't have that reaction to this book. I found that changing between POVs and time periods really helped to build the connection between the two women and deepen their touching relationship. And I have to say nothing gets me angrier and spitting with rage more than an Asylum Doctor abusing his power over a female patient. There were some truly heartbreaking moments in this book, but ultimately each woman found a form of freedom. Even if Lotte's was darkly poignant.

One of my best reads of the year simply phenomenal! Lottie’s story gave me chills and even brought me to tears. Nora is such an incredible character, truly wonderful, and I loved how she was able to take control of her own destiny. The writing style is absolutely captivating, and I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

The pros: Moody, interesting background, with a strong female character. The addition of ‘historical document’ excerpts was pretty cool.

Cons: I probably would have enjoyed this novel more in an audiobook format, or even a physical format with additional illustrations. At times, it felt too long.

I would recommend this book for anyone loving gothic horror or moody fiction. I would not say this was a quick and easy read!

I really enjoyed this story. The mutliple timelines was written in an easy-to-follow way. And the story......of a Scottish girl that was dealt a hard life with a unique set of abilities. I fell in love with the characters and the writing. Definitely a book you don't want to miss out on.

The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey is truly a wonder.

I was so extremely excited when I was approached to read this book as I had literally just finished my senior year in college doing a thesis surrounding the same era. While I focused my research more on the surgical aspect of medicine (which shoutout ether being mentioned at the end of the book as I recreated an ether inhaler after falling in love with its design), the spiritual aspect was just as interesting.

Lately I have been finding my way towards books that are fictional historical retelling and have been deeply in love with them, this one being no exception.

Nora Grey and Lottie go through some truly terrible stuff, between being treated as an object to use to being experimented on in a hospital simply for grieving a dead spouse. I have a soft spot for the nurses that tried to help Lottie as much as possible during her stay and fighting against those in power after she's gone.

Nora and Lottie mirror each other a lot through their strength and hardships. I will admit I didn’t see the twist of how they were related coming which I think is refreshing when most books start to feel the same.

Tavish is in interesting character to look at. I didnt think I would truly like him while I knew I couldn't hate him entirely. The second half to the end makes him a more likeable character, how he mourns Lottie, comes to realization of how he's treated Nora, and the times he tried to protect her from the men using her. I like that he wasn't made to be well liked, he did lots of wrong and Nora doesn't let that get glossed over just because he's her dad.

Overall I absolutely adored this book, I never knew what was coming next. It's exciting to see more fictional historical books coming out, especially for inventions and other aspects of history that are less talked about and less documented.

Thank you for giving me the chance to read this book.

This was an okay read. Not fabulous but not a bad read. I just wasnt really entranced by the book or the characters.

This was an amazing book, but was definitely the wrong thing to read while in the third trimester of my first pregnancy. I wasn't expecting Lottie's story to play such a big part in this, but the split timeline between the two POVs really worked to pull me into these women's lives and the objectification they both experienced in such distinct ways. I was deeply affected for days after reading this book and I honestly don't think I would have picked up the book at all if I'd known how much medical/psychological oppression and exploitation would play a part in the narrative. That being said, I'm so glad I read it - the catharsis I felt at the end of the story with the complex and imperfect resolutions was staggering.

I loved stepping back into the old Victorian era amongst the elite and their interest in the other side. Nairna was an easy girl to feel for and to follow as she worked at fairs from town to town, selling her tarot card reads and mystical tellings from the other side. I hoped the best for Nairna as she worked so hard trying to survive in general. Opportunity came her way and I loved watching her life form before her.

Lottie and her story, broke my heart, and by the end I was very attached to Lottie.

One of the best dual storyline/timelines that I've read. Without spoiling, let me tell you, this was fantastic how these two POV's worked. A very rewarding end, with intrigue sprinkled throughout. Loved the ode to Boston and the Seven Gables.

This was magical in its realist form. I was thoroughly entertained.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington for the gifted e-arc.