Books like Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Alison Hart is a medium who, by trade, communicates with the dead, often delivering unsettling messages to her clients. While she appears calm and competent, her private life is fraught with fear and secrets. Alison’s ability to speak to spirits is portrayed as a torment rather than a gift; the voices of dead ancestors intrude into her daily routine with remarks as mundane as a garden favourite or as sinister as hidden truths. Her hidden past as a young woman in London, surrounded by thugs and petty criminals, constantly haunts her. These men, who once preyed on her vulnerable mother, Emmie, now seem to infiltrate her life, body, and soul, intensifying as she attempts to escape their influence. Setting this strain within a contemporary English context, the novel explores themes of psychological drama, friendship, and the darker shades of urban life.

First publish date: 2005