Review: The Unseen by Katherine Webb

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (May 22, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 0062077880
• Source: Publisher

Reverend Albert Canning and his wife, Hester, live in a quiet Berkshire village in 1911. Both are young, Hester is already dreaming of filling their home with children. Hester is a particularly naive character, burdened by society’s rules regarding the behavior and rights of women. Her desire to have children becomes more than a dream, but an urge, a desire she feels her husband should accommodate. Instead, the vicar is obsessed with fairies he claims to have seen in a nearby water meadow. Their quiet, reserved life changes when two individuals are introduced into their lives, a change that was eluded to during a seance the young vicar’s wife participated in. During this seance, the medium indicates a malevolent spirit will enter the homes of one of the women present. Is it a coincidence that the Canning home soon becomes a stopping point for two reclusive, mysterious individuals?

First is Cat, a free-spirited young woman recently freed from imprisonment for the sole purpose of working for the Canning family. Devout in their religion, they see this addition to their lives as a sort of charity mission, an attempt to heal the weak and wounded. Cat is a truly unique individual: short, dark hair, very unlike the current hairstyle worn by women. A case of lice during her imprisonment forced her into this style. A respiratory illness while serving her term also prevents her from wearing the corset traditionally worn by women. By appearances alone, Cat is a fish out of water.

Robin Durrant is an expert in the occult, lured to the Canning’s Berkshire estate by the vicar and the rumored “elemental” spirits nearby. A failure in the eyes of his family, Robin will stop at nothing to prove these spirits exist.

Fast forward to the 21st century: a young woman by the name is Leah is called in to investigate the body of a soldier found buried in Belgium. There is no evidence of his identity, the only objects on his body are a series of letters written by a woman named Hester. The War Commission would like to give this soldier a proper burial and be given the opportunity to contact any surviving family, so Leah begins an investigation into the unknown soldier’s past.

Webb eloquently melds these alternating story lines, separated by generations, together to make a truly remarkable and compelling novel. The desire to learn the identity of the soldier draws the reader through the weaving story lines.

A theme that runs through the storyline is the suffragist movement. Webb doesn’t make this subplot a particularly dominant part of the story, it does linger there in the background. That said, the topic of women’s rights, their roles in society, does play a key role in the storyline. Hester is a woman stuck in a marriage based solely on love…but not necessarily a romantic love. She wants what she believes is expected of a young couple and is unable to step out of place in her role of a dutiful wife and speak her mind, although she does so on occasion, her spirits trampled by her unrelenting husband. Cat’s involvement with the suffragist movement has altered her life forever, for it was when she attempted to protect a suffragist that she was sent to prison. All Cat wants is to be able to love, to be loved, but her past is tarnished. She feels she should be able to verbalize her opinions, yet society’s constrains forbid it. Webb uses these two characters, polar opposites as individuals, to showcase  the conditions women of this time were forced into.

Similar to the setting, the pacing of this novel is slow and relaxed, only picking up during points of climax. I found this aspect to be rewarding, yet other readers might be frustrated by this seemingly uneven pacing. I enjoyed and relished in the slow reveal of the soldier’s identity, of the build up of the tension in the Canning home. In all, this made this read a truly satisfying one.

Ultimately, The Unseen is a novel that attempts, and succeeds, to address several issues in addition to the suffragist movement, including social class and theology vs. spiritual (in a metaphysical sense).  Secrets play a big role in this novel, both past and present. A truly thrilling historical mystery, fans spanning these two genres will devour this book in one sitting, as I did. Highly recommended.