Velvet by Mary Hooper

“All at once it struck her that there were many degrees of evil in the world.”

Velvet by Mary Hooper is a historical fiction novel exploring the world of clairvoyants. The main character, Velvet is a young lady and an orphan. She works at the laundry in order to make ends meet. When something goes wrong and she thinks she is going to lose her job, the famous psychic, Madame Savoya, employs Velvet. Velvet becomes a sort of assistant and gets an inside look into how the world of mediums works. At first, she is completely mesmerized. However, as she learns more, she begins to realize that nothing and no one are really what they seem.

This is going to be another short review. This is because I find that with easier to read books I get so entranced by the story that it becomes hard for me to go back and analyse what I just read. What I can remember is that I loved the book. I read it in a few hours and wanted more!

This book is written by a sceptic. In Hooper’s notes she admits this. Therefore, it might be a bit offensive to some believers. However, the story mostly focuses on one case. Also, the fact that most of the mediums during the Victorian Era were proved frauds helped Hooper’s case and its historical integrity.  But then again, in the 16^th Century the witch hunts occurred and the prosecuted were innocent. Towards the middle/end of the book Hooper did seem to be questioned the morality and possible positive consequences of these frauds. When Madame Savoya lied about a baby coming back to life, this was one of her biggest frauds but at the same time both the baby and the mother were helped in this process. However, this idea was completely shut down when Velvet rushed to the police. I didn’t have a problem with this, as I share Hooper’s view on psychics (I would be happy to be proven wrong, thought).

One thing I have to talk about is the end. Don’t worry; I won’t give out all the details. I absolutely loved the plot twist. I mean I kind of knew that George would turn violently against Velvet, but I did not expect the real twists. Also, I didn’t find the whole Charlie scene very believable. I knew he was very in love but I expected Velvet to at least explain her feelings. I don’t know, I’ve never been in their situations…

Overall, I did really like this novel. A great youth fiction novel – it has the historical elements and the clairvoyants to add depth and interest and it also has the lovey-dovey romance J