The Strange Transfiguration of Hannah Stubbs

A guilt-ridden Italian nobleman murders his wife in a jealous rage, then spends years haunting London's occult underworld, desperate to contact her spirit and learn the truth: was she guilty of adultery, or was his rage unwarranted? When two men discover Hannah Stubbs, a simple country maid whose innocent presence unleashes poltergeist phenomena, they see an opportunity. But Hannah's gift draws something far darker than answers from beyond the veil. Florence Marryat, writing at the height of Victorian spiritualism's popularity, crafts a unsettling tale where grief becomes obsession, the séance becomes a battlefield, and a naive village girl becomes a vessel for forces none of these desperate adults fully understand. The title's "transfiguration" promises transformation, but toward what end remains disturbingly unclear.