Mills, Daniel - Moriah
1874, journalist Silas Flood travels from New York to Rutland, Vermont. There are reports of a family of spiritualists who can summon the dead. Ghostly apparitions who can speak and comfort bereaved family left behind.
A miracle? Or a fraud? Whichever truth, there is a story, and there are eager readers.
Flood is an ex-Army chaplain, faith shattered during the Civil War, where he was part of Grant’s campaign. Of ghosts, he clutches his own, as do most of the characters in this.
The narrative spills from various witnesses and players, sweeping from a decade preceding the war, to blood soaked battlefields, into a parched 1874.
The family of spiritualists are a particularly complicated tribe.
Mills’ style is rich and textured, meticulously structured. Multitask readers, steer away.
Mills reads like a wayward descendant of Faulkner, which I mean as a compliment.
I went into this one stone cold, knowing nothing, and was absorbed and immensely pleased.