In the 1920s, Margery Crandon captivated both Boston society and psychic researchers with her astonishing seances. At her gatherings, her deceased brother Walter regularly appeared, entertaining the circle with his witty and cheeky remarks. Margery’s abilities earned her the admiration of luminaries, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and William Butler Yeats. But one man stood in opposition: Harry Houdini, the legendary magician, who was determined to expose her as a fraud.
Margery and Me tells the true story of the medium who mystified scientists, challenged skeptics, and sparked a sensation across America and Europe. As Houdini and Margery clashed in a battle of wits and wills, the question remained: Could the master illusionist unmask her, or would her extraordinary powers be enough to convert even the most resolute of doubters?

Praise for Margery and Me

“In nineteenth-century Boston, socialite Mina Crandon, a charming young wife and ambitious clairvoyant, has accidentally summoned her dead brother Walter to a séance. Walter is a talker and once he’s got an audience, he’s on a mission to make his sister rich and famous. In this highly enjoyable excursion among the spookists, the term ‘Ghostwriter’ gets a breathtaking workout. Margery and Me is a wry, lively, and wicked-good novel.”

—Valerie Martin, Winner of the Kafka and Britain’s Women’s Prize, author of The Ghost of the Mary Celeste

“Margery and Me is a spellbinding dive into the glittering yet shadowy world of 1920s spiritualism and the enigmatic life of Margery, the era’s most notorious psychic. With meticulous historical detail, this novel brings to life the electrifying world of flapper-era Boston, where the lines between science and superstition are blurred and séances captivate both the curious and the skeptical. Both entertaining and heartbreaking, Margery and Me is a masterfully told story of ambition, love, and the haunting cost of chasing the beyond. I will think about this novel for a long time.”

—Victoria Kelly, critically-acclaimed author of Mrs. Houdini and Homefront

“Set during the height of America’s spiritualist movement, this rollicking account of the inimitable psychic Margery Crandon—a.k.a. Houdini’s greatest nemesis—is filled with colorful characters and clever wit. I had a blast reading Margery and Me and so will you!”

—Kris Waldherr, author of The Lost History of Dreams and Unnatural Creatures

“The ghost of a young railway man in 1923 turns up both in his beloved sister Margery’s life and at her seances, hoping to guide her in her new vocation as a medium. At first a playful delight, the novel turns dark as experts across America relentlessly try to prove that she is a fake. But Margery is human and often fails to heed her ghostly brother Walter’s good advice when he finds it ‘damned frustrating watching helplessly from the beyond.’ An unusually captivating, original, and witty novel of a good-hearted spirit set down on earth to remedy the problems of a sister he loved very much and left too early.”

—Stephanie Cowell, American Book Award winner and author of Claude and Camille, The Boy in the Rain, and The Man in the Stone Cottage

“Margery and Me is based on the true story of an American psychic who drew both the admiration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the skepticism of Harry Houdini. True to the parlors of both the modest and the great in which Margery performed her feats, Biaggio’s novel is a fast-paced, historically rich account of the spiritualist’s struggles to have her psychic powers accepted and celebrated. Narrated by her dead brother Walter, a gleeful storyteller who performs stunts as entertaining as his voice, the novel depicts the many experiments Margery endures at the hands of the powerful men associated with the journal Scientific American. A spiritualist narrative about a pre-feminist society that harshly scrutinized strong women, Margery and Me is a delightful story about the power of vision and purpose, especially when that purpose is greater than oneself.”

—Laura Hulthen Thomas, author of The Meaning of Fear