The Land of Mist

What It's About

Professor Challenger, the once-fiercely rationalist scientist, finds his worldview tested when his daughter Enid and journalist Edward Malone become drawn into the Spiritualist movement sweeping post-war Britain. As they investigate séances and mediums, including the gentle Tom Linden, they begin to question whether there is more to claims of communication with the dead than Challenger has ever been willing to admit.

Key Concepts

The novel treats Spiritualism as both a religious movement and a subject of scientific scrutiny, setting the era's fascination with mediumship and psychic phenomena against entrenched scientific skepticism. It also reflects the personal grief of the post-First World War years, when many turned to Spiritualism hoping to contact loved ones lost in the war.

About the Author

Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician, born in Edinburgh in 1859. Following the deaths of several close family members during the First World War, he became a committed advocate of Spiritualism, devoting much of his later life to lecturing and writing in support of the movement. He died in 1930.