Read a Preface for Mrs Saville, which won the Manhattan Book Award in Literary Fiction and was named an Awards Finalist for the Best Book Award in Literary Fiction by American Book Fest. It was also a semifinalist for the ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Award. BookTrib named Mrs Saville one of their favorite 25 books from 2021.

“A tantalizing tale of historical fiction that will keep readers up all night as they, and Mrs Saville, try to unweave a web of intrigue and duplicity.” — The BookLife Prize

“A fantastically chilling psychodrama intelligently woven into literary history.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Mrs Saville is an eerie novel that I could not put down, and for me, that’s rare. Author Ted Morrissey channels a fictional character in a way that I have never experienced before. It reminded me of the practice of automatic writing in which a person goes into a trance, a spirit speaks through them, and they write down the otherworldly message.  There is an unexpected supernatural quality to this novel. . . . This jewel of a novel hypnotized me into the world of Mrs Saville.” — Karina Holosko, BookTrib

“The language and overall plot of the book are amazing . . . recommend[ed] . . . to anyone who enjoys thrillers and all lovers of prose fiction.” — Online Book Club, 4/4 stars

“The author fits the pieces together with a seamless and terrifying logic. He shows a nuanced understanding of the darkness that lives within us all. He summons a literature-lover’s fantasy and adds context and texture to a landmark novel that many thought had already been examined from every conceivable angle.” — Spencer Stephens, author of The Only Thing We Have

Hardcover

Paperback, with additional material (the short story “A Wintering Place” and an Afterword by the author)

Margaret Saville’s husband has been away on business for weeks and has stopped replying to her letters. Her brother, Robert Walton, has suddenly returned after three years at sea, having barely survived his exploratory voyage to the northern pole. She still grieves the death of her youngest child as she does her best to raise her surviving children, Felix and Agatha. The depth of her brother’s trauma becomes clear, so that she must add his health and sanity to her list of cares. A bright spot seems to be a new friendship with a young woman who has just returned to England from the Continent, but Margaret soon discovers that her friend, Mary Shelley, has difficulties of her own, including an eccentric poet husband, Percy, and a book she is struggling to write. Margaret’s story unfolds in a series of letters to her absent husband, desperate for him to return or at least to acknowledge her epistles and confirm that he is well. She is lonely, grief-stricken and afraid, yet in these darkest of times a spirit of independence begins to awaken.

Note: Early versions of much of Mrs Saville were published serially by Strands, an online publisher. I appreciate editor Jose Varghese for his support while the novel was in progress.

Below is a video of my meeting with the Sherman (IL) Library Book Club to discuss Mrs Saville, which was their March 2022 selection. There are numerous spoilers, but it was an interesting discussion.