The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon
**Overview of *The Seance* by Joan Lowery Nixon**
*The Seance* is a young adult mystery novel set in a small East Texas town, blending elements of intrigue, suspense, and the supernatural. The story centers on Lauren, an orphaned teenager who leads a sheltered life with her Aunt Mel. The arrival of a new foster girl, Sara, disrupts Lauren’s world, sparking feelings of jealousy and insecurity in her. When a seance orchestrated by a new student named Roberta leads to Sara's disappearance and subsequent death, Lauren grapples with guilt and fear, suspecting she may be the next target. The narrative unfolds as Sheriff Ashe Norwell investigates, initially considering Sara's death an accident tied to an elopement plot. As the mystery deepens with Roberta's own tragic fate, Lauren must confront her own role in the events and ultimately finds strength and maturity through the ordeal. The novel, awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Award, is noted for its engaging storytelling, addressing both the complexities of adolescence and the allure of mystery.
On this Page
Subject Terms
The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon
First published: 1980
Type of work: Mystery
Themes: Coming-of-age, family, and death
Time of work: The 1980’s
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: A small town in the Big Thicket area of East Texas
Principal Characters:
Lauren , an orphan who has lived with Aunt Mel since childhoodAunt Mel , Lauren’s foster mother and auntSara Martin , a ward of the court who comes to live with Aunt MelSheriff Ashe Norwell , the sheriffRoberta Campion , the medium at the seanceCarley Hughes , one of Sara’s boyfriendsIla Hughes , Carley’s grandmotherAllie Krump , ,Maddie Cartney , ,Luemma , andDana , Lauren’s friends at the seance
The Story
The mystery plot and Big Thicket setting of The Seance create a well-crafted story of murder and intrigue with a hint at the supernatural. Lauren, a teenager who has been orphaned since age four, has spent most of her life in this small East Texas town, where religious and superstitious beliefs have helped form her personality. She is content with her comfortable existence with Aunt Mel until Sara arrives. When the county welfare agent needs a foster home for Sara, it is generally assumed that, since Sara is about Lauren’s age, the two will become friends and share teenage secrets. Lauren, who has led the small-town sheltered life, is jealous of the much more sophisticated Sara, who is beautiful, is popular with the men and boys, and has memories of a family life that Lauren has always wanted.
Lauren’s immaturity and feelings of insecurity where Sara is concerned get her involved in a seance. Roberta Campion, a new student who is seeking acceptance in the small-town high school, persuades several of the girls that she is a medium and can communicate with the spirit world. Roberta and her family moved to the outskirts of town the year before; their Cajun ancestry and Louisiana roots make them people who do not readily fit into this small town. Guilt at her dislike for Sara causes Lauren to feel responsible when, during the seance, Sara disappears and her body is found later in the Big Thicket. The arrival of Sara’s mother for the funeral gives Lauren greater insight into Sara’s personality and many of her actions. This insight, along with the town’s reaction to the seance, helps Lauren begin to sort out some of her feelings.
Sheriff Ashe Norwell considers Sara a runaway and her death an accident. He is also convinced that one of the other girls at the seance helped Sara with her plan to meet someone and elope. To gain more information, he mounts a re-creation of the seance, but Roberta, who is the medium, does not return home from an errand— and her body is found in a remote area of the Big Thicket. Roberta’s death causes Sheriff Norwell to reconsider his original suspicions concerning Sara’s death. It also convinces Lauren that she will be the next victim. Sheriff Norwell is correct in believing that someone knew of Sara’s plan to elope. It was Lauren. She knew that Sara was to meet someone but not the identity of the person. Lauren believes that there were a number of people that Sara could have been meeting and that whoever it was must be the murderer. Lauren does not know whom she can trust.
When she finally decides to confide in Aunt Mel, Lauren grows from the seance experience. With her newfound maturity, she is able to thwart an attempt on her life; she also realizes that there are more options for her future than life in a small East Texas town.
Context
The Seance, the 1981 winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award, is only one of Joan Lowery Nixon’s books to have won awards. She also received awards from the Mystery Writers of America in 1975 (the Edgar Scroll) and 1980 (for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, 1979). Kenneth L. Donelson and Alleen P. Nilsen in Literature for Today’s Young Adults (third edition, 1989) state: “Of mysteries written for young adults, Jay Bennett’s novels and Joan Lowery Nixon’s novels stand out.” They point out that a typical ploy for Nixon is to put a young adult into a sudden crisis that leads to involvement in a murder. This ploy is used in The Seance. Sara’s murder takes place by chapter 4 of this fourteen-chapter book, leaving Lauren ten chapters to grapple with the murder and her personal problems: physical appearance, boyfriends and girlfriends, school, and acceptance by peers and family.
Nixon has said of her chosen genre: “Just because mystery novels are consistently at the top of popularity charts with young readers doesn’t mean they should be lightly dismissed as nothing more than ‘fun reading.’ They should be thought of as what they are: They’re well-written novels with a plus—and the plus is the mystery.” Nixon’s combination of mystery with the prevalent concerns of young readers has made them popular for both their entertainment value and their insights.