The Possessions

Who will prevail — the woman or the ghost?

For five years Edie has worked for the Elysian Society, a secretive organisation that provides a very specialised service: its clients come to reconnect with their dead loved ones by channelling them through living 'Bodies'. Edie is one such Body, perhaps the best in the team, renowned for her professionalism and discretion.

But everything changes when Patrick, a distraught husband, comes to look for traces of his drowned wife in Edie. The more time that Edie spends as the glamorous, enigmatic Sylvia, the closer she comes to falling in love with Patrick … and the more mysterious the circumstances around Sylvia's death appear.

As Edie falls under Sylvia's spell, she must discover not only the couple's darkest secrets, but her own long-buried memories and desires — before it's too late.

About the Author

Sara Flannery Murphy was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Throughout Murphy’s childhood, her family divided their time between Little Rock and Eureka Springs, a small tourist town and artists’ community in the Ozark Mountains. Murphy received her MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis. While living in St. Louis, she studied with writers including Kathryn Davis. She also had the chance to teach creative writing. She later attended the University of British Columbia with a focus on library science.

An avid bookworm, Murphy especially loves thrillers and mysteries. Some of her major influences include Shirley Jackson and Charlotte Brönte. She enjoys TV series and films that explore the dark and the uncanny, from procedural dramas to horror.

Murphy currently lives in an Oklahoma college town with her husband and son. Her shorter work has appeared in journals including Storyglossia and Tammy. The Possessions is her first novel.