Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of books, music, and films to enhance your experience of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, playing at Seattle Rep November 29 - December 22, 2024.

Blithe Spirit: An Improbable Farce in Three Acts
Coward, Noël
Book - 1968 

The script of Blithe Spirit, for your reading pleasure.

The Other Side of Mrs. Wood: A Novel
Barker, Lucy
Book - 2023

To defend her craft and livelihood, Mrs. Violet Wood must outsmart a newspaperman intent on exposing false mediums.

Take Back the Magic: Conversations With the Unseen World
Finn, Perdita
Book - 2023

Finn, cofounder of the Way of the Rose ecofeminist community, explains in this fine-grained account how she repaired her fraught relationship with her brilliant and sullen father after his death. (Publishers Weekly)

The Book of Séances: A Guide to Divination and Speaking to Spirits
Goodchild, Claire
Book - 2022

Tarot artist Goodchild delivers a generous grab bag of strategies for connecting with the spirits of the dead. (Publishers Weekly)

Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances
Morton, Lisa
Book - 2020

Calling the Spirits investigates the eerie history of our conversations with the dead, from necromancy in Homer's Odyssey to the emergence of Spiritualism, when Victorians were entranced by mediums and the séance was born. (publisher's copy)

The London Séance Society
Penner, Sarah
Book - 2023

In this spellbinding tale, two daring women hunt for truth and justice through the perilous art of conjuring the dead.

The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story
Summerscale, Kate
Book - 2021

The Edgar Award-winning author of The Wicked Boy documents the story of 1930s Hungarian ghost hunter Nandor Fodor and the traumatic details surrounding the case of a London housewife's bizarre supernatural experiences. (Novelist)

I'll Be Waiting: A Novel
Armstrong, Kelley
Book - 2024

Outliving the expectations of her cystic fibrosis diagnosis, Nicola marries Anton, but after his death in a car crash goes viral as a supernatural event, a group of spiritualists offering closure hold a séance that unleashes a terrifying force. (Novelist)

Blithe Spirit
Streaming Video - 2020

This 2020 British film adaptation of Blithe Spirit stars Judi Dench as the eccentric mystic Madame Acarti and Dan Stevens as Charles Condomine.

Ghosts [Season 1]
DVD - 2022

BBC sitcom Ghosts follows the undead denizens of a crumbling country mansion whose "afterlives are thrown into turmoil when young urban couple Alison and Mike unexpectedly inherit the peaceful derelict house and plan to turn it into a bustling hotel." (publisher's copy)

Spirit Talker: Indigenous Stories and Teachings From a Mi'kmaq Psychic Medium
Leonard, Shawn
Book - 2023

In this teaching memoir, Shawn Leonard shares his personal story of developing his abilities as a spirit talker, revealing incredible stories from his childhood to the present. Along the way, he shares experiences he has had with elders from his aboriginal tribe, the Mi'kmaq, and his journey learning more about his heritage. (publisher's copy)

Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit
DVD - 2012

Released a few years after Blithe Spirit's theatrical debut in 1941, this 1945 film adaptation stars Rex Harrison as Charles Condomine.

Hazardous Spirits: A Novel
Salam, Anbara
Book - 2023

In 1920s Scotland, the ordinary life of young wife Evelyn is upended when her husband, Robert, claims he can communicate with spirits. (Library Journal)

"To a Skylark" | The Poetry Foundation
Web Resource - View on poetryfoundation.org

The title of Blithe Spirit was inspired by the first line of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark:" "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!"

Reserve Your Copies

Blithe Spirit runs at Seattle Rep from November 29 - December 22, 2024. Get your tickets today!