Divining voices: the use of spiritualism in young adult historical fiction

The Spiritualism movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is not often focused on in literature of the period. However, at that time, this important movement created a path for marginalized communities to have a voice and agency in their personal and public lives. In Young Adult Historical Fiction today, Spiritualism has become a trope showing the importance of young adult marginalized voices as well as demonstrating to young adults a way to practice spirituality if they feel excluded from mainstream religion. I look specifically at Libba Bray’s The Diviners and the way in which its characters are able to use their powers to find their agency and their own belief systems as an example of this trend in YA fiction. I analyze the way the movement was used in history and the importance of spiritualism as a coping mechanism in connection to the story itself.