New Bodies for Old

'New Bodies for Old' is a science-fiction novel by Maurice Renard that begins with a winter dinner party in the Avenue Victor Hugo. The guests engage in a seance method called table-turning and are stunned when the table gives them answers through dry cracklings. The table demands a French typewriter, and one of the guests, Cardaillac, offers to fetch his own machine. In the dark, the table instructs Cardaillac to type while putting his feet on the table, and the typist-medium is amazed to find that his hands are writing on their own. This sets off a journey of strange and extraordinary events that challenge the group's beliefs and force them to question the reality of the world around them.