3.5
The House of Whispers
By Laura PurcellPublisher Description
A gothic tale set in a rambling house by the sea in which a maid cares for a mute old woman with a mysterious past, alongside her superstitious staff--from the author of The Silent Companions.
A perfect spooky read!
Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft's family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken. But Dr. Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the disease in the caves beneath his new Cornish home. While he devotes himself to his controversial medical trials, Louise finds herself increasingly discomfited by the strange tales her new maid tells of the fairies that hunt the land, searching for those they can steal away to their realm.
Forty years later, Hester arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralyzed and mute Miss Pinecroft. Hester has fled to Cornwall to try to escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers her new home may be just as dangerous as her last.
Laura Purcell's THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS is now out from Penguin!
A perfect spooky read!
Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft's family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken. But Dr. Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the disease in the caves beneath his new Cornish home. While he devotes himself to his controversial medical trials, Louise finds herself increasingly discomfited by the strange tales her new maid tells of the fairies that hunt the land, searching for those they can steal away to their realm.
Forty years later, Hester arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralyzed and mute Miss Pinecroft. Hester has fled to Cornwall to try to escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers her new home may be just as dangerous as her last.
Laura Purcell's THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS is now out from Penguin!
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities27 Reviews
3.5
Kristine Martin
Created 5 months agoShare
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June
Created 6 months agoShare
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“It took me a minute to realize she has different names for some of her books and I don't really understand why. The House of Whispers is also called Bone China in older editions, and the Poison Thread was also called the Corset. I don't think I've noticed this kind of publishing shenanigans for other books so it was just a little confusing. Anyway.
While I didn't adore this one as much as I did the Silent Companions, I felt the character building and ambience she puts to page really sells her writing to me. I don't feel like I'm going through a slog of visual descriptions with her writing. It flows super easy and deliberate.
For this book I expected more mystical spookage like in Silent Companions. The paranormal horror tapered out at a point in this book on account for me. I know the point is mystery which has its own appeal, but it came at the cost of what made Silent Companions so fun to me: the magic that could be there with plenty of evidence to suggest it is there and just enough reason to say it isn't there. By the end I was leaning toward it all being in their heads, just barely teetering on mystical where I wanted stronger doubts on reality.
Adding to that, I felt it ended too abruptly before I was sold on the odd magic of the caves and Morvoren House. Plus I didn't feel the ending did Hester justice. I didn't feel like she had that much reason to "solve" the situation the way she chose to. While I may not have agreed with everything she did throughout the book, I loved the consistency of her character flaws. So when the ending came, even though I could bargain with myself that she might make those decisions under the circumstsances, I didn't feel they aligned with who I expected her character to be.”
shuff the puff
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Kinnimomo
Created 9 months agoShare
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Siriface
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About Laura Purcell
Laura Purcell is the author of The Silent Companions and The Poison Thread. She worked in local government, the financial industry and a bookshop before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Colchester, the oldest recorded town in England, with her husband and pet guinea pigs. Fascinated by the darker side of royal history, Laura has also written two historical fiction novels about the Hanoverian dynasty.
Other books by Laura Purcell
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