![]() ![]() Once again Laura Purcell gives us perfect winter reading fare with her atmospheric Victorian era Gothic spine chiller set in the filthy, disease ridden, bleak streets of Bath in the late 19th century. *A big thank-you to Laura Purcell, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.* I especially appreciated the motifs from Ms Purcell's three other ghotic books delicately included in The Shape of Darkness. I know there is something hidden and lifting the curtain inch by inch is a most thrilling reading experience. I always love the way Ms Purcell gradually unravels her characters. The plot is most engaging and intriguing, and the climax as unpredicatble as may be expected in a novel by Ms Purcell. Pearl's story is heart-breaking in its own way. Miss Darken begins to become both scared and obsessed by the events and decides to turn to a medium, a girl called Pearl, for help. Mysteriously, her sitters become victims of a murderer. The times of increased interest in mesmerism, spiritual seanses and the art of making silhuettes that is becoming less and less popular due to new techniques, namely, daguerreotype and photography.Īgnes Darken lives with her ailing mother and her nephew trying to make ends meet by making silhuettes. Ms Purcell has become one of my favourite Victorian ghotic authors, and I was delighted to have been offered the latest of her books to read.īath, 1854. ![]() * Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, (Raven Books) for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review * This is Victorian gothic as it should be - dark creepy houses, silent, apart from the ticking of the old grandfather clock, with some chilling encounters thrown in, some of which trace icy fingers down the spine - in addition, there were some really surprising twists, and I have to say, a very unexpected and shocking conclusion!Ī great murder mystery, aided by the author’s excellent application of deception, (I never guessed the way it would end!) along with the added intrigue of supernatural events. You know the old saying, be careful what you wish for? Well the seances may just unleash something that neither of them want to confront! Agnes believes that the killer will be revealed if Pearl can contact his victims. Pearl is only 11 years old but she has a very good reputation for making contact with those who have passed over to the spirit world. She believes that someone is out to destroy her business, and in her desperation to discover who would do that, she consults Pearl, a spirit medium who lives with her domineering sister Myrtle, (a mesmerist), and her ailing father. Naturally Agnes is upset on hearing the news, but then it happens again with her next client - and the next! She earns a living as a silhouette artist in order to support the three of them - that is until one of her clients is found murdered, shortly after sitting for Agnes. The bleak, dark, and oppressive atmosphere of mid 19th century Bath, a dirty and unsanitary place, lends much to the supernatural storyline, as it winds its ethereal way down the misty paths of mediumship, with a little mesmerism thrown in for good measure.Īgnes Darken lives with her elderly mother and orphaned nephew Cedric. ![]()
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