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A review by kazza27
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
5.0
Wow ! I was so excited to be on the tour for this gorgeous book and it was such a wonderful experience.
We meet Agnes Darken who is living in Bath, she has been unwell and her late sister’s husband Simon who is a Dr has been caring for her. She is advised by him to not exert herself due to her pneumonia which has left her weak. Her profession is as a silhouette artist, one day she is out drawing in Sydney Gardens and she sketches a sailor who she has been watching who reminds her of her own fiancé. She has clients that visit her to have their portraits made into silhouettes and she is visited by the police when the most recent of her customers is found murdered.
Then there is Pearl, she is an 11 year old girl who lives with her sister and very sick father. Pearl’s sister Myrtle exploits Pearl as a medium as she has powers to make contact with the dead. These sessions are gruelling for poor Pearl, who lost her own mother at birth. After more of Agnes’s clients die in suspicious circumstances, Agnes hears about Pearl and decides that she must visit to find out who the murderer is and why are they coming after her clients. The relationship of Agnes and Pearl is a tender one as Agnes is worried about Pearl and why she is so ill and wants to help her and her sick father.
This is one of the best gothic stories I have read in a very long time, it is sublime. The author sets the scene of a Bath no longer in its heyday but slightly shabby around the edges and this with the spooky atmosphere that Laura Purcell conjures up so well made me glued to my seat all day. I love Bath it is one of my favourite cities and walking around places that I know well like Sydney Gardens, The Pump Room, The Abbey, Walcot Street and Queens Square made the experience even more real for me. As a reader I was transfixed with Pearl and her séances and her powers and the writing is so visual I was in that room with her as she contacts the dead.
Agnes is living with her Mother and Nephew after her sister Constance died, you do not know the circumstances of her death but little by little you uncover the story behind Agnes, Simon, Cedric and their past. The author is so clever at hooking you and I really did not see what was happening until after it had happened and then you get a real ah-ah moment as the secrets are uncovered. There is everything in this story, lies, death, horror and sadness.
I loved this book and I will be definitely reading it again and recommending as it is really is the most glorious dark and creepy story and Laura Purcell is a genius of compelling storytelling. A MAZ ING !!
We meet Agnes Darken who is living in Bath, she has been unwell and her late sister’s husband Simon who is a Dr has been caring for her. She is advised by him to not exert herself due to her pneumonia which has left her weak. Her profession is as a silhouette artist, one day she is out drawing in Sydney Gardens and she sketches a sailor who she has been watching who reminds her of her own fiancé. She has clients that visit her to have their portraits made into silhouettes and she is visited by the police when the most recent of her customers is found murdered.
Then there is Pearl, she is an 11 year old girl who lives with her sister and very sick father. Pearl’s sister Myrtle exploits Pearl as a medium as she has powers to make contact with the dead. These sessions are gruelling for poor Pearl, who lost her own mother at birth. After more of Agnes’s clients die in suspicious circumstances, Agnes hears about Pearl and decides that she must visit to find out who the murderer is and why are they coming after her clients. The relationship of Agnes and Pearl is a tender one as Agnes is worried about Pearl and why she is so ill and wants to help her and her sick father.
This is one of the best gothic stories I have read in a very long time, it is sublime. The author sets the scene of a Bath no longer in its heyday but slightly shabby around the edges and this with the spooky atmosphere that Laura Purcell conjures up so well made me glued to my seat all day. I love Bath it is one of my favourite cities and walking around places that I know well like Sydney Gardens, The Pump Room, The Abbey, Walcot Street and Queens Square made the experience even more real for me. As a reader I was transfixed with Pearl and her séances and her powers and the writing is so visual I was in that room with her as she contacts the dead.
Agnes is living with her Mother and Nephew after her sister Constance died, you do not know the circumstances of her death but little by little you uncover the story behind Agnes, Simon, Cedric and their past. The author is so clever at hooking you and I really did not see what was happening until after it had happened and then you get a real ah-ah moment as the secrets are uncovered. There is everything in this story, lies, death, horror and sadness.
I loved this book and I will be definitely reading it again and recommending as it is really is the most glorious dark and creepy story and Laura Purcell is a genius of compelling storytelling. A MAZ ING !!