Enjoyed this for what it was, a Gothic horror spooky book and some weird goings on. The writing was easy to read and very reminiscent of Victorian England.
However I struggled at times to get to the end and I'm not sure why, but I did enjoy reading it even if it did feel very average.

4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2019/10/28/bone-china-by-laura-purcell/
Bone China is the third book I’ve read by Laura Purcell and firmly cements her in my mind as an amazing storyteller. I might not have quite loved the story here as much as the previous two books but the writing is amazing and Purcell’s ability to conjure a novel full of gothic atmosphere is second to none. I just love her writing. Definitely an auto buy author for me and I look forward to seeing what she does next.

Bone China brings to us a story of two women. Told in alternating timelines we first make the introduction of Hester Why as she makes her way by carriage to Moroven House. Hester has taken a new position and travels by coachlight during a bout of particularly fierce weather. We discover immediately that Hester is hiding something and in fact has taken on a different identity hoping to start afresh. All will be eventually revealed as to why exactly Hester has felt the need to runaway from her past.

The second timeline takes us back to the past when Dr Pinecroft and his daughter Louisa take up residence at Moroven House. The rest of their family have died, taken by consumption, and Dr Pinecroft is determined to find a cure for this deadly disease that steals so many lives. He’s using the beach at Moroven as an experiment and has moved a number of prisoners, all at different stages of the disease, to a cave there, where he believes the sea air will help to revive them.

Both stories have an edge to them that involves myth and folklore. There is talk of the fae and changelings and both tales have a creepy ominous feel that deepens as each story progresses. I also really liked that some of the characters play a role in both stories although I won’t discuss that particular element further.

What I think works really well here is the atmosphere that Purcell creates. A sense of dark foreboding where you almost want the main protagonist to simply get the hell out of there – I know that’s what I’d want to do anyway. Deliciously dark.

In terms of the characters I think this might be the only element that kept me from being totally bowled over. Hester is an unreliable narrator which is actually something I usually enjoy very much and up to a point it works really well here. I think my main issue is that I couldn’t really find it in myself to like Hester. Her earlier actions with her former employer were very dubious to say the least – I won’t say that she was fully to blame for the chain of events that occurred but her actions, prompted by jealousy, were bad, very very bad, and so even though some of her later actions helped to redeem her a little I think her earlier character decisions were difficult to shake off. In fairness, at the same time that this gave me pause I also have to applaud it because it’s so suitable for this style of book. Hester isn’t perfect. She’s made mistakes and has run away to escape the consequences but her new position feels akin to out of the frying pan into the fire and it has this feel of retribution, like there simply is no way of running away from your own actions.

I enjoyed the earlier timeline with a young Louisa Pinecroft desperately trying to help her father and stop him floundering with despair and guilt. This is a story that also begins to spiral out of control with the doctor himself becoming consumed with a kind of hysterical madness. I felt for Louisa and again I think that the fact that she was so trapped in the craziness that began to unfold left me feeling a little dissatisfied although i can’t entirely pin down why, I guess I wanted things to work out better for her but then again – the nature of this type of story.

This is definitely a book that has had me turning around in circles. There are so many things that I loved about it. The writing – which is beautiful and evocative. The setting, with the Cornish coast really playing into the story and in fact becoming almost like a character itself. The spooky house, the superstitions. The sense of impending doom. In fact, the more I think about it this book really has managed to grab my attention and keep it for considerably longer than I would normally expect.

I did enjoy this and the more I think about it the more elements of the story, when played over in my mind, on reflection were just really damned good. I think the only thing that keeps me from being blown away is a combination of two factors, the first the authors phenomenal success with both The Silent Companions and the Corset – oh my, did I love those two books and even though I don’t want to compare it’s kind of difficult, not to mention inevitable really, that those comparisons will take place – would I have loved this more if I hadn’t read the first two – very likely, but I’ll never really know. The second is just an overall feeling that I wanted maybe a happier ending somehow – although, that being said this is gothic and happy bunnies and rainbows are not often part of the general landscape.

On a totally fickle note I simply have to mention the cover – it really ties into the book so very well and gives me a serious case of the heebie jeebies.

I would rate this 4 out of 5 stars

And, I cannot wait to see what Laura Purcell comes up with next.

I received a copy courtesy of the publisher, through Netgalley, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley and Bloomsbury publishing. For me the synopsis of this book is written the wrong way round as we don't meet the good doctor and his daughter until a good way into the book. The whole narrative starts off as one thing and simply becomes another. The linkages between the two or three parts of the narrative are not well made. It didn't really have enough to fully maintain my attention and I think I would have liked it better if the author had chosen to follow an historical or horror perspective and create a deeper more engaging storyline.

I don't think i will be out looking for more by this author

I absolutely loved this book - Laura Purcell gets better with everything she writes. In Bone China she evokes Georgian London and Cornwall with supreme skill. I particularly enjoyed the dual timelines.

A satisfyingly creepy tale set in Cornwall. Dr Pinecroft wracked by grief over the loss of family through consumption, and assisted by his sole remaining child Louise, is obsessively seeking a cure to the disease by running a medical trial by installing sick men from Bodmin gaol in the cliffs below his home.

I read this through in one setting. Purcell explores similar themes to her previous two novels The Silent Companions and The Corset, utilises dual timeframes and a string female leads. I enjoyed the details of the harsh seascape and stormy weather and the superstitions employed by Creeda in her efforts to foil her fear of malicious fairy folk.

Overall I think the Corset remains my favourite of the three I've read so far.

The phrase haunting in horror has a very clear definition but being haunted is not necessarily always to mean that the supernatural ghosts of the undead are pursuing you. Sometimes we are haunted by the mistakes we cannot erase and their repercussions. Some memories are always going to continually rise up in our minds with the threat of overwhelming us. In some myths it’s when we have those kind of thoughts that various entities may decide to play with you to their own ends. In Laura Purcell’s excellent tale of gothic horror and mystery these two ideas are woven into a gripping; uncomfortable and loss.

On a dark winter night in Victorian England we meet Hester Why travelling towards a new role and escaping her past and drinking her sorrows away in a hidden gym flask. But when she sees a fellow passenger critically injured, she is forced to call attention to herself and we find that Hester really wants to avoid attention – so much so that she isn’t even using her real name as she travels to her new employer using forged references. We soon find that Hester comes from London society where the nouveau rich and the establishment are crossing paths at the high end of society. Now she has been forced to swap this for gloomy and cold Morvoren House in Cornwall in winter with frost on the windows and snow in the air. Awaiting her is a new household where the owner Miss Pincroft is a mute spinster confined to a chair staring terrified at her collection of bone china.

This is a fascinating story and Purcell really keeps the reader guessing as to what exactly is going on. Our impressions of characters shift throughout. Hester starts as a hero in our eyes saving a man’s life but then we see she is a much more complex character desperate for attention or possibly redemption. Miss Pinecroft is a passive yet alarming figure seeming to want to talk to Hester but in a parallel plot set forty years earlier we see her as young woman Louise working with her father to find a cure for consumption. Louise’s family has been torn apart by this allegedly incurable disease; she’s bright; brave and keen to help her father make a medical breakthrough. Clearly something happened to transform her into the mute and placid woman we now see but what or who caused it? The novel is divided into several parts bouncing between Hester and Miss Pinecroft’s present and future. They do slightly mirror each other in their intelligence; sense of purpose and loyalty towards in Hester’s case her previous mistress and in Louise’s case her father a renowned physician trying to save his reputation.

I loved the way that this story was constructed not simply to be a psychological tale of two very damaged characters running away from their pasts; but that Purcell also makes us see the two leads as both outsiders treading into an older wilder world where perhaps something supernatural is lurking. Here they are now in a place that believes in the little folk; changelings and protective spells. For Hester her nemesis is Miss Pinecroft’s oldest servant Creeda who is keen to maintain all the old traditions particularly any based around Miss Pinecroft’s mysterious adopted ward who appears to be a child in a grown woman’s body. Hester the daughter of a doctor and a midwife finds her worldviews clash with the stories of the little people who wish them all ill. But something is opening their mistress’s locked door every night and is something hiding on the shelves of China? Purcell has a fantastic approach to slowly building a foreboding sense of atmosphere be it on the strange shoreline or the gothic house at night. A candle simply being blow out is made far more powerful and unsettling than any masked monster! There is a growing sense of unease in both women’s stories pointing towards something terrible that is going to happen that will shatter these women’s lives and the repercussions of the past are going to affect Hester’s future.

This is definitely a novel that the less you know as you come into it the better the reveal of these characters will be for you. Part of the fun/terror here is discovering secrets and what exactly are the relationships between these women. Is there anything to these legends or not? You will care about these characters and fear for their safety and suffer their losses. I’ve been meaning to read Laura Purcell for a while now and a book of just terrifying unease makes me want to hurry up and devour all of their other novels. Perfect night-time reading just ensure you lock the door.

Bone China by Laura Purcell is a must read.

The story of Louise Pinecroft and her family ravaged by Consumption in the late 1800's then 40 years later when Hester Why (full of her own tormented history) arrives to look after the elderly and now infirm Louise and is met by lots of superstitions in the household from the Cornish Coast.

A fantastic Gothic Horror that will keep you turning the pages. I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC. (My review is my own Opinion)

This book takes us back even further, to the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries, neatly including the period in which Wollstonecraft wrote her Vindications of the Rights of Women but none of the women in the book seem to have any agency at all. Not even Miss Pinecroft, owner of Morvoren House and new employer of Hester Why, a maid/nurse - she is all but silent and spends almost all her time in a freezing room full of aging blue and white china. Hester herself is trying to escape her past and arrives in her new Cornish home hooked on gin and laudanum, haunted by the ghosts of previous mistresses she has come to love but has, ultimately, failed. The real power in Morvoren seems to be an ancient servant, Creeda, who rules Miss Pinecroft and her ward Rosewyn, with a mixture of cantankerousness and deep belief in the local folklore of fairies and pixies. This story is alternated with the recent past - which led Hester to flee London - and a period, forty years before, when Miss Pinecroft, known then as Louise, lived in the house with her father. Dr Pinecroft is searching for a cure for tuberculosis - a personal mission after the disease killed his beloved wife and his two other children - by using experimental treatments on a group of convicts who he houses in a nearby cave. The two main storylines move together and become mired deeper and deeper in Creeda's folklore until the final dramatic moment.

I really enjoyed the blending of folk traditions - the ones where fairies are definitely not dainty creatures keen on flowers and flitting about - and history. Dr Pinecroft's fresh-air treatment for the disease was still being used in the mid-Twentieth century - my secondary school had been an open-air school from the mid-1920s until 1956 - so all he was missing was broad-spectrum antibiotics, really. The horrors of nineteenth century medicine are not glossed over and there is plenty of blood pus and delirium. Although the characters are often not easy to like - Hester is, essentially, a functioning addict but is so sure she know more than the Cornish bumpkins she is forced to live with; Louise is a bit of a prig as a girl, proud of her intelligence and happy to parrot her father's medical opinions, and obstinate as an older woman; Creeda is just plain scary, her fairy stories either a form of madness or horribly, horribly real or, just maybe, both.

Consumption has ravaged the Pinecrofts, leaving just Louise and her father alone and grieving. But Dr Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary medical trial: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure for the disease, he arranges to house a group of convicts suffering from consumption in the caves beneath his new Cornish home.
40 years on, Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralysed and almost entirely mute Miss Pinecroft. Hester has fled to Cornwall to try and escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers that her new home may be just as dangerous as her last.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am perhaps more than a little bias because any book set in Cornwall has me already half-sold before I’ve turned the first page, add a dash of gothic, a touch of spookiness, some faerie folklore and a good storm or two and this was always going to be right up my street.

The shift between timelines and perspectives added real strength and depth to the narrative. The atmosphere is utterly perfect (to which I have to give Cornwall half the credit) and Purcell has a real talent for building tension in a totally unnerving, mildly hair-raising fashion. If you’re a dog person, you’ll be familiar with the heart-attack inducing presence of a loveable canine companion in any book and, I have to admit, I was far more concerned with the fate of Pompey the dog than any of his human friends. Sorry, human friends, particularly the female cast of characters who were all really quite wonderful.

Overall, another strong bit of creepy historical fiction from Laura Purcell and an ideal Autumn or Winter read but...despite critic claims to the contrary, it’ll always be Queen Daphne for me.

I voluntarily read this for an honest review

I've not read this author before but had seen lots of great reviews for this and was thrilled to be able to read an ARC of this

I had high hopes for this and was certainly not disappointed.

I love a historical thriller and this was dark and atmospheric. Once started I couldn't put down and just had to know what happened next.

I found this exhilarating and disturbing and was a wonderful read

Highly recommend

I loved Laura Purcell's first novel, The Silent Companions, and this certainly didn't disappoint. It's a spooky glory of the highest order. The setting of a sea-blasted, salt-crusted house on the Cornish cliffs is so atmospheric and creepy; I loved all the details about how bone china is made (no spoilers, though I would have liked a little more leaning-in to the horror of that at the end); and the emotional journey of the protagonist was intriguing. Already looking forward to Purcell's next!

I was sent a copy of Bone China by Laura Purcell to read and review by NetGalley.
I really enjoyed this book! It was well written, atmospheric and engaging, with a good dash of gothic mystery thrown in. The novel is character led with strong women at its core, the story moving between two time frames set forty years apart. If you enjoy the likes of Daphne Du Maurier and Jessie Burton then I’m sure you will love this.

Bone China marks the return of critically acclaimed writer Ms Purcell in a whole new gothic historical thriller which really packs a punch. Full of dark, disturbing elements and a spooky and almost claustrophobic atmosphere, we are treated to compulsively readable tale and one that is difficult to put down once it has you in its grasp. Set in Morvoren House, an isolated and eerie building standing alone on the stunning but often harsh Cornish coastline, we enter a world of myth, superstition and folklore and see first-hand just how many people live and die by what these old tales specify should or should not be done. It is told from the perspectives of two very different women 40 years apart and very much plays on the fear and paranoia of the characters.

It's by no means a light read as it covers bleak and chilling themes but it does so with a subtle sophistication missing from many other similar novels. It must be said that Purcell writes so vividly and accurately about the Victorian era that it often feels as though you are there beside the characters and experiencing life with them. The sight, sounds, smells are right on the money and that makes it very simple to immerse oneself in the world and get lost between the pages. The author knows exactly how to play with a readers mind throughout the narrative by making you question whether supernatural really is to blame or whether it is just good old insanity brought about by too much gin and opium. Many thanks to Raven Books for an ARC.

This book is an historical horror with multiple timelines being narrated at the same time, following two women living in the same stately mansion on the Cornish coast. One a daughter of a doctor who is desperately trying to find a cure for consumption (or tuberculosis) after losing the rest of his family to the affliction and running an experiment with convicts, the other a lady’s maid coming to attend that daughter in her old age. I thought this story again had a wonderful sense of atmosphere, the setting bleak and secluded enough to let most other worldbuilding be unnecessary. The horror parts of this story were less convincing than what I’ve read previously from her, maybe because fey folk don’t scare me as much as wooden figures of people moving on their own. There are some odd comments made by some characters that, in the end, get more explanation, but they felt random enough that I wondered if I had missed something while reading. There was also the problems with the timelines in this story – while in her other book I could follow pretty easily which era we were in, in Bone China I was often confused for the first paragraph or so which of the two women we were currently with, as their narration style feels very similar. This problem that may have been resolved in the final version with either font or chapter/paragraph headings.

If you favour sinister and creepy Gothic tales then Bone China by Laura Purcell is a must-read!

The novel is set in an isolated house - Morvoren House, on the Cornish coastline, a perfect setting for the story and goes back and forth in time. Both of the main characters, Hester and Louise, were likeable, feisty and strong women for their time and I was keen to know what happened to make their stories merge.

Laura Purcell is definitely a magnificent story-teller. Her descriptions were amazing, taking you right in the middle of the historical era that she excels in and I could tell that she possesses an immensely vivid imagination.

In this character driven tale of superstition, obsession and insanity, every page was filled with unsettling, ominous foreboding and I was beguiled and completely engrossed. For many readers, a time-spanning tale complete with alcoholism, supernatural pottery, and mental illness issues would be too much, but in Laura Purcell’s grip I was rewarded with a tense, well drawn character study.

I loved that Purcell left an clever, open ending giving this Gothic horror story an edge. Once started, Bone China was a novel that demanded to be finished and I was only too happy to oblige. This was such a terribly good, compulsive, historical-supernatural-mystery that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Bloomsbury via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion. Thank you also to Pigeonhole and Laura Purcell for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

Another Gothic influenced tale from Laura Purcell.
Our main character, Hester Why, travels to Cornwall to start a new job. Feeling guilt over her conduct in her previous post, Hester is determined to make this job work. Increasingly dependent on laudanum and gin, it isn’t clear to what extent Hester can be trusted.
Upon her arrival, Hester is struck by the superstitious behaviour of the household. She is appalled by the way her elderly charge, Mrs Pinecroft, is treated. Increasingly struggling to adjust to this experience, Hester has to decide just how far she’s prepared to go to atone for her past.
Some beautifully evocative descriptive passages, and there’s a clear sense of unease created. The focus on fairies could seem unnecessary, but for the background to the house and our family. Learning just how much Mrs Pinecroft has endured here does make me more sympathetic to something so odd.
I’m grateful to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

Fantastic melodrama with eerie twists and time shifts between two related narratives. A struggling doctor attempts to recalibrate his shaky reputation with a revolutionary treatment for TB in a remote Cornish village. His daughter is his devoted helpmate. 40 years later, a troubled nursemaid joins the household. Both protagonists face more than local opposition when the tale takes a supernatural turn. Smart and atmospheric, this novel interrogates gender and identity through the Gothic genre.

Another creepy dose of gothic madness and melancholia. 4/5 stars.

I’ve read and enjoyed Purcell’s previous two books. The Silent Companions is a masterclass in creating an oppressive atmosphere and a big spooky house for characters to rattle around in. I didn’t feel The Corset was quite as successful, but it was another entertaining story with plenty of twists and turns. As with her previous books, in Bone China it is in creating atmosphere that the author excels. From the first page there is a pervading sense of dread and unseen malevolent presences. The gloomy weather, hostile geography and ancient superstitions of the Cornish setting seem to conspire to further unhinge all the narrators and place the reader in the uncomfortable position of not knowing quite what to believe.

The historical details are well-researched and interesting. The tragedy of TB or “consumption” – a disease easily cured today – which killed so many while family and friends had to look on helplessly, is brought to life effectively and affectingly.

The time-shifts and three different narrators are also handled deftly. When I saw the long character list at the start of the book I was worried I would never be able to keep track of it all. However I was never once confused, and each part of the story was coherent and easy to follow. Unfortunately, I did feel that the time shifts, though effective, prevented us from spending enough unbroken time with any of the characters to come to truly care about them. This may explain why I didn’t find the narrative as gripping or creepy as The Silent Companions. Nor was I sure that the connections between the past and present were strong enough, certainly not to pre-empt the final shock at the end of the book (no spoilers!).

Overall: don’t expect a horror or thriller from Bone China, but rather a sinister chiller with characters torn between rational and supernatural explanations for the strangeness which surrounds and slowly envelops them.

I’ve not read anything of Laura Purcell before, but I found Bone China was an atmospherically written gothic novel set on the cliff tops of Cornwall. and although I liked the style of her writing I didn’t particularly engage with the characters in the book which did distract me from enjoying it totally.

Now that the nights are “fair drawing in” it is very much the time to start looking for the best of the creepy, gothic stories to read on the dark and stormy nights. While I cannot deliver on the appropriate weather conditions I *can* bring a good wee story to your attention which very much meets the creepy gothic criteria.

Laura Purcell’s Bone China takes the reader to Cornwall back in the days when large residences had housekeepers, ladies maids, butlers, coachmen and a plethora of other staff to keep a household ticking over. The families who owned these homes seemed to be measured by the size of their staff, the skill of the cook etc. So when we meet Hester Why as she travels to Cornwall the reader is not sure why she is leaving a good role in London to take on a position in a rundown old home in one of the remotest parts of the country.

From the very outset it becomes clear Hester is not in a good place. Sneaking drinks of gin from a flask which she tries to conceal from other passengers and trying to ensure she does not draw any attention to herself. However, her attempts to remain unnoticed will be dashed when her carriage is involved in an accident and her skills are needed to help save the life of a fellow traveller.

Arriving at her new place of employ in a muddy and bloody state Hester is surprised to find she will be sharing room (and bed) with another staff member – a marked comedown from her previous role in one of the most illustrious homes in London.

The narrative jumps back to Hester’s former life when she was known by a different name and when her previous mistress treated her with favours and comfort above societies norms of the time.

Back to Hester in her new role at Moroven House. It is a constantly cold place. Her new mistress is near invalid who has an unhealthy obsession with sitting by her china collection and appears terrified to leave her plates and cups unattended.

Her new mistress has a young ward in her care but the two never spend any time together and the ward is watched by another servant who has little time for Hester. The mysterious pair spend time in a different part of the house and Hester finds that the child plays in a the middle of a ring of salt – a ring which should not be broken. Hester scorns their backward belief in sprites and fairy-folk but as the story unfolds it does seem that there are strange goings on at Morvoren House.

As the blurb above indicates there is another character to feature prominently in Bone China…Louise Pinecroft. The author takes us 40 years into the past to see the mistress of the house as a young woman. Her father is a brilliant doctor who is devoting his time to find a cure to the terrible disease consumption. Louise is convinced her father is on the path to a major breakthrough but at what cost to his own health?

Laura Purcell is, without doubt, one of the best of the current crop of newly published authors who are making a real name for themselves. Few can match her when it comes to penning gothic chillers as she captures the atmosphere and feeling needed to carry off these stories. If you get the chance to pick up her terrific debut, The Silent Companions, then grab it – that one was special.

Bone China. Clever, unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable – watch out for it.