Member Reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed Laura Purcell’s first two novels, but this one was a big let down for me. She has stepped away from the eerie gothic aspect we have come to know her for, and replaced it with ridiculous folk law fairies that we are supposed to buy into. I rate this author, but not this title. Read one of her others and give this one a miss.
This another compulsive, creepy book from the wonderful Laura 'Spooky' Purcell. This story is told over two time-lines. forty years apart, and is set for the most part on the rugged coast of Cornwall.
After the death of three family members from consumption, Doctor Pinecroft and his daughter Louise move from Bristol to Morvoren House, a property perched on the edge of cliffs overlooking the sea. The heartbroken Doctor is determined to find a cure for the disease that took his beloved wife and two youngest children, and arrangements are made for a group of consumptive inmates from the local prison to be moved to caves in the cliffs below Morvoren House for the Doctor to treat and, hopefully, cure. Morvoren House is not a huge property but Doctor Pinecroft employs a maid to assist with the day to day running of the house, a girl who has plenty to say about the local folkelore and superstitions.
Forty years later 'Hester' leaves her employment as a maid i London in somewhat of a hurry and takes up work at Morvoren House as a personal maid to the Lady of the house who is an older woman in very poor health who spends all day, every day, and most nights, sitting in a chair in a room surrounded by selves and shelves (and more shelves) of blue and white bone china.
As with Laura Purcell's previous books, this is a very atmospheric story with a hint of something possibly supernatural. Another fantastic, eerie read from an author who has become a firm favourite.
I am a huge fan of Laura Purcell’s writing and I loved her first two books, The Silent Companions and The Corset. Gothic fiction is one of my favourite genres and Bone China showcases Purcell’s talent in this arena yet again.
Bone China is set in Cornwall so the comparisons with Daphne Du Maurier are unavoidable. They are very different though, both play on superstitions but I think Purcell plays on the reader’s fears more, her narratives are a little darker.
Hester Why has arrived at Morvoren House which is set on the Cornish cliffs. She is to care for Louise Pinecroft, an elderly lady, partly paralysed and mainly mute. Hester has her own demons and she believes this to be her escape but she is so wrong. The house holds many secrets, Miss Pinecroft has a female ward who is locked away all day. Hester had not even been told of her existence. The house is full of strange noises and the staff persist in talking about the ‘little people’ who come in the night.
The story flits between Hester and Louise Pinecroft forty years ago and we begin to learn how she has ended up so isolated and fearful. Hester has done some bad things and she sees Louise as a way of righting some wrongs. She is determined to help her new mistress but does she have any idea what she is up against?
Bone China is packed full of suspense and superstition. Changelings are a big theme and I found this fascinating. The idea that a fairy comes in the night and takes a person but leaves behind a replica. Fairies sound harmless but there is a very sinister edge in this book, steeped in Cornish folklore passed down from generation to generation.
Hester and Louise are very different people yet they have both been driven to try and right some wrong they feel they have done. Laura Purcell is masteful in the way she builds suspense. She builds it up with small details and events and then suddenly a situation is out of control and you are going along for the ride.
I can highly recommend Bone China, it is beautifully written and I’m already to see what Laura Purcell does next.
This was my first introduction to this author and I was absolutely blown away by her writing. Beautiful prose that captivated me from the first line. I couldn't wait to get back to the book each evening. The setting, the plot, and the characters were all brilliantly brought to life. A five-star read.
After reading The Silent Companions and thoroughly enjoying , I was very excited to read this latest story, unfortunately I feel that this book has not quite reached the same standard. It started well for me but then I felt the plot became disjointed. I really enjoy the writing style and will certainly be keen to read more books by this author but in this instance the story and characters just didn’t gel for me.
I really enjoy Laura Purcell’s books and this one was no different. I love the atmosphere and the history that is recreated which in turn is full of suspense.
Hester Why gets a job looking after the mistress of Moroven House, but she knows from the start that something isn’t right. She sits all day in a freezing cold room, staring at her china.
This story is really three stories in one. The first being Hester’s previous job and what happened for her to leave and run away to Cornwall. The second being what happened to Miss Pinecroft when she came to be mistress of the house, and third, what is happening in Moroven house now as a result of the past.
It is such a clever story and it’s woven together nicely. I did think it was a bit drawn out in places but there was enough to keep me hooked. A good book to read on a dark winters night
I have loved both of Laura Purcell's previous novels. I'm a big gothic fan. While I loved elements of this one it isn't my favourite of hers. I loved the story about Dr Pinecroft and his experimental treatments for consumption but I would have liked more of that part of the story than the later part.
I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
Bone China is the latest offering from gothic writer Laura Purcell, and follows multiple timelines and threads 40 years apart to weave a tale steeped in Cornish folklore with her traditional spooky writing style. I loved The Silent Companions, and was hoping for something with a similar atmospheric feel, but there’s just something missing here.
There no denying that Purcell can write, and write well. Her stories are always consumed with atmosphere and underlying tensions, drama and a rich history. But I think this looses itself in weak protagonists and a messy, convoluted plot. Having two distinct storylines that fail to interweave effectively leaves the story open to a slow pace that at times left me feeling confused. It also ruins the writing style, because as soon as I got into one plot and felt as though I was being pulled into the wonderful descriptions, I was quickly moved onto the next - leaving me feeling disjointed. The ending also leaves a lot to be desired, with a number of unanswered questions and what feels like an unfinished plot. Tighter editing could have helped towards this, especially with the plot involving Miss Pincroft - which felt largely unnecessary. Sticking to one timeline could really have propelled this further.
I also found Hester, the main character, rather weak. She doesn’t feel well developed, with no nuances to her personality to make me root for her. She’s unlikeable, which in itself isn’t a problem, except there’s no explanation to her actions or thoughts. More time fleshing out her personality would have gone a long way to making me appreciate her more. As a result, I wasn’t really that interested in what happened to her.
Good descriptions and atmosphere that unfortunately can’t support a weak protagonist and convoluted timey-wimey plot. Stick to The Silent Companions for your crappy gothic kicks.
Bone China is a truly wonderful book. Laura Purcell has yet again created a beautifully written, complex novel that is a joy to read, full of intrigue and mystery and makes you excited to read more of her works.
Creepy, gothic, tragic, superstition, insanity: these are becoming the hallmark of a Laura Purcell story and long may it continue. Does belief in the local Cornish folklore make it true? This tale is saturated in folklore, fear, paranoia and dread. Hester Why is a misguided and sad character who seems only to want to be loved and needed- finally she finds a way to save one of her charges. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
Thank you NetGalley and Raven books for a copy of this book I was looking forward to reading Bone China as I loved her previous two books The Silent Companions and The Corset.
Set in Cornwall Hester Why is travelling to her new job in Morvoren House, after leaving her previously job abruptly. We learn more about why later in the story. When she helps someone as they just fallen off the carriage. She arrives at Morvoren house where she meets an eclectic group of people. The story also goes back 40 years and we are introduced to Louise and her father Dr Pinecroft.
I was quite disappointed with Bone China. Don’t get me wrong it started very well and I like her writing style. It was gothic and atmospheric. I don’t know if it was just myself but, with the different timelines I found this very confusing and I couldn’t really tell you the rest of the storyline was about. I was expecting more but this didn’t deliver. 2stars from me
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I have interest in both English china and gothic novels and I was delighted with the opportunity to review a new book by Laura Percell. Many thanks to @NetGalley and the publisher for providing copy of the book for free in exchange for a fair review.
Alas! Great idea, poorly executed. But, actually, what idea was that? I never grasped the reason behind on of the characters sitting in a freezing room surrounded by all that beautiful china. I never understood the reason for the other character's substance abuse. I never got scared. I did not connect to any of the characters (and there were too many!).
I guess this book could make a really spooky/jumpy film - which one watches just for the frights! The book has no real message or any real idea behind the narrative.
Or am I missing something?
And why all this china?
I received a free copy from Netgalley to review. Here is the blurb
"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 same disease in the cliffs 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 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…"
Having read The Silent Companions by the same author and reading the blurb above I was really excited to read this book. Having completed the book I found it was ok but just not as good as the one I had read previously.. Plus points were the author is good at making you feel you are in the time period she is writing about and it feels authentic.. The bits I struggled with were I just didn't feel any connection with the character Hester Why but wanted to know more about what had happened to Louise. I also kept waiting for a big wow moment about the faeries and the china set but it never happened for me. Overall the book was ok but not great and I found myself comparing it to The Silent Companions.
Bone China by Laura Purcell is a gothic novel set in Cornwall. Hester Why has travelled to Cornwall to take up a post as a Lady’s maid - and also to escape her past. But if she thinks she’s going to have an easy time of it, she has another thing coming! Morvoren House has its own secrets, not helped by the very strange Creeda, who believes that fairies will spirit Miss Rosewyn (the ward of Miss Pinecroft, the elderly woman that Hester is looking after) away.
We also get to see some of Hester’s past before Cornwall - and the reason why she has ended up in Morvoren House; and that of Louise, some 40 years before Hester’s arrival.
Unsurprisingly, bone china features prominently in this story, and I was delighted to hear the story of the willow pattern again - a story that my own grandmother used to tell me when showing me her willow pattern tea service.
Louise’s story tells of the time after her mother and siblings have died of phthisis (or tuberculosis), and her father, who was a doctor, deciding that he will find a cure for it. Prisoners from the local prison are kept in caves beneath the house, the theory being that the fresh air would strengthen their lungs. I know! Horrifying!!
I didn’t find the jumping between timelines at all confusing, and I really enjoyed the way it did this. The unreliability of Hester’s narrative due to gin and laudanum was also really well done. I never knew if what was happening was due to the gin, laudanum, actual reality or the fairies!
And the landscape and sights of Cornwall were beautifully described. I love Cornwall - it’s one of my most favourite places. The rawness of the coast is a pleasure to read about, and instantly took me to the cliffs by the sea.
I tried to make this book last longer, but had no luck at all because I was desperate to know what was going to happen! And that ending - I’m still in shock!!!!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this completely absorbing book! It was a pleasure to read.
Laura Purcell is fast becoming one of my auto-buy authors.
Much like her debut, The Silent Companions and her previous novel, The Corset, Bone China is gothicly atmospheric and creepy period piece. Purcell perfectly manages to teeter on the edge of psychological horror and paranormal fantasy. In Bone China the elements at war against each other are guilt, grief and illness versus superstition and fairy changelings.
It's hard to review this book without giving too much away: much like Purcell's other books the mystery of what's actually happening and what the character's think is happening is crucial. The tension it creates as you wonder the true origins of the events is the stories greatest strength, and I wouldn't want to give that away.
What I will say is that I found Bone China incredibly readable. Purcell has a beautiful writing style that completely captivates you.
In this particular novel, the setting is as central to the story as the characters. The ramshackle house, perched atop crashing waves and abandoned caves was so very clear in my mind's eye while I was reading. The sense of isolation that our protagonist, Hester, experiences -- both because of the house's location, her own inner demons, and the insular community she enters -- was a palpable feeling.
The only problem that I had with Bone China was a slight issue with the plotting and pacing. The novel has two timelines: Hester's present-day POV and Louise's POV from forty years previously.
For me, personally, the dual timeline would have worked better if they were woven together: maybe not exactly in alternating chapters but something closer to it. Instead, the first and last thirds of the book are Hester with the middle third giving Louise's backstory. While I was reading Louise's section I kind of forgot about and lost interest in what was happening to Hester. It felt a little like two entirely separate books. While Louise's section is compelling and answers some of the questions that developed during the early stages of the novel, I still think that these two periods could have been more integrated.
Bone China straddles the psychological/supernatural divide throughout, keeping you on your toes and flipping pages. While I think I might have slightly preferred The Corset, I thought Bone China was a great place to start reading Purcell's work.
I remember reading The Silent Companions and being intrigued as to what, exactly, had scared me so much about it? Then the darkness intensified in The Corset and Laura Purcell became one of my authors to watch out for.
I absolutely adored this book! It deftly weaves in folklore / folk horror tropes with solid social and medical history research. The author’s trademark creeping sense of dread and menace is even more well developed than in her previous books and she is adept at building unease in the mind of the reader. Sometimes we are just slightly ahead of the characters in guessing what happens next, but in the main, we are just as much in the dark as they are.
Hester and Louise seem very different at first and the book appears to be about the former - then the switch to the latter, neatly and subtly revealing the similarities between them (the place of women in society is a particular strength in the author’s writing).;Hester is a woman trying to run away from herself, Louise is trapped by holding back the past. There are no sweet and easy resolutions for either of them, despite the introduction of a possible suitor for Hester. And why should there be? Doomed endeavours, romantic or otherwise, are what makes Morvoren House the place it is. Impossible to have everything tied up in a neat little bow at the end, which is exactly how I like my fiction!
Really looking forward to the next book now, thank you for the chance to read this advance copy.
A haunting and multi layered novel. Esther is on the run, taking up employment as a lady’s maid and nurse in a remote house in Cornwall, far from her previous position in London. When she arrives, she finds a strange house, full of patterned china, a wordless mistress and a staff dominated by Creeda, a strange and sinister woman full of local beliefs about fairies and spirits. A second narrative set forty years before weaves through the novel, explaining how the house’s current occupants came to be there. As Creeda’s behaviour becomes more intense, Esther battles against the strangeness of the house to try and uncover the truth about what is happening.
Perfectly paced and spooky, this is a great read for a dark night.
Sublimely well written . That's the phrase that comes to mind thinking on this ... the dishonest alcoholic Miss Why encounters, in her new mistress, someone with as difficult a past as hers. Set centuries ago in remote England,
the moving back and forth in personal histories of the two women underscores the viability of this tactic .. and the supernatural presence of another level of reality gives the author permission, in strange way, to look back and forth in time .. really extremely well done .. smart and engaging .. brilliant.
Another spooky read by Laura Purcell! Like her last two books I really enjoyed this one and felt transported into history, turning the pages to find out what on earth is going on. Sadly it wasn't a new favourite like her first book The Silent Companions though. While all the suspense was there I did find the time hopping a little jarring though this seems to be a theme in her work. I hope that next time she'll write a more straight time line so I can probably get invested in the creepy goings on.
Esther Stevens, a Lady’s maid on the run. She accidentally poisoned her mistress but before she could be given any ‘punishment’ she fled, taking with her a damning snuff box and the only travelling dress she owned given by the mistress herself. Getting as far away as she could she decided to take up an offer of a position based in Cornwall, far enough a way to assume a new identity, Hester Why. Set with false papers and recommendations, she arrives at Morvoren House, after a few days Hester begins to question her new role as nurse and personal maid to Miss Pinecroft.
Forty years before, Miss Louise Pinecroft, the mistress of the house has her own story of pain and punishment. She and her father, Dr Pinecroft had move to this remote part of the world so her father could ‘cure’ consumption. The real motivation for this was because they had lost Louisa, the mother, Kitty and Francis the siblings, it was just them two left in the world now.
Dr Pinecroft had managed to persuade a gaol to release prisoners that were suffering with consumption to his custody so he could study and experiment the cause and effect of this illness. Dr Pinecroft and Miss Pinecroft worked together to treat and inspect the prisoners to see how they were faring.
Not only did Miss Pinecroft have this responsibility but she was now the mistress of her own household. She acquired a maid from her father to which Louise was to find out was actually a patient of her fathers, but Creeda was an odd girl, she introduced Dr Pinecroft and Miss Pinecroftto the world of fairy’s, pixies, changelings and goblins.
Lucy Purcell has written a tense and chilling tale of two women and how circumstance shaped their lives. You can really feel the grey, stormy and cold nights, the creepy noises from the creaking of the floorboards and you can even feel the little people’s eyes following you through the pages.
Initially we are introduced to Esther/Hester and how she comes to Morvoren House then when she starts to settle and gain a little knowledge of the house and its occupants that’s when we start to find out the history of Miss Pinecroft. I must admit when I first thought about my review I was going to say that I didn’t like how it was set out, but the more I think on it the more I understand why L.Purcell had done it this way. The characters were formed well, there were layers to Esther/Hester and why she was the type of person she was, again by the time I reached the end of the novel I could see how her character had evolved, the same with Miss Pinecroft. I do, however, feel that there could have been more history and elaboration to the characters Creeda and Garrett, they just didn’t get the same attention and I felt that there was more to them that L.Purcell gave. Overall, I did enjoy this novel.