Bone China is a story that unfolds through three period narrations. The first: Hester Why arrives at her new charge's home, Morvoren House. The place is eerie and the people within are rife with strangeness, silence and supertition. Is everything as it seems?
The second: In London, Ester Stevens was a new lady’s maid to Lady Rose, which was going well, until Ester had to run away because of something terrible.
The third: Louise Pinecroft and her father arrive at their new residence, where they plan to conduct experiments on a group of convicts to try and find a cure for the unforgiving consumption.

I was really looking forward to this. I asked for an e-ARC off the back of reading Purcell's The Silent Companions, because I loved the gothic-horror atmosphere of it. I can't help but feel this book didn't live up to my expectations.

I do think Purcell is an excellent storyteller. Her style of writing invites readers to put up their feet, feel cosy and enjoy a story. It has an old air about it that sets the tone well.
I loved the setting of the Cornish coast;.the descriptions were brilliant - the waves, the wind, the gulls, the cold, the grey skies... they all worked so well, to create an unforgettable place I could see so vividly.

My favourite aspect of this was its characters. Without a doubt, Purcell manages to create complex characters that demand to be appreciated, regardless of their likability. Bone China is no exception, as the characters sent my brain wild with theories and my emotional compass in every direction. They provoke feelings of venom, suspicion, shock, sympathy and much more. All of the characters contributed to further illustrating the intrinsic and gothic atmosphere.

In saying that, there were issues with the book. I felt the timelines weren’t successfully intertwined to thread everything together to make sense. The timeline that detailed Miss Pinecroft as a young woman, was given far too much attention. I didn't enjoy these chapters, I'd go so far to say it felt like page-buffering and ultimately unnecessary. It was ineffectual in comparison to Miss Stevens' past timeline and the timeline when Miss Why arrived at Morvoren house.

As well, I wish this had been creepier. It feels untruthful to say that, because the exploration of the potential length superstition and emotion can take people, is in itself unnerving. But... it doesn't change that this wasn't the creepy I was after, especially having read The Silent Companions - which obviously isn't Bone China's fault. However, I also couldn't help but compare it to another novel I read earlier in 2019, that I felt pulled off the "is it eerie folklore or is it not?" mystery more exceptionally. This, of course, is a personal opinion.

I'd recommend Bone China to readers who love gothic atmospheres, complicated characters and the old tone of Purcell's writing style. If you're looking for a creepy and thrilling mystery, or expecting this to recapture the thrill and horror of Purcell's previous stuff, then this is probably going to disappoint you. If you want a creepy mystery/thriller based on ensnaring folklore, pick up Little Darlings by Melanie Golding.
Thank you kindly to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an e-copy of this, in exchange for this honest review.

Ill admit from the outset that i struggled with this book. I love Laura Purcell's previous two books, I found them dark, sinister, creepy and clever. Unfortunately Bone China was none of those things. It threatened throughout to have an essence of mystery to it, with tantalising glimpses of fairies and the supernatural. However it never really came to pass.

Add to this the completely flat 2D characters, who i really struggled to engage with, the book just fell flat. Massively disappointing.

“Our families have always taught us to show respect to the little people”

I think Laura Purcell is quickly becoming the queen of Gothic stories – her first book The Silent Companions, was given to me for exactly this reason after a friend saw it and thought it would be something I would love. Sadly I didn’t love it but it was a gripping enough tale and seemed to go down really well with other readers. I read her second novel, The Corset and liked this one a lot more so I had very high hopes for Bone China.

“They sing a dirge at the coming of the sun, mournful and forboding, telling me to turn back”

There is no doubt that this story is full of some wonderful, atmospheric writing. We meet Hester, who has come to the coast in Cornwall under an assumed name to take care of ailing Louise Pinecroft, who has suffered from a stroke. The house is described in very descriptive language; with creaking floorboards, shadows and a deep pervading cold, it sets the scene up well. The folk beliefs are also incorporated well and the supernatural element in this novel – fairies – was not what I had expected at all.

I think where it failed for me was the fact that the old lives of Louise and her maid Creeda (maker of bone china and she who knows all about the faeries and How To Keep Them From Stealing You), are suddenly the focus as the narrative changes. This changing backwards and forwards with the narrative was quite jarring and I think it would have been better had this story been revealed in another way. I think instead it made the story somewhat disjointed and therefore lacked some depth. However, having said that I did appreciate Louise more as a character once I knew some of her backstory. But maybe if it had been done in a different way I would have cared more for the characters, as it was I didn’t feel particularly invested in any of them at all.

The biggest save for this story not being rated lower was the fact that I did like the story; I wanted to know where it went and therefore, I kept on reading. But that ending! *open mouth shock*

Thank you to Netgalley for supplying me with an e-arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Yet another superb gothic novel from the very talented Laura Purcell. This time set in Cornwall . Told in two parts 40 years apart . It tells the story of Louise Pinecroft and Hester Why who both have hidden pasts.. It involves cornish folklaw and in places is quite creepy. Lots of strange characters added to the mix makes for a great read.Highly recommended.

I was so happy to receive an advanced copy of this book as I had truly enjoyed the authors previous 2 books. However was much as I enjoyed this book I felt there was something missing from this one. All the same elements were there I just could not connect with the characters and I felt there were more questions than answers when the book finished. Would this put me off reading more from this author no it would not, but I would love it to be as spooky as the Silent Companions.

I was over the moon when I got sent this review copy of Laura Purcell's new book, Bone China. I've loved her writing ever since I read The Silent Companions and The Corset was one of my favourite books of 2018. So I just couldn't wait to sink my teeth into her next tome. Though this novel wasn't quite as long (in terms of page count) as The Corset, it certainly felt a lot denser. This is an eerie story, filled with Cornish folklore, a biting sea wind, and a many feathered beast of a plot. But first, what is it even about?

After fleeing her previous place of employment, Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House, a manor house build alongside the rough Cornish coast, to take up a new position as domestic help. Though her own history is shady and shrouded in mystery, she soon discovers that the formidable house has secrets of its own. Forty years prior to this, Louise Pinecroft is assisting her father in his attempts to save a group of tuberculosis-plagued prisoners. Though the disease has already ravaged their bodies, he is convinced that the sea air will cure them from consumption and moves them into the caves that sit beneath Morvoren House.

Those familiar with Purcell's style will recognise the formula for one of her gothic chillers. We have a remote manor house, mysterious and skittish servants, two different narrative strands, talk of folklore, things that go bump in the night, and the clever insertion of the supernatural. More than any of her other books, I felt that Bone China addressed the opposing worlds of science/medicine versus folklore/superstition. The setting was atmospheric and gloomy and it felt like the perfect book to curl up with at the seaside, on a particularly rough and windy day. Preferably when the wind is howling and the sea is breaking cruelly upon the rocks.

I do think that there were very many plot points, perhaps even too many. I also felt as if some of my questions were never fully answered, even when I came upon the final pages. It's a hugely ambitious work, perhaps her most ambitious yet, the pages overflowing with fairies (and not the nice kind), curses, addiction, death, mental illness, disease, witchcraft and obviously, bone china. There was a lot to unearth, hidden beneath several layers of mystery. It also led me to many a Wikipedia rabbit hole, long after finishing.

I would definitely recommend this book to any previous fans of Purcell's work. I would point any newcomers first in the direction of the deliciously spooky The Silent Companions.

Purcell remains one of my favourite contemporary authors and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

I absolutely loved Purcell’s first Gothic novel, The Silent Companions, but was disappointed in the second, The Corset. Naturally, I was very curious about Bone China, her latest book, to see if it would recapture everything I loved about The Silent Companions. It absolutely did -- I ended up loving Bone China and think it may now be my favourite of spooky historical fiction.

I think one of the reasons I ended up loving this book so much is that it is a return to Purcell’s amazing spooky and atmospheric style. She’s so good at blurring the lines between what is real and what is supernatural -- her characters do not know if they’re going mad or if what they’re experiencing is frighteningly real. I love how she weaves this theme in with her plots to create strange, twisty tales. While I felt like none of this was present in The Corset, sacrificed in favour of endless passages of abuse, Bone China gets back to what I love about her books. Morvoren House is the perfect, spooky setting, especially when coupled with the remote Cornish coast in winter. Bone China is an incredibly atmospheric novel that is perfect for a chilly autumn night.

This book departs from her usual style in that we get multiple points of view. Hester Why’s first person perspective starts the book, then we shift to forty years prior and get Miss Pinecroft and her father’s points of view. It was a little jarring to suddenly switch to a new perspective and style about 25-20% into the book -- which felt a little far to be suddenly changing perspectives -- however it made sense with the revelations of the story and the transitions between the viewpoints became smoother. I ended up enjoying the shifting perspectives and they worked great with the story that unfolded.
Hester is definitely a ‘classic’ Purcell character, and she’s easily the most interesting in the book. She’s a woman running from a shady past, which is slowly revealed through flashbacks, and abuses alcohol and drugs as a result. Her drink and drug-induced haze gets thicker and thicker throughout the book, and it’s hard to tell what is real and what she is imagining. I also enjoyed Ms. Pinecroft’s character -- her backstory is tragic and unfolds in an incredibly interesting way, both in the past and present.

Bone China is a fine addition to Purcell’s catalogue of Gothic fiction. It is a creepy and unsettling tale is filled with twists and turns that will keep you on your toes until the very end. I highly recommend this book if you’re enjoy her other Gothic fiction or if you’re looking for the perfect fall read.

Another truly excellent novel by Laura Purcell, Bone China is riveting, mysterious, and absolutely gripping. Set in Cornwall, this book is full of folklore and magic, not just that of the fairies, but also of the setting. Cornwall is a truly magical place, and it is a fitting location for this book.

An unusual book set in the 19th century. Hester Why runs away to Cornwall to escape her past. She becomes lady's maid to Louise Pinecroft and soon discovers that strange things are happening. The story jumps from the present to Louise and Hester's pasts. Superstition and belief in fairies play a pivotal role. Though well written it is not for everyone.

Laura Purcell is becoming the defining author of my twenties as J. K. Rowling is the defining author of my childhood. I truly love her work and each book ticks all my boxes for a great story. So much so, I would camp outside a book store the night before a release to get one of the first copies.

Her latest addition continues to cement her growing reputation as the Queen of Gothic Horror. Bone China, is set in Cornwall during the Georgian era, where a ladies maid seeks new employment in a house set on the cliffs far from civilisation. She is running from her dark past but this same dark past is running after her too. Once she arrives, she is plagued by the superstitions of the staff and a strange mistress with an interesting past involving a tuberculoses experiment conducted on criminals in the cave beneath the house. But what if its not superstition after all and the warning should be heeded? After all everything can be explained away rationally until it can't, isn't perception reality?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher – Raven Books, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow!! @SpookyPurcell does it again, delves into the past and pulls out a ripe juicy plum of a story.
Haunting and mesmerising, Bone China is set over 2 historical periods of time 40 years apart.
The story begins with Hester Why travelling by carriage to Cornwall to take up a new position at Morvoren House where she is to be employed as a domestic help nursing the frail, elderly, invalid Miss Pinecroft. It’s obvious Hester is running away from something. She is leaving behind her a trail of jobs which haven’t ended well and she hopes that this time she might be able to find somewhere she is really needed and appreciated.
Disaster seems to follow her wherever she goes, but she means well and loves to care for others. Even on the journey to Cornwall she uses her nursing skills to help a fellow passenger who is involved in a nasty accident. I warmed cautiously to Hester, it’s obvious she could be a very unreliable narrator as it is revealed she keeps things hidden and is not averse to telling untruths.
Arriving at the eerie old house at the top of the cliffs, which is to be her new home and place of employment, its immediately apparent that she has taken a step down. This is a shambling old place, her charge is troubled and silent and the other household staff are a peculiar bunch, ruled by superstition and myth. They play out bizarre and disturbing rituals to keep the fairies away, even dressing Louisa’s curious ward as a child even though she is a grown woman.
Hester finds she is more isolated and lonely than she would have hoped for, perhaps it’s just as well, if nobody looks at her too closely perhaps they won’t spot the telltale signs that she relies rather too much on a drop (or more) of alcohol, and even opiates to fortify her. Her new mistress certainly won’t spot anything amiss. Virtually mute, Louisa sits all day staring at the extensive collection of Bone China surrounding her, she seldom moves and is seemingly unware of anything which is going on around her.
40 years ago it was a different story. Like Hester, Louisa also has a hidden past. Her Father is a Doctor who was unable to save the rest of their family from consumption. Louisa’s Mother and siblings all dies a horrid death as she and her father watched them battle this dreadful disease.
His loss almost unhinged him and he has made it his Raison D’etre to find a cure for this so far incurable malady. Beneath Morvoren house lies a series of caves, which he decides to turn into a kind of health spa, convinced that exposure to lots of fresh sea air will help counteract this didease. He comes to an arrangement with the nearby prison to be allowed to treat a small group of prisoners already in various stages of the ravages of Consumption. With only his surviving daughter Louisa, a willing and capable nurse, he installs the men in huts, in the caves down by the rocky shore beneath the towering cliffs.
What happens to the prisoners and their carers has repercussions which echo through time and woven into everything are the local legends of little folk which may or not be true but define local beliefs.
This is a wonderful, meandering story with lots of strange quirks and creepy goings on. Nothing is quite straightforward, everything is blurred by a haze of laudanum, misted with the spray of the sea and contains little jolts of surprise and concern, which had me on the edge of my seat.
As well as being a rollicking good gothic mystery, you need to peer beneath the surface and appreciate the superb quality of the writing. Laura Purcell is an utterly superb raconteur, whose future works I don’t merely anticipate … I find I am craving her work like Hester Craves a drop o’ gin.

A wonderful salt-soaked chiller with brilliant characters, gorgeous prose, gin and the writer's friend, laudanum. My only regret is that I didn't hold out long enough and read it in Autumn, it's a perfect fireside read. Laura just gets better and better.

Set primarily in Cornwall during two time periods roughly 40 years apart we follow Louise Pinecroft & her family. In the early thread Louise is helping her physician Father with a new treatment for TB. In the later thread Louise is an older woman still living in the same house in Cornwall.

I wasn’t a big fan of this author’s first book, The Silent Companions. I felt there was something missing from it & I feel the same with this book. There is a lot of discussion around the Cornish folklore of pixies and fairies with the Cornish servants following various superstitions in order to keep themselves safe. There are many strange ocurrences which could be explained away but are attributed in a very unspecific way to the Cornish fairies. This was all very well but there are only so many banged doors, strange looks and unlikely happenings that a reader can have without there being something more concrete to get hold of.

The book was very disjointed – first we have the story of Hester Why, the maid who isn’t all she seems. Then we have the past which has a very unsatisfactory ending and then we have the later Victorian thread with Louise as an older woman. I didn’t feel any of the threads were satisfactorily concluded with much left up in the air. The ending of the book was particularly frustrating as I was waiting for everything to be tied together & things explained and they aren’t.

On the plus side there is good historical context and I did feel that the author provided good description of the house and its surroundings. It is unfortunately that the plot that she laid on top of this just wasn’t very good.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I am a fan of Laura Purcell, and loved Silent Companions. I really like her writing with detail, her gothic style.
Yet, I think this book fell short on some aspects. The writing was enchanting, the start was interesting. But, until half way mark, nothing much happened. I think it was too much of a wait until things picked up. The idea felt very similar to her other books. Doubtful protagonist, queer tones, weird things happening with house furniture. Now that we're onto the third book, it feels a bit like a formula.
I understand she positioned herself as the spooky, gothic writer. But, in my opinion, I want to see a bit more imagination. I already know too much about the book before I even start. Weird lead character, something supernatural with the house, creepy house members. It feels like I've read it before.
After all, it fell on the average side for me. Didn't surprise me, move me, didn't feel for the characters as we didn't spend much time until very late.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well, she’s done it again. Laura Purcell is truly deserving of being the reigning queen of gothic fiction. Her ability to create a sense of place, a version of the past where something ‘other’ could just be real is unparalleled.

This is the tale of a woman, with a Past (capital P) currently named Hester Why. She’s desperately discreet, starting work at a remote, spooky house. Over the course of a twisty, yet totally coherent, narrative you learn why she’s on the run, and uncover a mystery of an old woman who guards a room full of china for fear of the havoc it’ll wreak.

A throughline in her work is her ability to show both sides of life and how they interact and relate to the differing problems we all face. We saw the relationship between extreme privilege and women’s prison life in The Corset, but she’s upped the ante to examine terminally ill prisoners here! But it works.

For many writers a time spanning tale with alcoholism, supernatural pottery, consumption epidemics and mental illness (to start) would be rambling and incoherent. In Laura Purcell’s hands you are gifted a tense, richly detailed well drawn gothic character study.


Excellent.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this title as I absolutely loved the author’s two previous titles and it didn’t disappoint. Ms Purcell is firmly in my must-read list. “Gothic” tales are currently in vogue and this is a great addition to the genre. Well-written, good pacing and illustrative narrative all add to the slow build-up of tension. Set on the coast of Cornwall, it evokes the feeling of wild, unharnessed nature at its more raw. Divulging anything more will spoil the plot.
It will appeal to fans of the recent novels Frannie Langton, The Binding, Wakenhyrst and Mrs Hancock besides the more obvious Sarah Perry/Jessie Burton/Natasha Pulley novels. A huge thumbs up from me.

There’s no doubt that Laura Purcell can write a gripping gothic tale with creepy elements dangling like spiders on each and every page. I shiver just thinking about her words, her pacing, her stories. This one is no different. Chillingly atmospheric…..

What are the magical ingredients for such a read? Remote Agign manor house, Cornish cliffs, a housemaid required for work, a lady who needs care…..and all the while, the whispers from the walls can be heard along with the wailing of the winds outside.

This is one immersive read. The plot centres around Hester who has moved from her previous job and who now joins the house. Her journey to the house is slow and has a strong sense of foreboding…You just know something is wrong…. and that Hester herself may not be what she seems….

That house has some secrets! Secrets of medical experiments and secrets Louise Pinefield has in her past. This is a story of how ripple effects richochet through history.

The Cornish setting is exquisitely drawn and the title …well when that comes in to the novel, prepare for some really exciting and chilling moments. My granny had that same willow pattern plates and the scenes around this were very interesting. That’s it without spoilers though!

Glorious atmospheric writing with whispers of the supernatural, the fairy folk and a dark dark Cornish coast….

Bone China is another atmospheric historical gothic novel by Laura Purcell, suffused in superstition and illness. Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House in Cornwall to take up a lady's maid position with secrets surrounding her flight from London. What she finds there isn't an escape, however, but a strange situation: Miss Pinecroft, sitting in a freezing room full of china, unwell and looking older than her years. An old servant obsessed with fairies and a mysterious ward add to the weirdness. And forty years previously, Louise Pinecroft and her father move after consumption ravages their family, hoping that the sea air will provide the answer to her father's experiments on ill convicts, but the new maid tells her tales of fairies and the dangers they pose.

It is exciting to have a historical gothic novel that focuses on contemporary medicine that is set during the Regency and before rather than the usual Victorian setting. The tension between scientific ideas, passed down knowledge, and otherworldly magic provides a good backdrop for a novel also about the power structure of servants and those above them and the different things that keep people locked up, whether literally or not. These concepts of power and imprisonment fit well with actual gothic novels of the period in which the book is set, and the genre is used well to start to explore these (though it would've been interesting to see Hester's reliance on alcohol and laudanum developed further). There are some threads that don't feel fully explored in the novel, but this does allow it more ambiguity and gives space for mystery.

Fans of Purcell's other novels will likely enjoy this one, which uses similar gothic tropes but also engages with the period of the earlier gothic novels (with references to Wordsworth, Byron, and the Prince Regent serving as reminders to this). It combines medicine and superstition in interesting ways and offers a morally complex point of view character who proves that the gothic isn't just a genre centred around helpless, innocent women.

Laura Purcell has definitely mastered the art of creepy. She seems to go from strength to strength with each book.
This one is my favourite.
It takes the every day and sends a slight shiver down your back.
Nicely tying threads up from two different timelines,and weaving in stories of fairies that were all to readily believed back in the day.
This book is packed with atmosphere,and a decent amount of tension.
Superb.

I am a huge fan of Laura Purcell's first two novels and was incredibly excited to read Bone China. Unfortunately, it seems like Purcell has developed a formula for story-writing that she's sticking to rigidly. This book was not as frightening as The Silent Companions, or as shocking as The Corset, but a number of scenes seemed to have been ripped word-for-word from either book. I love Purcell's attention to detail, particularly concerning historical fashion, and the queer undertones in her protagonists' relationships. However, all of her novels so far have featured a sceptical protagonist, a house filled with strange servants, and a possibly-supernatural threat. I felt the flashback chapters occurred too late and the characters that featured in them were not sufficiently fleshed-out for me to care. The book felt 50-100 pages too short; I would have happily read more about Rosewyn, Creeda, Ernest, and the convicts on the beach. I would love to read another truly scary, richly detailed book.by Laura Purcell, but I fear she's run out of ideas.