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.

I love the way the author has you not knowing whether the supernatural is real or not in all of her books so far. I was forever changing my mind about what was true and what was not throughout this book. I liked how she had the two timelines and how they came together, both timelines were interesting in different ways. You find out the mystery of the house, it's owner and what has Hester/Esther so anxious to get as far away from London as she can. The writing is very atmospheric and lent really well to the setting. I found the characters and their motivations compelling. This isn't a high action thriller but has the tension steadily raising throughout until the climax of the book. I loved all the fairy lore woven into the story, hearing the old traditions and how much impact it had on their daily life. The combination between superstition and psychology I find fascinating and all of her books so far have had that. There were times that the slow pace grated slightly and it got a little confusing near the end but I still highly enjoyed it.

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.

I found this book more disconnected the more I read. It was very hard to piece the story together. I liked the atmospheric feel to the story but I did not feel immersed in it. Sorry.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I have not read Laura Purcell's acclaimed previous Gothic chiller The Corset but having now read her latest foray into this genre I'm certainly tempted to seek it out. By setting Bone China in pre railway early 19th century Cornwall a number of the Gothic boxes were ticked. We have the dramatic high cliff coastline, the castles and old houses looking out onto the raging sea, the feeling of isolation with Cornwall effectively cutoff from the rest of the country and perhaps most importantly we have a rural population immersed in local legends and folklore.

It is into this environment that we find Hester Why on a stage coach using an assumed name escaping her past. She is on her way to Cornwall to take up a position as a nurse to the partially paralysed and ailing Miss Pinecroft at Morvoren House. Here Hester finds a house of strange and troubled characters personified by Creeda the ever present maid who believes in the local folklore of the little people who if not kept out by strange ritual will steal the unprotected.

The story then goes back forty years as we again meet Miss Pinecroft and Creeda and discover how the dark secrets of the past have caused the present bizarre situation. This was a well plotted story that included elements of medical theory and historical fact. The writing built up the tension layer by layer and gave a wonderful description of the windswept coastal scenery. We had that all important edge of your seat page turning big finale that will stay in the readers mind I'm sure. There was also that constant feeling of ambiguity as the story proceeded which posed the ultimate question as to whether such supernatural creatures really existed or were rather the product of troubled imaginings. If you like Gothic tales of mystery and terror then I believe you may enjoy this.

Laura Purcell has become one of my favourite authors,i adore her style of writing, atmospheric, Victorian gothic, I loved both The silent companions and The corset, so I was so excited when I was given the chance to read Bone china..

This eerie tale, mostly set in cornwall, takes the reader on a captivating, dark journey through time, drawing you in, I found myself completely lost in the pages..... a historical story with a sinister edge, perfect for dark nights,
Will be recommending to my friends

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read in return for an honest review

I liked this very slightly more that The Silent Companions, which is the best thing I can say about it. I think perhaps this author is just not for me. I don’t find the historical bits deep or evocative enough, and the supernatural threads are just too lightly woven, leaving massive plot holes. The problem for me is that the supernatural has its own logic. Even if the reader never fully understands it, an author should leave the reader feeling as if the logic is there. Purcell just doesn’t connect things well enough for me. With the Cornish setting this reminded me a little of The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James which I likewise didn’t care for. Ultimately, this just wasn’t for me.

So Laura Purcell just gets better. This is an atmospheric and chilling novel. Set across two time periods we are pulled into the world of superstition and the unexplained. As Hester Why is running from her past she finds herself in the employment of Miss Pinecroft. Ill, practically mute the old woman sits in her freezing ‘china room’, keeping watch over the Nancarrow china. It is a house of curiosities, run it seems not by it’s mistress but the elderly and sinister servant Creeda. Creeda’s unshakable belief in the ‘Little people’, dictates how the house is managed, from lines of salt across doorways and the stranger treatment of Miss Pinecroft’s ‘ward’ Rosewyn. The mystery of this house lies in it’s past and the pioneering work of Louise Pinecroft’s father, a doctor in search of a cure for consumption.
This is a beautifully woven story, full of mystery and intrigue. The dual narrative flows, maintaining the air of suspense.

This is second Purcell book I've read. The same essential ingredients are here: menacing landscape, complex relationships and flawed heroes.
The setting is deepest Cornwall and fashionable London. The books skips locations and times, but the reader is always able to follow the plot as the narrative is very strong.
This is a fantastically atmospheric tale for a winter's night.

This is not my usual sort of book so thanks to Netgalley for introducing me to the author.

The author has a very original style which takes a bit of getting used to but once you do you can enjoy the story for what it is; an odd and creepy insight into life in two different eras.

It’s written well and draws you in but does disappoint slightly at the end as it felt rushed. This is why it’s not a five star review but I enjoyed the book in general and would consider others by the author.

This is a story of mental illness and superstition and magic set in period Cornwall, We quickly establish that the narrator's viewpoint and motivations are unreliable and delusional which adds to the atmosphere or suspense and chaos that Purcell creates,. There are no main characters who are rational or able to make proper sense of what is happening to them. Esther Stevens/ Hester Why is suffering from paranoia, alcohol addiction and an unhealthy need to be loved by those she serves which leads her to act in murderous ways.. The story is set up well and hooks the reader in but quickly becomes confusing and protracted as we lurch from one disturbed character to another. It is difficult to really establish the truth of what is happening and the narrative is a bit confused. The ending provides some sort of resolution for Esther and a sense of redemption at least in her own mind but the plot could have been set out more clearly.

4.5/5

Firstly, thank you to the publisher at Bloomsbury Publishing, and to Net Galley, for allowing me to read Bone China ahead of its publication in exchange for an honest review!

Bone China is predominantly set in Cornwall, in a house on a cliff above a raging sea – a house that contains secrets, superstitious maids, and a lot of china. Hester Why has arrived to become the new nurse for the lady of the household, the strange and silent Miss Pinecroft. Hester’s job isn’t made easy however, what with Miss Pinecroft spending most of her days in a cold room full of china plates and jugs, and especially the highly superstitious Creeda, who believes that fairies steal away unprotected people to take to their land.

It is a complicated book that jumps back and forth between timelines, and at first I was confused by how they would all link together. Sinister happenings within each timeline kept me reading, as well as the interesting, diverse set of characters that we meet. It’s a page turner for sure, and more than once I felt a shiver of anticipation – that feeling you get when you know something terrible is about to happen!

Hester is a fascinating character. I found myself drawn to her, particularly as the story developed and her need for affection from whomever she is employed by. Initially she appears strong minded but as we read on, we see her flaws and the way her past reappears despite her efforts to hide it away. She isn’t the most reliable narrator, especially considering her use of laudanum when she can’t get alcohol. This makes her narrative impaired and I like that a lot.

Louise, meanwhile, is somewhat similar to Hester in her interest in the medical side of things, but also so different. I really liked her narrative, and found her story, and that of her father, to be the most interesting. The plight of the prisoners, and the downward spiral in which Dr Pinecroft finds himself in, is incredibly fascinating, and I got swept away with the time period and the relationships between the men and Louise, and Creeda.

It’s kind of a difficult novel to portray here. It is complicated and rife with superstitions of the area. The different storylines at first seem unrelated but they come together at the end in an explosive way. The first half was a little slow for me, but the second raced along, thick with danger, changelings, spiralling madness, and shocking deaths. The pacing therefore wasn’t consistent, but it didn’t bother me.

It’s a dark tale, with a totally shocking ending that I’m still not over. Moreover, I love books based around folklore, and Bone China is full of it. Everything that happens stems from Creeda and her tales, from the local folk tales, and I loved it. Atmospheric, perfectly gothic, and shiver-inducing, Laura Purcell’s latest book is a fabulous autumn read! If you love historical fiction, particularly when it has a sinister edge to it then I highly recommend this book!

I’m a huge fan of Laura Purcell’s writing, I thoroughly enjoyed the Silent Companions and this was no different. She always seems to write at a certain pace which I enjoy, the hints of something supernatural slowly building up to a spooky climax.

This particular story was grounded in Cornish folklore, and it challenges the idea of ‘fairies’ and ‘changelings’. I like that it doesn’t completely round everything off at the end, leaving you with that distinctive sense of unknowing. It thoroughly completes the atmosphere.

The idea of the china in this book was intriguing and I couldn’t predict how it was all going to work out. I love a book that surprises me. I also liked the two protagonists and the parallels they shared. Honestly it was just a solid Laura Purcell book, everything you expect from her and more, with a satisfying ending (despite some ambiguity) and three dimensional characters. She always knows how to hook her readers and keep them guessing until the very end.

I was a fan of Laura Purcell’s The Solent Companions so was excited when this book became available to request. I was not disappointed.

The story was engaging from the beginning and suspenseful the whole way through. I raced through the book as I wanted to know what happened and I wasn’t disappointed.

I am a huge fan of dual narratives so the style of this book really suited me and I enjoyed linking the tales of Louise and Hester. I will definitely continue to look out for books by this author.

I loved Laura Purcell's 'The Corset' and so was very excited to read her new book, 'Bone China'. As I trust the author, I deliberately did not read about it before I started reading so that I could be pulled along by what I knew would be an engaging and suspenseful narrative. I really wasn't disappointed!

The story centres on Morvoren House in Cornwall, a family home set on the top of cliffs. A maid, fleeing the secrets of her own past, arrives to take care of the elderly Miss Pinecroft (and her extensive collection of bone china, of course!) The household are rather unconventional and Cornish myths and superstition run rife, especially with Creeda, companion to Miss Rosewyn Pinecroft. Just as the maid, Hester Why, starts to find her feet in this strange family, the narrative shifts back 40 years and we start to learn the secrets of the tragic Pinecroft family.

This book is a beautifully written piece of historical fiction. As with Laura Purcell's previous work, there is a strong sense of the creepy and sinister, this time in the exploration of the old Cornish beliefs about fairies (who are far from the benevolent and cute figures that Disney might have us believe!) There is also plenty of vivid description which really brings to life the unusual settings such as the caves beneath Morvoren House and the characters that inhabit the story.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction. Even if you are sceptical about the supernatural elements (I'm queen of the cynics - I don't usually read this genre for that reason), you cannot help but be drawn into this beautifully plotted, carefully researched and fascinating story.

Bone China takes us to early 19th century Cornwall, where a colony of convicts, suffering from tuberculosis, are taken from Bodmin Jail to a secluded cave and are given radical new treatments, in the hope they will be cured.
The occupants at Morvoren House, which sits above the caves on the clifftop, live their lives around Cornish folklore and the evil fairies that live around the land and the caves. A bone china collection is guarded and sets the scene for spooky goings on in the household.
The two timelines to the story worked well and the two protagonist's Miss Pinecroft and Hester Why, are nicely linked together.
I always look forward to a new novel from Laura Purcell, and have enjoyed every one of her previous novels. Anyone who loves Victorian Gothic with supernatural elements will enjoy this one.
#BoneChina #NetGalley

Louise Pinecroft is now alone with only her father, her siblings and her mother have been consumed by the horror that is consumption. 

Raised at her father's side and having absorbed and gained the medical knowledge he has she embarks on a rather interesting experiment for consumptives who are incarcerated in prison. 

All in a cave beneath their home on the Cornish cliffs, Louise Pinecroft starts to feel uncomfortable by the presence of the men and of the stories that their maid, Creeda begins to tell of little people. 

The little people are out to steal others for their realm. The thought is disturbing, the premise intriguing but for me it did not have the chilling effect I think it was meant to have. 

Hester Why arrives to nurse Louise Pinecroft, some forty years later who is virtually mute, reclusive and partially paralysed. Hester is escaping her past and wants to forget what went before, however it seems the strange goings on with Louise Pinecroft and the still ever present maid Creeda starts to worry Hester. 

The threat of the little people still abounds. Added to this is the room full of Bone China where you find Louise Pinecroft permanently seated. The pattern of the china - Willow has its basis in fairy stories and is full of romance. Are the patterns changing, is this the work of the little people or some other dark force at work?

The books descriptions of the china, of the Cornish coastline and the journey of Hester Why stand out for me as well written and constructed. However the plot was just too fanciful for me and I was certainly not frightened or chilled by it. My logical and rational mind took over and I was not swept away as some readers might be. 

Interesting none the less but I think perhaps it was lost on me. I did finish it as there were some strong elements within the book I enjoyed, the relationship between Hester and the curate as well as Louise and the prisoners, it was the other wordly element which put me off.