With The Shape of Darkness Laura Purcell has, once again, crafted a compelling gothic story. This is historical fiction without the gloss: Agnes' Bath is bleak and grimy, choked with disease - and ghosts.

There are some striking scenes and genuinely spooky moments, but I can't help but wish Purcell had picked one trope and stuck to it. With spooky silhouettes, prescient seances and maraudering murderers, there is a lot to unpack. By the end there are simply too many threads to tie together to reach a satisfying conclusion, and the plot twist falls a little flat.

The Shape of Darkness is a compulsive read - if not the most finely crafted Victoriana novel.

At first I thought that The Shape of Darkness was going to be a spoof of Gothic novels. The dialogues were corny, the two main characters are exceedingly frail, and the 'murder mystery' storyline struck me as somewhat theatrical (or perhaps I should say more suited to a film than a book). But I was willing to read on, thinking that these exaggerations were intentional and that Laura Purcell was lampooning Victorian ghost stories...but the more I read the more the narrative seemed to try to impress upon me that it was telling a 'serious' story. Having now finished this novel I can safely say that it was very clichéd and unimaginative, the setting of Bath is barely rendered, the two main characters sound like the same person, and the big 'twist' was extremely predictable (I mean, I can think of two films—one in 1999 and one in 2001—that have a similar reveal). Also, The Shape of Darkness is yet another book that proves my least likely person is the culprit theory.
Anyhow, Agnes seems to believe that she is being targeted after the very first death. Which is...okay. The plot must go on I guess.

Anyway, the story starts with Agnes a silhouette artist. She has yet to fully recover from an illness that struck her a few years prior the start of the novel. She lives in a nondescript house with her orphaned nephew and her elderly mother. Her past is 'mysterious' and she's clearly suffered more than on heartbreak. Her only friend happens to be a doctor who was married to her now deceased evil sister. Her few customers start turning up dead and Agnes worries that someone is after her.
Pearl is a medium who also happens to have an evil sister who forces to host seances. Pearl believes in the ghosts and there are scenes that seem to point to 'otherworldly' presences. Pearl is also, like Agnes, kind of sickly. The two characters in fact sound very much like the same person. They lack interiority and are mostly defined by how 'frail' and vulnerable they are. For quite awhile I thought that they were more or less the same age but I was surprised to discover that Pearl was 11 and Agnes in her 40s (yet they both sound like teenagers).
Agnes and Pearl end up 'finding' one another and Agnes convinces Pearl to help her contact her now deceased customers. We have two or three scenes in which Agnes is actually doing her job and we see Pearl doing two seances at the very beginning but after the 40% mark the narrative no longer focuses on these things.
The story takes a quite a few leaps in logic, there are a few too many convenient coincidences, the plot is dull, the characters uninspired. Although the story is set in Bath there are only a couple descriptions—a few sentences really—describing the city's architecture. Agnes shows a surprising lack of awareness towards her norms of her time and there were a few inconsistencies. For example, a couple of pages after we are told that Agnes' hands are swollen (possibly due to a combination of arthritis and chilblains) she does a silhouette for a customer. This requires her to use her fingers and I guarantee you that if her hands had truly been as the 'swollen lumps' we were told they were, she would not be able to move them very much, let alone being able to doe painstakingly controlled movements with her fingers.
The story tries to be somewhat serious or creepy and yes, descriptions of Pearl's father—who's phossy jaw is rotting away—were not pleasant. But the narrative's 'supernatural' undertones and 'murder mystery' storyline were bland and galaxies away from being remotely scary (or even atmospheric).
Here are a few examples of why I did not like the author's writing: 'But it cannot be, not after all of these years', 'her heart flutters its wings inside her chest', the idea fills her with a sweet glow, 'in her face are those simmering, witchy eyes', 'her slender trunk' (this to describe a woman's figure), 'frightened whispers of her own conscience'.
Towards the end the story because so overdramatic as to be frankly risible. If you liked it, fair enough, but I for one am glad I did not have to pay for my copy (the 'perks' of being on NetGalley).

The Shape of Darkness follows Agnes Darken a silhouette portrait artist in Victorian Bath whose clients are suddenly meeting untimely demises after sitting to have their portrait or shade cut by Agnes, to try and unravel this, and questions she has about her own family she calls upon Pearl a young spirit medium who has recently arrived in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father..
I am an individual who has a rather over-active imagination, so it is unusual for me to choose to read anything too scary or that delves too deeply into the occult, so I approached this book with some trepidation, but I had heard such great things abut the author I wanted to read her work. Now, I was scared at points- I found myself running up the stairs after I had turned the downstairs lights off each evening when I finished reading - but I also really enjoyed reading this novel.
It was spooky, but it was also deeply atmospheric. It seemed to evoke a real sense of Victorian Bath, from the descriptions of the streets, weather and clothing, to the scents and decoration of rooms. The characters were interesting and fleshed out and the attention to detail in the story telling was fantastic.
I finished reading on Halloween, which felt appropriate and I was suitably freaked out. I look forward to reading more of the authors back catalogue.

I found Laura Purcell's previous novel Bone China a bit disappointing- I wondered if she had run out of steam after writing three ghost stories about errant women living under Victorian constraints. The Shape of Darkness features many of Purcell's tropes: obscure professions, painstakingly researched; a woman with an uncanny hand-skill that she may or may not use to inflict curses; threatening doctors with power over women's' lives. But The Shape of Darkness still gripped me. I'm happy to admit that the satisfaction I felt when I thought I'd figured out the 'plot twist' was extremely short-lived! I have read lots of novels that feature Victorian mediums and felt that Purcell could have set her book apart by examining the threat of photography more closely; silhouette cutters and mediums were equally at risk of being 'exposed' to poverty by this new technology. All that said, I raced through The Shape of Darkness and would recommend it to anyone looking for a creepy, vivid mystery to read this Halloween.

The Shape of Darkness is another gothic thriller from Laura Purcell. Agnes is a silhouette artist living in Bath in the 1800’s. She earns just enough money to support her mother and nephew. When it seems a murderer is targeting her clients, she seeks the help of a child medium called Pearl to find who is responsible.
This is another slow burn atmospheric novel that reveals the story piece by piece, keeping the reader guessing all the way. It perfectly captures the interest Victorians had with all things spiritualist and highlights the bleak elements of their lives.

I have absolutely adored all of Laura Purcell’s previous novels and this one is no exception. It ticks all of the boxes for me it’s sinister, atmospheric, dark, gothic historical fiction at its best! and I would highly recommend it!

Love it! It’s up there with The Corset which I think is Laura Purcell’s best. I could read her everyday. It’s gothic, spooky and twisty without silliness. More, more, more please!

I have read all Laura Purcell’s books and they just keep getting better. They are all so individually different and brilliant. This book definitely ticks all the boxes for me. It is the perfect Victorian gothic thriller. It is brilliantly believable and creepy with so many great twists that you just don’t see coming.

Agnes is struggling to recover from an illness, keep her business going and look after her family. Then one day one of her clients is found brutally murdered, and then another...Desperate to understand what is happening she seeks out the help of Pearl a child medium. But Pearl and Agnes may have unleashed something that they can’t stop!

The Shape of Darkness is another gothic tale from Laura Purcell and arguably her darkest yet. Agnes make a silhouettes but with the rise of the photography her business is failing and when the people she captures in shadow begin to die she endeavours to find the cause be it earthly or otherwise.
As with all Purcell’s novels there’s a lot going on beneath the surface and the reader is drip fed clues about what has happened in Agnes’ life and what is going to happen. Some of the outcomes I guessed straight away, others I had an idea of but there’s a good twist at the very end that was satisfying.
It was also really refreshing to have some really evil women, I’ve read a lot of books lately that are very up the sisterhood, women can do no wrong which grates because it’s just not true. Women have just as much right to be evil bitches as men do! Who doesn’t love a good villain?! The only down side was that we didn’t meet her until she died but we do get Pearl’s sister as a bonus villain and who absolutely awful.
There’s also a fat pug who is forced to walk in the snow, if that’s not gothic horror I don’t know what is!

A very gothic tale set in Victorian bath. Agnes is a silhouette artist trying to keep her dying art of ‘cutting shades’ alive despite the recent swing in popularity towards photography. But then her sitters start dying, inexplicably the only link between the victims seems to be Agnes’s own silhouette parlour. Agnes herself is also struggling to overcome a brush with death after a terrible illness, and there’s also an accident alluded to in her past, that we slowly understand more details of as the story progresses. Agnes, worried about both her business and her family’s safety, goes to a child spirit medium to help her discover why her sitters keep dying, but rather than getting answers it almost seems like she’s unleashed even more ghosts to grapple with, as well as pulling the child, Pearl, into the midst of the mysterious happenings.

The period detail in this book is one of the things that I most enjoyed - it is very well done. I didn’t expect the twists or how the ending turned out, which was great in one way but these twists were unsatisfying to me on another level, because I went in expecting a more rational conclusion. However it was definitely clever and horrifying! If you want something atmospheric and ghostly, this would be a good choice.

To me this was more of a horror than a murder mystery, although it has elements of both, and it is also a great piece of historical fiction. I think fans of Sarah Waters would love this - there are plenty of ghostly goings on after Agnes visits the spirit medium.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out on the 28th January in the UK.

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The bleak, dark, and oppressive atmosphere of mid 19th century Bath, a dirty and unsanitary place, lends much to the supernatural storyline, as it winds its ethereal way down the misty paths of mediumship, with a little mesmerism thrown in for good measure.

Agnes Darken lives with her elderly mother and orphaned nephew Cedric. She earns a living as a silhouette artist in order to support the three of them - that is until one of her clients is found murdered, shortly after sitting for Agnes. Naturally Agnes is upset on hearing the news, but then it happens again with her next client - and the next!

She believes that someone is out to destroy her business, and in her desperation to discover who would do that, she consults Pearl, a spirit medium who lives with her domineering sister Myrtle, (a mesmerist), and her ailing father. Pearl is only 11 years old but she has a very good reputation for making contact with those who have passed over to the spirit world. Agnes believes that the killer will be revealed if Pearl can contact his victims.

You know the old saying, be careful what you wish for? Well the seances may just unleash something that neither of them want to confront!

This is Victorian gothic as it should be - dark creepy houses, silent, apart from the ticking of the old grandfather clock, with some chilling encounters thrown in, some of which trace icy fingers down the spine - in addition, there were some really surprising twists, and I have to say, a very unexpected and shocking conclusion!

A great murder mystery, aided by the author’s excellent application of deception, (I never guessed the way it would end!) along with the added intrigue of supernatural events.

Having read all of Purcell's previous Gothic novels, I was very excited for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of her latest offering via NetGalley.

The Shape of Darkness is Purcell's fourth novel, and I will state from the outset that it's the scariest yet! The plot revolves mostly around Agnes Darken: an older spinster, who crafts by hand the art of silhouettes, an art on the cusp of extinction as the more popular daguerreotypes are increasingly preferred. Agnes begins to realise that her patrons (sadly few and far between) are seemingly murdered after sitting for her portraiture. In parallel is Pearl Meers, "The White Sylph": a young albino girl working for her sister as a spirit guide. Pearl's gift is suddenly increasing in its intensity, causing her to experience the same symptoms of the victims of Bath's supposed serial killer.

As their paths cross, the danger intensifies building up the tension and horror to a dramatic and unexpected conclusion which I did not see coming. What an exhilarating read this turned out to be!

With The Shape of Darkness, Laura Purcell has cemented her status as the queen of modern Gothic novels, and I for one, am very much looking forward to reading anything she may choose to publish next!

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell will be released in the UK on the 28th of January 2021. You can pre-order a copy of this gorgeous hardback from Waterstones or Amazon.

(The review will be posted on my site tomorrow morning at 8am, BST. I will update with the link after it goes live.)

A pug called Morpheus and a plot that kept me up all night. Laura Purcell proves again that she is the master (or mistress?) of Gothic mysteries. Perfectly paced and thoroughly enjoyable.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell was one of my top reads of 2019, so there was no way I was going to be able to wait until closer to it’s 21st January publication date to read The Shape of Darkness. And it was the perfect book to read in the run-up to Halloween: dark, sinister, gothic historical fiction at its best!

The story centres around Agnes, a struggling silhouette artist in Victorian Bath. Following the murder of several of her clients, she consults a young spirit medium hoping that if she manages to contact the victims they might reveal the identity of the killer and she’ll be able to save the reputation of her business. But summoning spirits has its risks and Agnes fears that she may have unleashed something she won’t be able to put back…

It’s not often that I exclaim out loud while reading, but the words “Holy sh*t” may have escaped my lips on a couple of occasions throughout the course of this one. Without saying too much, I’d just say that it has a hugely engrossing and clever plot – how on Earth does she come up with these things?!

Whether or not you’re a fan of ghostly stories or hints at the supernatural, what Purcell does really well is to explore the belief systems and superstitions of the time period in which her novels are set. The amount of research that must have gone into writing this book is astonishing and I found all the little details that conjured the era so well completely fascinating.

Once I’d finished it I almost felt like I needed to read it all again in order to pick up on subtleties that I definitely missed the first time around. It’s certainly, I’d say, a novel that demands your full attention and concentration in order to get the most out of it.

If you read and enjoyed Laura Purcell’s previous books or are a fan of creepy historical fiction then you’ll almost certainly love this one. It’s published by Raven Books and will be released on the 21st January. With thanks for this gifted e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is another stunning tale of the sinister other-worldly, where nothing is quite as it seems.

This time Purcell takes us to Victorian Bath where Agnes works as a silhouette artist. It appears that murders are occurring in the city, and the victims all have one thing in common, that they have recently visited Agnes for a sitting. Scared and suspicious, and worried for her business, Agnes turns to a child medium named Pearl for help contacting the dead to try and solve the mystery. Pearl and her sister make their living through mesmerism and holding seances, however nothing is quite as it seems in their household, and secrets emerge as the story moves forward.

This book is everything that you would expect from Laura Purcell, the gothic and shadowy setting in Bath, a chilling plot, unnerving characters with secrets, and a creeping sense of dread. I especially loved the seance scenes, the tension and mystery add to the dark atmosphere.

A big 4 stars. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy of this book. Having read all of Laura Purcell’s previous novels my expectations were high for this book and she did not disappoint. Purcell is a master at creating a gothic atmosphere in her novels and this book dealt with one of the more infamous aspects of the Victorian era- mesmerism and spiritualism. How Purcell’s books have not yet been made into a film/tv series by now is shocking as her stories are compulsive and compelling.

The Silent Companions was one of my favourite books of the last five years. It brought back the Gothic genre. It was eerie, spooky and absolutely captivating, which is why I couldn’t wait to go into this. However this was a slightly disappointing read, maybe because of my expectations. I found the supernatural aspect wasn’t quite there and overall this was more of a murder mystery.
We follow two protagonists:
* Agnes - is middle aged, recovering from an illness. She’s a silhouette artist, who captures people’s shadow as painting, glass windows etc. One day she gets a visit from the police that her customer was found dead, and Agnes’s shop was one of the last places the victim visited. Then a few days later another customer winds up dead...
* Pearl is a 11-year old girl who gets possessed by ghosts. She can contact the dead, and is groomed by her older sister into hosting seances. Pearl is visited by Agnes and they unleash something terrible...
While this was well researched, the prose just didn’t grip me and I couldn’t connect to the characters. The story does come together but the antagonist was a bit of a caricature. This wasn’t the spooky, atmospheric read like The Silent Companions.

I've given this a middle 3star because I just could not get into it. It was not badly written or anything but just didn't grab me. Story sounded promising and different but didn't fulfil that promise for me. Sorry. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Shape of Darkness, Laura Purcell

The Shape of Darkness focuses mainly on Agnes, a struggling silhouette artist in Victorian Bath. Agnes is peripherally associated with a spate of deaths, and in seeking out the mystery behind these strange occurrences she comes across two sisters who also seem to be connected to the murders in some way.

The Shape of Darkness is a really atmospheric book from the off. It opens on a drizzly, dark autumn afternoon and the weather matches the mood of the book from the beginning and throughout. Purcell uses pathetic fallacy to imitate and exacerbate Agnes’s feelings as the alternate between intensity, anxiety and befuddlement.

The book offers lots of dramatic twists and turns, and this was really enjoyable to read. I had a couple of ‘wait, what??’ reading moments and I absolutely did not see the end coming. However, I did feel like it was possibly too much of a surprise. I felt like possibly the backstory for the final outcome was not explicit even after I knew what had really happened. Maybe that will make this an extra specially enjoyable surprise for you, but it also felt a little bit out of the blue.

A really laudable conceit of the book that I enjoyed was that throughout most of the book I had almost written Agnes off as a kind of typical, excitable but delicate Victorian waif and I couldn’t have been more wrong! That was a very good lesson in not making assumptions and was bad literary feminism from me!

I really enjoyed the fact that the book was a Victorian piece, but was not set in London. I honestly can’t think of any other book I have read set in Victorian England that was not London-centric, so I really appreciated that. I also thought that Purcell walked the line so exceptionally with all of the uncanny aspects of the book – I’m still not sure what was supposed to be real and what wasn’t even after finishing it. I would absolutely recommend this book – it was very enjoyable and I raced through it.

I love Laura Purcell's books but found this one a little harder to get into than the others and the characters were difficult to warm to. However her sense of place is, as always unerring