Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an eARC of this book.
An easy 5 stars, the beautiful prose sucked me in from the first page and the pacing was just right to keep me hooked. I enjoyed the dual POV and the thoroughly gothic feel to the story and how it unfolded. I read the binding a few years back and loved it and I can't wait to get stuck into the betrayals now!

In ‘The Silence Foctory’ Bridget Collins returns with another story set in an unsettling world. Spiders found on the island of Kratos have the ability to spin webs with extraordinary abilities, the least of which is blocking out sound. Brought to England by unscrupulous James, and his long suffering wife Sophia, the spiders are farmed to produce silk that the family hope will make their fortunes. Many years later Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy has staked everything on the silks success, and like the spiders reels in Henry, a bereft audiology assistant with a poetic heart, into trying to sell his silk to the masses. Alternating between Sophia’s experiences on Kratos and Henry’s amongst the factories that make Telverton Silk, this novel describes how they both get caught in a web that could destroy them and others around them.

Collins is a master at spinning unusual stories in a believable way. Whilst Henry’s and Sophia’s stories mirror one another, the effects of their beguilement come across very differently. Sophia’s lack of power in her life makes her story the more compelling, rather than Henry’s decision making makes him a less likeable protagonist. However Collins brings both narratives together brilliantly and the end of the novel is full of action that leaves the reader satisfied.

I had thought The Binding would be hard to beat, but after a slow start this book became increasingly captivating. The whole premise is Incredibly creative, I kept thinking how did something think up this concept.

A bit of a slow start, but once the momentum kicked in and the story of the spiders unraveled it become completely captivating. The story switched between past and present - the present being this mass production of this miraculous silk that has the ability to block out all sounds (but with a cost). And the past being set on the Greek isle where we learn about the history of the spiders and the discovery of their silk. I cant possibly capture the mystical wonder that surrounds the book, which is as much about the magic of the spiders as the people it corrupts.

A magical, mystical, story with each detail well thought out and each character perfectly framed and considered. Storytelling at its best!

The Silence Factory. First the cover - it's amazing. I would pick that book up to read it if I saw that cover any day of the week. It's gorgeous. Beautiful art.

The story itself, well it cast a gothic mystery around everything and in that was beautifully well-written. It's written from two point of view characters. We have Sophie Ashmore-Percy in the 1820s, married to the odious James on a remote Greek island while he pursues his research of a rumour he has heard about mysterious spiders. Then we have Henry Latimer decades later summoned to try and cure Sir Edward Ashmore Percy's child who is deaf - and happens to be the owner of a silk factory manufacturing silk that can block out all sound entirely. He's soon absorbed into Sir Edward's world and his wonderous silk.

The concept was marvellous but I just felt it lacked something. I got a little fed up in the middle and just wanted something to happen. Possibly the trouble was I didn't engage with the characters, or believe their relationships. Henry was just frustrating; blinkered, spineless and annoying. Sophia's sections were interesting but I wanted more. More explanation, more of why she did what she did, more on why she didn't do more with in response to what happened to her.

I also wanted more from the side characters, specifically Philomena, Miss Fielding, Mercy.

In saying all that I know there are readers who will love this book, it just fell short for me.

Overall, the author can write atmospheric gothic wonderfully, and the concept is brilliant, but the story left me frustrated and wanting a little more to engage me fully in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of the book to review.

This was a really intriguing book. This story takes place across two timelines and across generations. From the first page, I was intrigued to see how Sophy Ashmore and Henry Latimer's storys overlap and converge and this book did not disappoint in that respect. I also enjoyed Henry's character - after a lot of heartbreak, him overcoming trials and tribulations for Henry Ashmore-Percy, and then discovering if it was even worth it was a rush. This is a good, creepy novel that takes time to bloom. At points, the writing was quite flowery and it took me a few re-reads to truly understand what the passage said, especially in Henry's perspective, but overall I enjoyed this novel. I would give this 3.5 stars!
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the chance to read the eArc of this!

I knew this book would be good as I really enjoy the books written by Bridget Collins but this excelled, it is a magnificent read. The deeply gothic tone and setting just pulled me in and kept me trapped in its web until the end. I loved that it ended on a hopeful note. The story reveals itself at a great pace and all threads are neatly pulled together at the end. Magnificent.

I loved The Binding and The Betrayals, so was really looking forward to Bridget Collins' new read, and it does not disappoint - full of the mystery and enigma that she's so good at portraying; a real page turner that I highly recommend.

The main character, Henry, a widower, is stuck in a boring job with his father-in-law working in his shop selling hearing aids. One day, a customer walks in and shows him a piece of mysterious silk, silk that changes the way the world is perceived by creating silence. Imagine if you lived somewhere noisy, worked in a factory, or just wanted to be more by yourself - this silk can fulfil these fantasies; the very opposite of the hearing aids which generate Henry's current profession.

But the silk also creates a world that disturbs and destroys, and on embarking on a new life with the mysterious customer to help him cure his daughter's deafness, Henry find's himself drawn into promoting the silk and finds things are a whole lot more disturbing than he'd anticipated.

Gothic Victoriana is usually right up my alley but somehow Collins‘ novel didn’t really catch me. It was a bit too slow paced for me and I had trouble connecting with the characters. It was an atmospheric story but something felt off for me and I unfortunately didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

Creepy, atmospheric, captivating!
What an unusual book, although I guess we expect that with this intriguing author. There were a few times I really wanted to yell at the page, and some very sad bits. But a rather brilliant book.

Did not finish.
Found myself in a wave of confusion. Couldn’t really work out what genre this was meant to tap into and the portion I read was a little dry in terms of interest.

After loving The Binding when I read it a few years ago, I was excited to read another book by Bridget Collins.
But despite enjoying the occasional gothic book I just struggled here. I ended up giving up when part three started.
The pace was far too slow, that I just could not get through it.
The characters didn't get my attention either.

Such an original and gripping story from Bridget Collins. Haunting, engaging and beautiful. The last 20% of the book felt a tad rushed and the pacing could have been better but all in all it was a great read.

It is so difficult, when The Binding was such a perfect book, to then judge any of Collins’ subsequent books without making comparisons. The Silence Factory is a gem of a book, full of gothic atmosphere and beautiful writing. Unfortunately, the dual timelines does mean that neither are afforded the depth that would have really taken this book to the next level. I long to know about Sophia’s last days (weeks? months?) at Telverton; and indeed, more about her relationship with Hira. Unfortunately, we lose a fair bit of this story so that Henry’s might unfold in more detail (and even his is slightly unsatisfying). Overall, I’m always happy to have read a Bridget Collins; as in The Betrayals, I do miss the love story being at the centre but that is just a personal reference. I suppose I was also waiting for a big twist that never came? And in that, a potential for magic is lost…

I think this is more of a 3.5 for me. It’s much better than The Betrayals, but not as good as The Binding. Will I continue to read absolutely anything that Bridget Collins releases? Absolutely.

What a dark gothic read and to be honest I found it took me a while to get into, mainly because I do have a bit of an irrational fear of spiders, but if you are the same, please do stick with it. After reading for about half an hour, I suddenly found myself so totally engrossed in it I ended up reading late into the night. And as for the spiders, I was actually feeling really sorry for them, we humans really can be very selfish. Told in two timeline and from two POV’s, those of Sophia Ashmore-Percy in the form of her diary in the 1820’s and some years later Henry Latimer an audiologist who goes to visit the wealthy and obsessed Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy to help his daughter.

Briefly, in the past, Sophia has travelled with her overbearing and very unpleasant husband to a Greek island to meet a friend who has made an amazing discovery. However, when they arrived his friend has died, and it’s only with the help of Sophia, and her friendship with Hira, that he finds what he is looking for. Now, after unsuccessfully treating Sir Edward’s daughter Henry’s is surprised when he’s asked to stay and help with Sir Edward’s business. Edward makes silk from threads of spider silk, which has magical qualities, one side shields sound bringing total silence. However, the other side makes strange noise with terrible and disturbing effects for those who hear it…

I was completely enthralled with this book, it’s beautifully written and very descriptive with an original and magical story. A wonderful cast of characters, the women were more likeable than the men, by and large, with the exception of Henry who was a bit weak and gullible but certainly not evil. The conditions in Sir Edward’s factory are truly terrible but probably no worse than those in many Victorian factories where the products import vastly outweighs the care of the workers. A very entertaining read which goes from gentle gothic to chilling horror but completely compelling. Can I just add well done to the cover designer, brilliant… and I still don’t like spiders!

4.5⭐️

On paper The Silence Factory - a gothic piece of Victoriana with a creepy otherworldly vibe - should be catnip for me. Sadly it didn’t gel and I’m struggling to say why not. All the pieces are there, but I really found it hard to engage. My usual approach is to set a book aside and return after a brief break to read a classic (Margery Allingham this time), but on returning it still wasn’t happening for me. It’s ok, but I’ve read much better with a similar vibe just recently - The Shadow Key for one.

*Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | The Borough Press for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review*

WHAT. A. RIDE.

I mean this blew my mind! I haven't read any other works from this author, but I'm gonna. I mean it was a gothic/horror tale weaved in, well, silk. Even though silk is by itself a very unique cloth, to actually have a side magical aspect? BRILLIANT!!!!!

I loved it and I can't wait to read the author's other works.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was not familiar with any of this author's previous works and a lot of elements of it aren't things that usually work for me, but I was pleasantly surprised.

This is a kind of gothic fantasy based on the premise of a type of spider, found in Greece and imported into the UK, that spins a silk that can either eliminate all sound or reflect sound back (leading to madness and other illnesses of the mind and body).

The reason I am rating 4 stars rather than 5 is that there were aspects that I think could have been explored more with some of the side characters, there was a lot of leaving the reader to guess and fill in the blanks but I personally prefer it when things are spelled out a little more, I prefer to know exactly what the author was envisaging. Also it feels a little bit like the incident which resolves the entire plot is too deus ex machina for me to really embrace it.

This book is released in a couple of weeks' time on 9 may.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This is a dark Gothic mystery, entranced with fantasy themes that slowly develops in an eery, unsettling story of control and subjugation.
I loved previous Collins' books and was really looking forward to this one, but I felt the story was very slow to develop and it struggled to hold my attention. The characters were all a bit flat and I didn't really feel much towards them.

What I really like, was reading Sophia's story in diary form. Her accounts of events was very engaging and creepy, and I would have liked to see more of that, as those sections really caught my interest. Weirdly, I also liked the ending, as open-ended as it was. And of course, Collins' prose and world building were, as always very good.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Silence Factory" is a historical novel, with gothic overtones, written by Bridget Collins. A bewitching, dark and mysterious book, developed on two different timelines, embellished by refined and researched prose. I was captivated by the beautiful evocative settings, the more eerie nuances of the tale, but on the other hand I admit I felt nothing for the characters. I don't know, I found them rather superficial, underdeveloped, and this prevented me from bonding with them. A pity because, excluding the characters, I really liked the book a lot!

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, this is a while written Gothic mystery that immediately draws you in. It was interesting to see the dynamic between Sophia and Hira grow and develop. This was a cool and different read for me!