A return to the world of The Silent Companions so we already know they’re not a statue or a painting but somewhere in between. It still retains a chilling atmosphere and ambiguity as the author splinters the story into multiple points of views and their experiences with the malevolent forces of evil and their subconscious fears.

This deeply atmospheric, foreboding novel tells a deliciously creepy ghost story that will stay with you long into the night.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐔𝐊 & 𝐀𝐍𝐙) | 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥

I loved the early stages of the book and really became invested with the peculiar goings on particularly with Freddie. For me, it became diluted the further the book progressed and my attention waned once Nathan appeared.
A decent thriller/ghost story which didn’t quite go where I personally hoped.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

A new book by @spookypurcell is always going straight to the top of my TBR pile and House of Splinters did not disappoint!!!

This is set at the same location as the fantastic Silent Companions, however it can be read as a standalone novel and I loved every second back at The Bridge - the gothic stately home with a parade of wooden characters who move around the house with seemingly malicious intent.

The atmosphere is dark and foreboding, both within the house and grounds. This is a location where things go bump in the night, candles gutter and extinguish, objects move and death lurks around each corner.

So it's safe to say it's possibly not the ideal location for Belinda Bainbridge and her husband Wilfred to move to following the death of his father.... especially with young son Freddie who soon becomes obsessed with the wooden figures which seem to communicate with him, and their link to previous residents of the estate.

I can't praise Laura's writing highly enough, I'm always recommending her books to everyone that enjoys a gothic ghost story that has a realistic explanation behind the supernatural goings on! 👻

If you liked The Silent Companions, this is well worth your time! Set before the events of The Silent Companions, this takes us back to The Bridge for more creepy happenings. While our cast of human characters were new, readers will recognize some familiar faces among the Companions. Adding a layer to what's already a cracking ghost story, we also have a horrifying thread of misogynistic oppression that chilled me thoroughly.

I won't go into detail because this book is best enjoyed with a clean slate; but, the characters were interesting (I particularly loved the Belinda/Sawyer relationship), the setting is as spooky as ever, and the pacing was perfect. The book fell just under 300 pages and I'm so glad it wasn't 'bulked out' to meet a page count.

I had a few questions about the period details and speech not ringing 100% authentic but the story was so entertaining that I deliberately ignored these distractions.

If you enjoyed Laura Purcell's spooky debut, check this out.
If you like an atmospheric ghost story, check this out.

4.5/5

A note on the cover: I have hardcover editions of Laura Purcell's preceding five books and each are beautiful designs in their own right. The cover for House of Splinters is such a let down, both as a design and as a missed opportunity to make a companion (😏) to The Silent Companions.

I really enjoyed this return to the Bridge what an excellent sinister setting it is! At first I was a bit hesitant because I did not know the direction this story would take, but I quickly became invested. The story proceeds at a steady pace until the last 25% or so when the suspense and the tension was real. I did not see the twist coming and the ending did not disappoint.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

House of Splinters takes place in England in the year 1774. Belinda Bainbridge has been under her mother’s control her whole life. Her father-in-law dies at The Bridge which means she, her husband and her son can move to a new place. The new home does have issues with rumours of a curse, mysterious deaths and financial struggles. The garden is also a wilderness and strange wooden figures are around the house.

Apparently this seems to be connected to one of Purcell’s other books, The Silent Companions and I think if I’d read that first I would enjoy this more. I’m going to assume fans of The Silent Companions will enjoy this book. It felt gothic, the atmosphere was good and the historical setting well done. The writing was good, mysterious things did happen and the story was built up well. That said it wasn’t my personal favourite as I was expecting this to be more like The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal which was my own fault because I placed expectations on the book and it just didn’t have that vibe at all. House of Splinters is much more about the gothic vibes rather than the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of House of Splinters.

***Review Summary:***
The House of Splinters is a historical horror novel set in the Georgian period. It's also a prequel to The Silent Companions, which I haven't read.

This is a book about a haunted house, but it's also about family, motherhood, secrets, the wrongs of the past, social class, love vs control, and confinement vs freedom.

I would not call The Silent Companions innovative. The horrors are the ones we're all familiar with: noises in the night, strange scents, children who see ghosts and know things they shouldn't. The twists are somewhat predictable. But, the book is also delightfully creepy.

One thing I appreciated about The Silent Companion is that it works well both as a ghost story and a historical novel. The 1700s time period was richly depicted and relevant to the plot's development.

I also enjoyed the prose. There were some lovely phrases and metaphors.

***Detailed Review:***
Sometimes, you start a book, and the quality of the prose immediately tells you: "you're in good hands". It reassures you, allowing you to relax into the novel. That's how I felt starting House of Splinters. The book is great at creating atmosphere, establishing characters, and foreshadowing.

I don't want to speak too much about the plot since suspense is so important for a ghost story. But, I will say that it delivered a fun exploration of both supernatural and real-world horrors without doing anything ground-breaking or hard-core. There was just one small reference to a tired, sordid trope that appears far too often — in my opinion — in horror books, but at least it was only a sentence or two long. <spoiler>I really think a child seeing a parent having sex is a very tired villain origin story, even if it just a partial explanation in this case.</spoiler>

I also really enjoyed all the book's historical details. I love reading a historical novel that broadens my understanding of the time period, especially when it comes to everyday objects and routines. And while I don't think it was necessary to enjoy the book, I found myself loading Google periodically to look up things like bag wigs.

Although there were a couple of anachronisms, I also felt that by and large the author did a great job of keeping the dialogue and characters' beliefs faithful to the time period without alienating us as readers.

Speaking of the time period, you really can't write a convincing historical novel about Britain's landed gentry in the 1700s without touching on the class system and empire. Class differences and class-based anger is a major theme in the book, even as some of the characters are at times frustratingly uncaring or ignorant. I appreciated the book's historical accuracy in including things like tension over common rights and enclosures.

The book also acknowledges the abuses of imperialism on several occasions, mostly because that was the source of all the main characters' money. It condemns it without going into great detail. Given that the book is about the horrors of the past being present in the future, I felt that it was easy to read the haunted house as representing the British Empire as a whole.

4+ ⭐


This starts out as a story of an old house, that creaks and groans, and a few things that go bump in the night.
That is, unless you've read the silent companions. Because if you have, you know to be very wary of those bumps in the night.
It perfectly blends a ghost story with bad behaviour from people, so that you don't always know what exactly is happening.
It is perfectly creepy at times.
A triumphant return to The Bridge I'd say.