Pearl’s experiences with spiritualism were largely inspired by the memoirs of Victorian-era spirit medium Elizabeth d’Espérance, quoted at the beginning of this book, but those conversant with the topic will recognise that the name of her ‘spirit guide’ Florence King is a nod to the famous medium Katie King, who supposedly ‘materialised’ the spirit of Florence Cook in the 1870s. Missives from Summerland is a fictional newspaper, very loosely based on the Medium and Daybreak. Similarly, the Bath Society of Spiritual Adventurers is my own invention: I did not wish to associate my fraudulent characters with real people of genuine spiritual belief.
I am indebted to Harriet Martineau’s Letters on Mesmerism and Wendy Moore’s biography The Mesmerist for helping me to create Myrtle’s world. The Queen of Crime herself, Agatha Christie, must also be thanked for her novel Dumb Witness, which sparked the idea for phosphorus at a séance.
Pearl’s physical appearance was inspired by Miss Millie Lamar, ‘The White Fairy’, who worked as a mind reader in 1890s America. In the Victorian era, it was sadly common for the unscrupulous to monetarise albinism, as is evidenced by the employment of a number of people with albinism in P. T. Barnum’s travelling circus.
My version of Victorian Bath is based on the Cotterell map and Vivian’s ‘Street Directory’ from 1852, plus local information discovered in the British Newspaper Archive. The characters’ houses are of course fictional. Any mistakes are my own. The weather of 1854, I purposefully changed for my own devices.
I have borrowed some names from my mother’s family for this tale; she had both an Auntie Aggie and a paternal cousin whose surname was Darken. I hope they will not mind me using them in this way – I must stress that the names are the only similarities!
On a personal note I would like to thank my husband, Kevin, to whom the book is dedicated. He came up with the title long before we had heard of the del Toro film! My agent, Juliet Mushens, who somehow still talks to me after reading my early drafts, and the wonderful team at Raven Books. My special thanks always go to Alison Hennessey, Lilidh Kendrick, Philippa Noar, Amy Donegan, Sara Helen Binney and David Mann, but I am sure there are many other silent heroes working behind the scenes who I never meet. My heartfelt gratitude to you all.
A Note on the Author
Laura Purcell is a former bookseller and lives in Colchester with her husband and pet guinea pigs. Her first novel for Raven Books, The Silent Companions, was Radio 2 and Zoe Ball ITV Book Club pick and won the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award. Laura’s other titles include The Corset and Bone China.
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LAURA PURCELL
Winner of the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award
Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband’s crumbling country estate, The Bridge.
With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. For inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself…
‘Terrific. Perfect setting, great build-up, chilling.
What more could you want?’
Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black
‘[An] extraordinary, memorable and truly haunting book’
Jojo Moyes
‘A sinister slice of Victorian gothic’
The Times
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Is prisoner Ruth Butterham mad or a murderer?
Victim or villain?
Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young, poor and awaiting trial for murder.
When Dorothea’s charitable work leads her to Oakgate Prison, she finds herself drawn to Ruth, a teenage seamstress – and self-confessed murderess – who nurses a dark and uncanny secret. A secret that is leading her straight to the gallows. As Ruth reveals her disturbing past to Dorothea, the fates of these two women entwine, and with every revelation, a new layer of doubt is cast …
Can Ruth be trusted? Is she mad, or a murderer?
‘A classic Victorian tale of murder most foul, twisted with a curious supernatural thread’
Stylist
‘Beautifully written, intricately plotted, a masterpiece’
Sarah Hilary
‘An evocative portrait of a society that punishes women who dare to contravene social norms’
Guardian
Order your copy:
By phone: +44 (0) 1256 302 699
By email: [email protected]
Delivery is usually 3–5 working days.
Free postage and packaging for orders over £20.
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Prices and availability subject to change without notice.
bloomsbury.com/author/Laura-Purcell
A Daphne du Maurier-esque chiller set on the mysterious Cornish coast from the author of The Silent Companions and The Corset
Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft’s family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken.
But Dr Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the same disease in te cliffs beneath his new Cornish home.
Forty years later, Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralysed and almost entirely mute Miss Pinecroft. Hester has fled to Cornwall to try and escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enactiing bizarre rituals, she soon discovers that her new home may be just as dangerous as her last…
‘Laura is a masterful writer … her deliciously gothic stoties are so skilfully woven’
Stacey Halls, author of The familiars
‘Deliciously sinister’ Heat
‘A clever, creepy read’ Sunday Express
Order your copy:
By phone: +44 (0) 1256 302 699
By email: [email protected]
Delivery is usually 3–5 working days.
Free postage and packaging for orders over £20.
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Prices and availability subject to change without notice.
bloomsbury.com/author/Laura-Purcell
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BLOOMSBURY, RAVEN BOOKS and the Raven Books logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2021
This electronic edition published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Laura Purcell 2021
Laura Purcell has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-5266-0258-9; TPB: 978-1-5266-0257-2; EBOOK: 978-1-5266-0256-5
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Purcell, Laura, The Shape of Darkness
The Shape of Darkness Page 28