The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
As the age of the photograph dawns in Victorian Bath, silhouette artist Agnes is struggling to keep her business afloat.
Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another… Why is the killer seemingly targeting her business?
Desperately seeking an answer, Agnes approaches Pearl, a child spirit medium lodging in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father, hoping that if Pearl can make contact with those who died, they might reveal who killed them. But Agnes and Pearl quickly discover that instead they may have opened the door to something they can never put back.
My Review
I’ve read quite a few of Laura’s novels, The Silent Companions being one of my favourite all-time novels. I’ve also read The Corset and Bone China, which I loved, but The Shape of Darkness is up there with The Silent Companions (almost).
I listened to it on Audible and it worked really well as an audio book (not all do for me). It is told from the points of view of Agnes and Pearl, which made it really easy to follow – I struggle with audio books when the story jumps around in time – but this was perfect. I like the narrator too, which is very important to me. She even sings beautifully when she is being Pearl’s half-sister Myrtle.
In this book, the author explores the concept of spiritualism, mesmerism and spirit mediums in the mid 1850s – it became very popular at this time – the Victorians were obsessed with death and the afterlife. What we don’t see here though is the trickery used during seances (hence the usual practice of them being conducted in darkness), and we do wonder whether Pearl, known as The White Sylph, actually has a ‘gift’. But then you would have to believe that some people can really speak to the dead. Pearl, incidentally, as well as being an albino (she would have been an attraction in a ‘freakshow’ in those days) is only 11 years old. I was shocked when that was revealed.
Agnes Darken, on the other hand, is closer to 50. She’s not always easy to warm to (unlike Pearl), and can often come across as selfish and lacking in empathy. She has remained a spinster after her only love Lieutenant Montague was supposedly seduced by her sister Constance (who fell pregnant as a result) and then disappeared. Agnes is still waiting for him to return.
Constance then married Dr Simon Carfax, to legitimise the impending birth of baby Cedric. A few years later, she is killed in an accident and Cedric is sent to live with Agnes and her elderly mother (Simon is after all not the boy’s father). We pick up the story in 1852, when Agnes is struggling to earn a living as a silhouette artist, and then one of her clients is murdered, followed soon after by a second. Agnes fears that she is being targeted.
The book is set in Bath and the town is really brought to life in the descriptive passages. There are quite a few twists and shocking reveals, but just when you think you finally know what’s going on, a final twist will throw you into confusion – I had to listen twice to believe what just happened.
I loved this book and immediately downloaded The Whispering Muse, which I hope will be just as enjoyable (in a dark, spooky way).
About 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 won the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award 2018 and featured in both the Zoe Ball and Radio 2 Book Clubs. Other Gothic novels include The Corset (The Poison Thread in USA), Bone China and The Shape of Darkness (2020).
Laura’s historical fiction about the Hanoverian monarchs, Queen of Bedlam and Mistress of the Court, was published by Myrmidon.
