I honestly cannot believe that The Shape of Darkness is my first time reading a novel by Purcell. How can I not have ready anything previously. I need MORE and I am sure going to be buying more. The Shape of Darkness is a beautifully told novel, set amongst the bleak and dreary backdrop of Victorian Bath. If that isn't enough to intrigue you already, then add to that a supernatural and spooky storyline of murder and seances and the mystery becomes even more captivating. It isn't done in a 'quick thrill, horror' tacky kind of way (no offence intended to that genre, which I do love) but in an atmospheric, gloomy tone that entwines itself with grief, heartbreak and lies.

I absolutely adored this novel, young Pearl was such a delightful little character, Agnes, so determined. All characters could not have fit more perfectly into the novel.

I recommend it to everyone that loves a chilling mystery, gothic literature and enjoy the slow burn to warm you up during the winter..

Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury UK Audio and Laura Purcell for an eArc copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review,

This epic ghostly gothic tale is full of twists and turns, and slowly reveals more about each character as the story progresses. Superbly read with an authentic performance, the descriptions of Victorian Bath and the everyday struggles of life for women from each side of the coin engrossed and enthralled me. My first read from Laura Purcell, it won't be my last!

Bath 1854 Agnes Darkin is a struggling silhouette artist Though she is ill she has to work to support her family. A client is murdered shortly after visiting Agnes for a sitting. Then there are more-all after a sitting with her!
Agnes seeks the help of a medium to see if she can discover who killed them. However, this brings more trouble!

"Even shadows need light to exist."

The Shape of Darkness is an atmospheric, Victorian gothic novel by Laura Purcell. Set in Bath, 1854, the story follows Agnes who struggles to make ends meet whilst living with her ailing mother and young nephew. After sitting with Agnes for their silhouettes several of her clients are murdered and she turns to a young spirit medium in the hopes of discovering who the killer is and why they are targeting Agnes' clients and putting her business at risk.

I have read several of Laura Purcell's novels in the past and have loved each of them.The Shape of Darkness is no exception. It is wonderfully atmospheric, transporting the reader to the Victorian era, the sights and smells are so well described it felt as though something were observing an entirely different and alien way of life.
I listened to the audio book version of this and found it was narrated superbly. The brilliantly written dialogue was spoken perfectly by the narrator, bringing each of the varied cast to life.
I enjoyed the twists and turns, they kept me guessing throughout until the ending that I did not guess at all.
For fans of gothic fiction with a spooky feel Laura Purcell should be a go to author.

Thank you NetGalley, Laura Purcell and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this fantastic book.

Synopsis:
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 that they can never put back.

Trigger Warnings:
Child Abuse/Violence, Death, Blood.

Review:
I’ll state early on that I was disappointed by The Shape of Darkness overall, but that there were good qualities about this novel worth mentioning. If you’ve no interest in hearing a negative opinion, I’d recommend choosing another reviewer. Laura Purcell’s ‘Gothic’ Victorian Novel has gleaned a lot of praise, so it won’t be difficult to find. However, this was not ‘it’ for me.

Overall, I gave this novel two stars; and there are many reasons for this which I will go into first, and then I’ll share my positive thoughts.

‘Gothic’ – to me at least – is an iconic phrase which suggests mystery, intrigue, supernatural and paranormal elements, mind-scrambling complexity in beautiful writing, beyond a renaissance for tropey Byronic heroes and feeble heroines. Which is a long way of saying I expected this book to be a complicated mystery, where the author isn’t sure they can trust the narrator to share all that they know. That the protagonist, though sickly, will not be feeble to the point of passivity. Agnes Darken, a silhouette artist from Victorian Bath, suffered pneumonia and has struggled with her health ever since. What starts out as a ploy to keep her from investigating the murders surrounding her business, quickly becomes an irritant when she does nothing about it. Not that the audience really needs her to, the ‘plot twist’ is evident from chapter 3. And as the narrative progresses, it becomes this Looming Ghost (pun absolutely intended to break the tension) over Agnes as the audience waits for her to catch up.

When your Gothic Mystery Thriller is neither Gothic, nor a Mystery, it loses the tension built in the description and pacing (which were good, and I will go more into that). It quickly became quite a mundane read, and like I said, I was disappointed.

‘She is still putting on a show. The unrepentant sinner.’
Laura Purcell, The Shape of Darkness

I lived in Bath for just under a year, and it was enough to enjoy the casual references of my favourite city in this novel. Whilst others might criticise the lack of description of the architecture etc, I found it created just enough space for the ‘Gothic’ tones of Victorian Britain to seep into the narrative. There was some inconsistency from the descriptions, but the characters had definition and individuality which I appreciated.

Victorian Spiritualism is a fascinating subject to have as an underlying theme of a novel, because so much of the mystery comes from the balance between science and reason, and the unknown supernatural element. The descriptions of the seances were my favourite scenes, the grotesque nature of Lords and Ladies fascinated by the macabre. The way they paw at Pearl and Agnes out of some morbid fascination- all very well done. It was in these moments I could see Purcell’s true love of history, fascination with people and their faith.
I also really enjoyed the depiction of Agnes’ work. It’s lovely to see research embedded into a narrative, without it feeling like a textbook. But as I said, it did lead to inconsistencies, such as Agnes working on a portrait after describing her hands as arthritic and swollen.

For me, the positives did not outweigh the negatives, and I only gave this novel 2/2.5 stars. It was ‘fine’.

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW:
Overall it was an eerie convincing performance from Sophie Aldred, She did a great job at narrating this story creating an effective tense and spooky atmosphere particularly during the seance scenes, that said I also have a contradictory opinion! I did not like listening to the hymn singing during the ghostly seance performance. It was just weird, I get it, how else can this be portrayed in audiobook format? I could not deny that this is what contributed to the tense and spooky atmosphere of the overall performance bringing the text to life.

The pacing was also a little up and down for me. The story started well. I was hooked. The protagonist Miss Darken I found annoying at times. She couldn't help it and I did get over those annoyances pretty quickly. The unrequited love and affections of her close family friend Simon and his affections for her I found charming and endearing. I was looking forward to how this relationship unfolded in the story. Her cause for concern for the spirit medium child Pearl is also endearing I wanted to see how this relationship developed too. The plot lost me a little in the middle but certainly picked back up pace at the end. The murder mystery aspect of the book with its twists and turns had me on edge anticipating where the story finished right to the very last seconds of the audiobook. I felt it was a satisfying conclusion in the end. which is great and altogether I would say it was a satisfying audiobook listen.

Fans of Historical Fiction, Gothic fiction, Suspense, and Ghost stories will enjoy this audiobook greatly. It’s creepy, atmospheric and mysterious.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook in return for an honest review.

I loved this book! Creepy, atmospheric and mysterious. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job. Laura Purcell is definitely an auto buy author for me and I can see me recommending this to a lot of people . We follow the mystery of a silhouette artists customer who are dying! It’s a really original mystery and very well done

This novel took me to the 1850s where Agnes has a business producing shades, silhouettes made with paper and scissors, an occupation I knew nothing about but is as fascinating as the premise of the book. Blended with history of early spiritualism, I was captivated by both POVs, Agnes with her household comprising her Mum and nephew Cedric and Pearl with Myrtle and her dad. I enjoyed the suspense, description of the past and the pure spookiness of this tale. With the details of the seances and the murders following Agnes customers, I was hooked into the mystery. I needed to know who was behind the crimes and the secrets all the characters were hiding. There were many twists and turns - some I guessed, but others were completely unexpected and emotional. Pearl was so young to be in the career of a medium, I felt maternal over here and wished I could reach in to comfort her.

This dark and eerie Gothic novel gave me goosebumps because it sits on the right side of believability, if that’s a word. Books involving the supernatural are always scarier if it could happen. Listening to a ghost story adds another dimension to the fear factor, similar to having it told to you around the campfire on a winter’s night. Sophie Aldred is well matched to narrate this tale with the correct tone and pace, adds depth to the story and brings the characters to life making it a spooky, thrilling experience.

Agnes is shocked when she is approached by the police and informed that one of her customers has been found dead, the appointment in his diary for a visit to her premise for a silhouette cutting meaning she was one of the last ones to see him alive. She is distraught when another, then another of her customers turn up dead. Fearing that the murderer is targeting her and her business, she seeks answers from the dead men and visits The White Sylth for answers – a child medium named Pearl who resides with her other sister and her ailing father. Agnes does not believe much in ghosts and spirits, but is willing to open her mind if she can find the answers, stop the killings, and protect her nephew Cedric, and her mother. As the seance progresses however, Agnes must be prepared for some answers she may not want to hear.

Despite having all three of Laura Purcell’s previous gothic novels on my shelves, I actually haven’t gotten around to reading any of them yet – shameful, I know! So when I was granted the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of The Shape of Darkness from NetGalley, I jumped at the chance.

The audiobook is narrated by Sophie Aldred, who I think did a wonderful job of bringing all of the characters to life, and creating a tense and spooky atmosphere during the seance scenes.

Initially, the plot does start off kind of slowly before it really picks up and took me with it, keeping me hooked until the very end. However, in those first few chapters there is so much to build the world of Bath and of Agnes so that when things do start to happen, as a reader we appreciate what they mean so much more. The writing is so rich that I immediately felt I was in this other time, this other place. I loved the mix of a murder mystery with the seances/spirits/ghost theme and loved how Purcell teamed the experiences Agnes had and the sights she saw with her pre-existing disbelief in ghosts.

As for the mystery element of this book, I was drawn in and kept guessing, never knowing where the clues may take me next. Obviously I don’t want to say too much, but I found that all the loose ends were tied up nicely and was satisfied with the ending.

I felt that everything from the way each character spoke to the way they were then treated, to the way that Sophie Aldrich read these characters, was authentic for that area, but Purcell brought the story alive through a modern voice while still retaining dashes of the past.

Listening to this book has made me so much more eager to get to Laura Purcell’s other work, and they’ve definitely moved up my a bit on my TBR.

I really enjoyed this - historical mystery with a bit of are these ghosts real or not is exactly up my street, and this really delivered for me. I loved the historical setting, and the ghostly seances fitted very well with the rest of the story. I thought the pacing was good, as more little bits of information kept coming throughout which explained or further complicated the plot. It also definitely got creepy, especially right towards the end. I was very convinced that I knew what the twist at the end was going to be (and was not looking forward to it to be honest) but the actual twist I didn't see coming at all. Very often with books like this where the mystery is the main element the ending is so so important, and even if it feels just slightly off to me it ruins what might have been up to that point a fantastic book. However in this case, the ending worked perfectly for me and I was not disappointed at all. I think the book worked well as an audiobook, no complaints, and I now can't really remember anything about the narrator which is probably a good sign that they did an excellent job of relating the story and not detracting from it in any way. Would certainly recommend to any historical mystery fans.

Agnes is a struggling silhouette artist, having to support her elderly mother and orphaned nephew Cedric. When her clients start dying and it is clear the deaths are not accidental, she senses there is something sinister going on. Looking for answers, she makes contact with a child spirit medium called Pearl to try and contact the dead and try and ascertain who killed them. It isn't long though before Pearl and Agnes find out that they may have made a big mistake...

I loved this book and am a huge fan of Laura Purcell - who doesn't love a good gothic story? Purcell's writing is beautiful and completely engrossing - you really feel immersed in the story. Gothic, supernatural and full of twists and turns, this is another stellar read from Purcell.

If you have read any of Purcell's other books (The Silent Companions, The Corset and Bone China - and if not, you really should) then you know what you are going to get with her books: creepy, fabulously gothic fiction. This brilliant addition to Purcell's back catalogue is certainly no exception and is out now.

I loved the narrator of this book and would definitely listen to more audiobooks read by them.

This is a review of the audiobook.
This book started brilliantly, but then I began to lose interest. It was an intriguing and exciting beginning, but then by the end I lost track of who Pearl was and it's relevance to the story. It just didn't grip me and make me find any activity I could find to listen.
I don't feel like the narrator did poorly, as I was engaged for about the first third. I just think the plot was too slow in the middle and didn't keep my interest.

This is a book that I have seen everywhere and I mean everywhere. Just the cover alone is enough to entice me to read it but once I started reading reviews it instantly went to the top of my wish list. As luck would have it NetGalley had it available on audio so after being approved I started listening straight away. I’d like to thank NetGalley and Bloomsbury UK for approving me in exchange for an honest review.

I’d like to begin by talking about the narration which was done by Sophie Aldred. I am often in awe of narrators who manages to give each character a unique voice and Sophie not only did this but she put so much passion behind the story that it came to life. In particular I thought Pearl’s voice was perfect!

Set in Bath,1854 this Victorian gothic tale tells the story of Agnes Darken, a struggling silhouette artist. I loved Agnes occupation and I actually have a silhouette of myself from a trip to Bruges a few years ago. It’s amazing how much detail can be picked up in something so small and it was interesting to learn the process of how one was made. I liked Agnes as our protagonist despite the struggles she faced she tried and tried to help her family survive. She had suffered a lot of loss and had obviously had a difficult time with her sister Constance, the way she cared for Cedric and her mother was very endearing.

Pearl, oh Pearl. What can I possibly say about her. As a twelve year old albino, spiritual medium, she was naïve and trusted anyone who she thought could help her. From the beginning my heart broke for her and what I could see happening, I just wanted to grab her and take her away from the horrors she faced. I found the spiritual part of the story fascinating!

The one character I couldn’t warm to was Simon. There was something about him that set my nerves on edge. Whilst some of his actions were admirable I could tell there was an ulterior motive and his obsession with Agnes grated on me. There were often times when I thought Agnes would of been better if she was left to get on with things and not had Simon telling her what to do.

With an air of mystery this historical tale is not to be missed, everything about this book was perfect from the Victorian setting to the final revelations. Purcell explores the dark side of sibling relationships, revenge, devotion and mesmerism whilst solving a murder. Her beautiful prose captured me from the first page and held my attention until the last sentence was read. This is the first of Laura Purcell’s books that I have tried but it definitely won’t be my last, in fact I have two more of hers ready to go on my kindle!

This is an amazing novel. I listened to the audiobook and I loved it.

The story is written in quite a classical style, and we are shown a picture of a spinster, who has been over shadowed by her dominating sister, jilted by her fiance and adored by a family friend. She lives with her mother and nephew and finances the family by cutting silhouettes. So when her clients start to turn up dead the mystery developes.

What I loved about this novel is the way the author leads us by the hand, down completely the wrong path, and so the final twist hits you out of the blue. The clues are all there, but the final chapter still comes as a shock.

The narration was very well done, building the tension and covering the main and subplots very successfully. There is quite a cast of characters, which were all conveyed very well.

Laura Purcell is a fantastic writer with a brilliant imagination, and I simply loved this book.

This Victorian gothic novel is oppressive and haunting and will no doubt stay in my head for a long time. Although the writing is clever I found it difficult to connect with the characters and was a little unsatisfied with the ending.

If this is the kind of writing you enjoy you will probably love this atmospheric book but it wasn’t for me.

At the centre of the story we have three women which connect their life in the most surprising way throughout this Victorian Gothic Murder Mystery: Pearl Meer, known as “the White Sylph” is an albino spirit guide, her half sister Myrtle West is a mesmerist and then Agnes Darken an artist and creator of silhouettes which is a dying art.

Laura Parcell writing style in the The Shape of Darkness feels so authentic to the Victorian age that it is as if the gothic mystery is from that era. The books has every element required for the genre: ghostly, with some sections dedicate to the supernatural, spine tingling, creepy & chilling. There are some very powerful images which create the perfect atmosphere with added malevolence and deception. It such a creative read that captivates the reader into the plot. The characters are well developed and till the very end it’s impossible to understand who you can trust, this is highlighted even more during the twist of event in the final chapter!

Overall this is a compelling and enthralling read which I highly suggest to the fans of the genre or to whoever loves a good mystery!

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the free audiobook!

Agnes is a silhouette artist whose clients keep mysteriously dying. To find out what is happening, she seeks the help of a medium and ends up finding out more than she bargained for.
I loved reading this atmospheric, gothic novel. Victorian Bath was vividly brought to life. The detail about making silhouettes made me want to get one done of myself (as long as I don't get killed though). The mix of drama, mystery and the spiritual were done really well. I thought I had it all figured out but I was kept guessing until the very end with some ingenious twists. The denouement felt a bit rushed and that is why I can't give it the full five stars. I will definitely be checking out more by Laura Purcell in the future though.
Narrator notes: I listened to an audiobook narrated by Sophie Aldred. She was very good and she had a great singing voice when she was performing the songs that are part of the story.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this title. This was my honest review.

Last year i was extremely disappointed with Purcell's Bone China, and sadly i find myself really let down by her latest as well.

I loved The Silent Companions when it first came out, one of the best horrors ive read. Not only was the story great, but the writing was fantastic.

Thats the one positive i can say about The Shape of Darkness. Purcell is an extremely talented writer. However the story itself was poor. I found the characters very flat, and the story itself was weak and quite transparent.

Id like to read another of her books, but i feel that she needs to move away from Victorian gothic novels, as they cant compare with her debut sadly

Thanks to Laura Purcell and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with this review copy of The Shape of Darkness, Laura's latest work, released on the 21st of January. I'm really grateful for this as I have an interview with Laura on the 8th of February and had previously read Bone China in order to ensure that I had enough material for the interview.

Having come across Laura at an Halloween event hosted by Noir at the Bar, where she read out an extract from this work, I had an idea of what was to come, but the inclusion of murders this time made it a bit more like what I'm used to reading as Bone China involved fairies. It's nice to read something that I would not normally go for, but I do like to read things with a horror twist to them. Since Brookmyre's Rubber Ducks I've been fascinated by mediums and given Conan-Doyles belief in this, it fits well within the period setting that Laura expertly describes in both of her books that I have read so far. In rubber Ducks you get to see behind the practice, but this one was more traditional in its approach.

The two sister characters that undertake the seances suit the period well and their father with Phosijaw really makes you feel like you are there. Agnes, the story's other protagonist and the illness, which underpins her story shows Laura's talent in dealing with characters with many different ailments. She also dealt with a stroke in Bone China.

As Agnes investigates the murders that are the background to the tale, the counterpoint of Pearl really brings this story together well in the split narrative approach that Laura seems to like. This is an approach that I really enjoy, as it allows you to read for longer. Yet again, though, given the age difference of the two main characters, I believe it would have been done better by two different narrators.

For anyone looking for a period crime drama with a horror twist that will have you looking at ghosts in a way that makes you realise that horror and crime can overlap with so much ease, Laura Purcell's talent for this is obvious. I cannot wait to ask her about this and her process for writing standalones on UK Crime Book Club this coming Monday.