This is a very unique book to me, I have not read anything like it before. The story is mainly set around an old theatre and a cursed watch. It is a gothic style thriller and told with a haunting atmosphere. A woman torn between pleasing her boss and everyone else, while experiencing her own tragedies. A very good read, I really enjoyed this one and will look out for more from this author.

It's late, I binged half of this book today, it's hot and I should be asleep. All that said, you will not be disappointed by The Whispering Muse by @spookypurcell. This is another wonderful story that feels you in slowly, gets you in a choke hold and won't let you go until the final word. Loved it.

Having gone to a school where reading Shakespeare was mandatory, I approached this with caution but the minute I started I couldn't put it down. Yes it includes Shakespeare but the heart of the book is the plays theatre and its quips and querks. Unbelievably good, I was lost in its narrative for hours. Thoroughly enjoyable 5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for sending over an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Whispering Muse is a Victorian Gothic tale about theatre, myth and classism. We follow Jenny, who’s hired as a dresser at the Mercury Theatre, and promised a better life for her and her siblings by the wealthy older woman who hired her. All she has to do is spy on the lead actress, Lilith. At first, this seemed like an easy job to do, but soon, Jenny is caught in a web of lies and corruption.

This book was short and very atmospheric. I personally couldn’t really connect to the characters as I found them shallow and lacking in character development. The plot was just okay, in my opinion. I really liked the references to Melpomene. I also enjoyed the theatre setting. However, just like the characters, the plot felt a bit shallow sometimes, and the ending felt rushed and predictable to me. I think the book would have been better if the supernatural elements of the story were explained better.

Jenny is sought out to come and work at the Mercury theatre in London’s West End by Mrs Dyer, the wife of the theatre’s proprietor. She is engaged as a member of the wardrobe room and as dresser to leading lady Lilith, whom she is also to spy upon. Mrs Dyer is suspicious and jealous of Lilith and her suspected attachment to her husband. Meanwhile, Lilith is obsessed with a watch that belonged to a tragic actor. It is said to be possessed by the spirit of Melpomene, the tragic Greek muse of theatre. The watch is said to bestow anything an actor desires, but comes with a gory history. Jenny has witnessed the upsetting event which occurred to its last owner...

Is Mrs Dyer as caring and supportive as she seems? Is Lilith the unpleasant diva she seems, or more human and fallible? What is happening to the people and fabric of the building at the Mercury?

This is a really good premise for a story; there is an array of interesting characters and an excellent setting (a Victorian theatre has to be one of the best, on par with a huge old ancestral home in the country.) The story is structured around the five plays that the company stage. However, there were some aspects of the writing which blurred my enjoyment; this is apparently set in the Victorian era, this is not very clear from the language used and the behaviour of the characters. Stories of Victorian gothic horror always appeal to me, but I realise there is a fine line between melodramatic storylines and chilling and haunting stories. The Whispering Muse strays into melodrama, but it’s still an enjoyable read. Regretfully the ending is rather curt, I would have enjoyed an epilogue.

A good one to curl up with, alongside a hot drink, or something stronger, on a cold winter’s night.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

An absolutely riveting read.

Jennifer, Jenny as she is known, and her younger siblings have been left in the lurch by their elder brother Greg.
His actions caused consequences, that meant Jenny had to find new employment, and quickly.
Mrs Dyer, Greg’s former employer calls Jenny to her home. She has a job offer for the surprised Jenny.
A job offer too good to refuse.
Why is Mrs Dyer being kind to her? After all Greg had left Mr & Mrs Dyer’s employment rather suddenly, leaving a bad, rather sour taste, for his former colleagues.

An absolutely riveting read.
Various characters come together in this ghostly tale. Some nice, some not so.
I really enjoyed reading about Jenny’s new job role, and in the time period that it was set. I could muster up the atmosphere within the pages of this tale.
I wondered when Jenny was asked to do various things in her job role, would she? What would the consequences be?
A book that is of a very sensitive nature in parts, and also dark in parts.
A most compelling book that I did not want to end.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions of this book are entirely my own.

This was my first Laura Purcell book, and I was drawn to it by the promise of a darkly gothic, theatre-based novel, which is absolutely my thing. On the one hand, I enjoyed the Victorian setting and many of the themes of this book, which deals with such subjects as the difficult position of working women at the time, and the way that Victorian morality punished women who became too ambitious. Purcell portrays these issues thoughtfully and realistically, which doesn't always make for easy reading or likeable characters, but which does feel accurate to the period. There are also some wonderfully dramatic scenes in the theatre which I did enjoy.

On the other hand, I struggled to warm to this book overall. The plot was predictable and the characters rather wooden. The author has a habit of stating the obvious rather than letting readers figure things out for themselves, which I found a little frustrating. It was all a little lacking in depth, which disappointed me, because I think this could have been a very enjoyable novel given a little more development.

This definitely was a gripping tale of obsession, superstition and ambition. The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell was a dark gothic story set around a creepy theatre. The novel is a slow burn gothic tale that takes a while to truly feel immersed in the story. But once you're hooked it's a decent read.

Especially if the Victorian and Shakespearean style is something you enjoy to read, this might be a good one to try. As this novel highlights the dark nature of the theatre set in Victorian London. The protagonist in The Whispering Muse is hired to dress the leading lady in the production of Macbeth. She thinks that this is a perfect job to get her reputation out of the ground and bring some money back to her and her family, but whilst this job seemed like a dream in the beginning, she is forced into a scheme of revenge and this dream soon becomes a nightmare for her. The development of our protagonist was well-done, she was complex and used throughout this story as a pawn which was interesting to read.

Laura Purcell writes very lyrically and creates such tension on these pages whilst bringing the characters to life. I wish the ending was developed better though, it seemed rushed and very abrupt.

Thank you to the publishers for the review copy!

This is such a dark, twisted, story which I found to be addictive and really well written. The atmosphere is conveyed well and really made my spine tingle! A perfect read for any gothic horror fans!

Dark and atmospheric is a great gothic read from Laura Purcell. It is gripping and scary at the same time fullof twists and turns and edge-of-your-seat moments
I highly recommend this book and it is five stars from me.
A good winter night read by the fire, but leave a light on.

I requested this book not realising that I had read and reviewed this already for NetGalley in September 2022, so I have pasted my original review:
“One of my favourite authors of historical gothic fiction - and this one does not disappoint. A very atmospheric story of obsession and madness with a touch of the supernatural as we have come to expect with Laura Purcell. A great read, thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advance review e copy”.

Laura Purcell's The Whispering Muse is a very frustrating book. Everything about the pitch appealed to me - theatrical curses, haunted items, death and deceit in the Victorian theatre. Sign me up immediately. The opening chapter gripped me immediately, giving us a character down on her luck reluctantly taking a job spying on an up-and-coming starlet in order to provide for her family, and I was ready to settle in for a roller coaster of Gothic mystery and weird magic.

Unfortunately the first chapter is by far the best part of the novel, and the rest falls off fast. The main character of Jennifer is impossible to like. She veers wildly in tone, from unsure and servile one minute to catty, confident, and brash the next - which could be a good thing, except the cattiness is always directed at people who have the power to end her employment and ruin her life in a heartbeat, directly at odds with the central tension that she really, really needs this job in order to survive. Her character is never developed in any meaningful way, and despite spending the entire 300+ pages with her I never felt like we got to know anything about her.

The relationships she forms are similarly flat and unbelievable. She goes from hating Lilith - calling her a "hussy" and doing everything in her power to destroy this woman who's never actually done anything wrong to her in Act I - to being her best friend by the middle of Act 2, and we never really see any indication of how that relationship develops. I never believed it for a second, and unfortunately it's this relationship that Purcell builds the emotional core of the novel around. Because I never believed this relationship, the ending completely fails to resonate in any meaningful way. The same is true of Jennifer's relationship with scene painter Oliver, which seems to blossom entirely off screen and goes from acquaintances to "we're literally married" without any real warning or buildup.

I say the novel is frustrating because on a surface level there's a lot to like here. The cursed watch and the mythology of Melpomene is compelling, the early scene showing a famous actor dying during a performance of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is gruesome and filled me with a desire to know what was happening, and I could get lost in a world of gaslit Gothic theatre. All the ingredients for something really special are here, but it just never gets off the ground and stumbles its way to an ending that wants to be dramatic and filled with meaning but never earns it.

A dark and twisted tale. This atmospheric read had me gripped from the beginning. The authors imagery coupled with the writing made this an interesting gothic tale.

This book had me hooked right away and I didnt want to put it down. I felt very immersed in the universe of the book.

An atmospheric piece of historical fiction that transports the reader into the Victorian London theatre scene. The writer cleverly infuses Faust and Shakespearean influences throughout the book. It’s full of superstition, intrigue and tragedy. The characters are well-defined and dramatic. I enjoyed the book and it ends with an epic final act. I would recommend this to people interested in theatre and what may occur behind the scenes. Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

The heroine is out of work which she desperately needs, but she is unable to get a reference from her previous employer, so when a wealthy lady offers her employment she is really grateful, even if she is expected to spy on Lilith the lead actress, while acting as her dresser. A page turner from the beginning and very written. Also the characters are well drawn. A fine bit of historical fiction and highly recommended. The difference between the rich and the poor is especially well described.

Jenny is struggling to get to get by and keep her family together after being disgraced from her last job and her older brother abandoning her to look after the rest of the family on her own. Her brother Greg stole the money meant for her brother’s operation and a woman’s ring and then fled to America.
She is required to visit her brother’s last employer at the Mercury Theatre, Mrs Dyer. She thinks that they are going to ask about her brother, but she is surprisingly offered a job as a dresser for the leading lady Lilith Erickson. But that also includes spying on her as she has taken a shine to her husband.
When Jenny takes her family to see Dr Faustus at the theatre. The play is cursed. The leading actor ends up dead. The watch he was wearing, Mr Dyer gives it to Lilith as a token of his love but this pocket watch that is apparently cursed with the Greek Muse Melpomene. Hoping that it will give her fame and fortune in the theatre world. But when Jenny takes the job strange things start to happen at the theatre with dire consequences. And due to the watch.
Thank you, Bloomsbury, for a copy of The Whispering Muse Laura Purcell has once again written another fabulous, creepy, gothic tale set in Victorian London. I was gripped from the first page of this book with the tension and the strange goings on in the theatre. The author writing is very good at bringing the characters to life and describe like you are actually there and cleverly incorporated Macbeth and Doctor Faustus into the story. I am sure it will be a hit.