I am a huge fan of Bridget’s, and I was very exited to read this new book. As usual, she does not disappoint - it’s classic Bridget - dark, gothic, creepy, and emotional.

This time, we meet the spiders….I’ve never felt sorry for a spider before, so I suppose there are still firsts, even for me. There is a lot of emotion in this tale, from Henry, the poor audiologist, Sophia, Mercy….oh, I could honestly go on. Then we see the truth and the wickedness of the whole thing.

Brilliant- just brilliant. If you’ve enjoyed Bridget’s other books then you will love this too.

As an arachnophobe, this was something of a challenge for me, But it was extremely well written and had a lot of pretty fascinating background to keep me reading with interest.
I can see it being made into quite a gripping movie. A fan of The Woman In Black would love this creepy Victorian melodrama.

3⭐️

The Silence Factory is a good that’s a little out of my usual reading but I’m pleased that I gave it a read. It’s a unique read with some interesting premises throughout - especially the magic silk.

The book is well written and really excels at creating an atmosphere that’s easy to picture.

I unfortunately couldn’t connect with the characters and felt the story moved at such a slow pace, it was struggling to keep my attention.

Overall, this unique story is worth a read and would be something I would recommend if someone asked.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and the Author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thought the concept of the book was interesting and I was intrigued to give it a go. The description is vague but it is categorised as historical fantasy and I was keen to see what it would be about. However it just wasn’t the book for me.

In all honesty I didn’t really understand what the point of the story was. I went into this expecting fantasy, but for me it was more historical fiction - the silk is the only fantasy element and it was a bit lacking. I expected the silk to be the main plot topic but it seemed to be more about Sophia and Henry’s unhappy lives and their desires for relationships.

My 2⭐️ rating is reflective of the fact my expectation was based heavily on the fantasy part of its genre which simply didn’t deliver what I was thinking it would. If someone is looking for a beautifully written story set in a historic setting with an interesting topic, I would recommend this book. I did really enjoy the actual writing, it was paced well and was very descriptive.

I always look forward to Bridget Collins releasing a new book and this one did not disappoint!
This is a tale of ambition and greed, of men trying their best to bend nature to their will. But as we know, nature can bite back!!!
Henry Latimer lives with his father in law in London, and is an aurist. He’s a widower who lost his wife and baby in childbirth, so he’s lost his way in life with no direction. His father in law assigns him a job that takes him to a town in the north called Telverton. There he meets and tests a young girl’s hearing. Her father Sir Edward Ashmore Percy, called at the shop to enquire about their services. While there, he gives Latimer a small piece of cloth made from the silk he sells. It’s beautiful but eerie somehow. You get the feeling as the reader that there’s a lot more to all this! Boy there is!
This tale is a dual timeline, so we follow the present and the past, There is a lot of characters in this book that are quite complex and very interesting to me! The story is unpredictable, exciting and very creepy!!
Top marks to Bridget Collins once again!!!
#Netgalley, #HarperCollinUk, #BridgetButNotJones.

The Binding is one of my favourite books so I was BEYOND excited to read this one - and I have to say that Bridget Collins has absolutely done it again!!

Her writing is really something else and this book was such a joy to read. Her style of storytelling is incredibly immersive and the way the story unfolded was effortlessly done. This book has one of my favourite storytelling devices: yearning. Be it for family, romance, lifestyle, career or the future, Collins is an expert in making me feel so many feelings. 🥺

I thought that the pacing was perfect and each moment just flowed into the next seamlessly, even throughout the two different perspectives. The writing was gorgeous and poetic without being pretentious or overdone; it complemented the gothic historical setting just perfectly!

I really loved having both POVs; the contrast between the beautiful Greek island and the smoggy West Country was striking, and both characters had so much development throughout the book. It was truly fascinating to be faced with a somewhat unreliable narrator in Henry - I was absolutely glued to my Kindle and couldn’t put it down, I was so excited to uncover what was the truth and what was just a fantasy in his head. I really cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this book!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @harpercollinsuk for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love Bridget Collins’s books.. How she manages to create such stories is magical. This story is definitely gothic with a very creepy atmosphere. The characters and World the author has created are quite magical but somehow very real and compelling. The characters are all brilliantly written, but I especially loved Henry and Philomel.

First and foremost, Bridget Collins’ writing is absolutely beautiful. This book was beautifully atmospheric and imaginatively crafted. I was drawn in by the unique intrigue of the sale of silence and the dual timeline aspect of the story. However this was a much slower burn than I prefer. At times, the chapters felt overly long and there wasn’t much moving the plot forward. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK for the ARC. All opinions presented are entirely my own.

Another Bridget Collins book and another captivating read that I just couldn’t put down. The story is quite a scary one for me as I’m not at all fond of spiders but it one that is so beautifully written that I overcame my horror of these small creatures….well somewhat!!
It’s a tale told in two timelines and from the points of view of Sophia and Henry and that kept the book flowing very well. The read for me was a quick one as I was desperate to know the end and I raced through it and was sorry when it ended, always the sign of a good read for me.
So highly recommended even with the spiders !
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, The Borough Press for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC exchange in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm so disappointed in myself for not enjoying this story as much as I wanted too. The writing is very poetic and magical. The storyline is also very intriguing. There were some likeable and unlikeable characters. Sadly though I found it slow and long winded for my liking. I found myself debating whether to continue reading. I did finish the book and found the ending acceptable and fitting

This book was not for me, the writing style and the story was just not it but I think other people might enjoy it. I think the ending could have been better and overall I think I can not review this book to its full potential.

This was an intricate, detailed and original work of fantasy, that does have some touches of gothic horror; this is absolutely perfect for fans of Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre -- they were always at the back of mind as I read this. Bridget Collins masterfully weaves two timelines together, tying one into the other flawlessly without so much as a kink in the thread. There's an extremely unique magic system in this somewhat sinister, menacing factory-town of Telverton; this novel is both a subtle historical mystery and a gorgeous fantasy. The storyline absolutely captivated me, and it was a treat to read this. Thank you for the ARC!

I am a great fan of Bridget Collins and have loved all of her books. They take you to a fantasy world, that is real. So well written, absolutely gripping and transportive. A unique idea twisted and woven into a thrilling book.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an eARC of this book.
An easy 5 stars, the beautiful prose sucked me in from the first page and the pacing was just right to keep me hooked. I enjoyed the dual POV and the thoroughly gothic feel to the story and how it unfolded. I read the binding a few years back and loved it and I can't wait to get stuck into the betrayals now!

In ‘The Silence Foctory’ Bridget Collins returns with another story set in an unsettling world. Spiders found on the island of Kratos have the ability to spin webs with extraordinary abilities, the least of which is blocking out sound. Brought to England by unscrupulous James, and his long suffering wife Sophia, the spiders are farmed to produce silk that the family hope will make their fortunes. Many years later Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy has staked everything on the silks success, and like the spiders reels in Henry, a bereft audiology assistant with a poetic heart, into trying to sell his silk to the masses. Alternating between Sophia’s experiences on Kratos and Henry’s amongst the factories that make Telverton Silk, this novel describes how they both get caught in a web that could destroy them and others around them.

Collins is a master at spinning unusual stories in a believable way. Whilst Henry’s and Sophia’s stories mirror one another, the effects of their beguilement come across very differently. Sophia’s lack of power in her life makes her story the more compelling, rather than Henry’s decision making makes him a less likeable protagonist. However Collins brings both narratives together brilliantly and the end of the novel is full of action that leaves the reader satisfied.

I had thought The Binding would be hard to beat, but after a slow start this book became increasingly captivating. The whole premise is Incredibly creative, I kept thinking how did something think up this concept.

A bit of a slow start, but once the momentum kicked in and the story of the spiders unraveled it become completely captivating. The story switched between past and present - the present being this mass production of this miraculous silk that has the ability to block out all sounds (but with a cost). And the past being set on the Greek isle where we learn about the history of the spiders and the discovery of their silk. I cant possibly capture the mystical wonder that surrounds the book, which is as much about the magic of the spiders as the people it corrupts.

A magical, mystical, story with each detail well thought out and each character perfectly framed and considered. Storytelling at its best!

The Silence Factory. First the cover - it's amazing. I would pick that book up to read it if I saw that cover any day of the week. It's gorgeous. Beautiful art.

The story itself, well it cast a gothic mystery around everything and in that was beautifully well-written. It's written from two point of view characters. We have Sophie Ashmore-Percy in the 1820s, married to the odious James on a remote Greek island while he pursues his research of a rumour he has heard about mysterious spiders. Then we have Henry Latimer decades later summoned to try and cure Sir Edward Ashmore Percy's child who is deaf - and happens to be the owner of a silk factory manufacturing silk that can block out all sound entirely. He's soon absorbed into Sir Edward's world and his wonderous silk.

The concept was marvellous but I just felt it lacked something. I got a little fed up in the middle and just wanted something to happen. Possibly the trouble was I didn't engage with the characters, or believe their relationships. Henry was just frustrating; blinkered, spineless and annoying. Sophia's sections were interesting but I wanted more. More explanation, more of why she did what she did, more on why she didn't do more with in response to what happened to her.

I also wanted more from the side characters, specifically Philomena, Miss Fielding, Mercy.

In saying all that I know there are readers who will love this book, it just fell short for me.

Overall, the author can write atmospheric gothic wonderfully, and the concept is brilliant, but the story left me frustrated and wanting a little more to engage me fully in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of the book to review.

This was a really intriguing book. This story takes place across two timelines and across generations. From the first page, I was intrigued to see how Sophy Ashmore and Henry Latimer's storys overlap and converge and this book did not disappoint in that respect. I also enjoyed Henry's character - after a lot of heartbreak, him overcoming trials and tribulations for Henry Ashmore-Percy, and then discovering if it was even worth it was a rush. This is a good, creepy novel that takes time to bloom. At points, the writing was quite flowery and it took me a few re-reads to truly understand what the passage said, especially in Henry's perspective, but overall I enjoyed this novel. I would give this 3.5 stars!
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the chance to read the eArc of this!

I knew this book would be good as I really enjoy the books written by Bridget Collins but this excelled, it is a magnificent read. The deeply gothic tone and setting just pulled me in and kept me trapped in its web until the end. I loved that it ended on a hopeful note. The story reveals itself at a great pace and all threads are neatly pulled together at the end. Magnificent.

I loved The Binding and The Betrayals, so was really looking forward to Bridget Collins' new read, and it does not disappoint - full of the mystery and enigma that she's so good at portraying; a real page turner that I highly recommend.

The main character, Henry, a widower, is stuck in a boring job with his father-in-law working in his shop selling hearing aids. One day, a customer walks in and shows him a piece of mysterious silk, silk that changes the way the world is perceived by creating silence. Imagine if you lived somewhere noisy, worked in a factory, or just wanted to be more by yourself - this silk can fulfil these fantasies; the very opposite of the hearing aids which generate Henry's current profession.

But the silk also creates a world that disturbs and destroys, and on embarking on a new life with the mysterious customer to help him cure his daughter's deafness, Henry find's himself drawn into promoting the silk and finds things are a whole lot more disturbing than he'd anticipated.