
The Shape of Darkness (Hardback)
Laura Purcell (author)Published: 21/01/2021

Another deliciously dark and brooding gothic mystery from the author of The Silent Companions and Bone China, The Shape of Darkness sets a silhouette artist and a child medium on the trail of a ruthless serial killer in Victorian Bath.
Wicked deeds require the cover of darkness... A struggling silhouette artist in Victorian Bath seeks out a renowned child spirit medium in order to speak to the dead - and to try and identify their killers - in this beguiling new tale from Laura Purcell. 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...
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...
What secrets lie hidden in the darkness?
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9781526602589
Number of pages: 416
Weight: 552 g
Dimensions: 216 x 135 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Dripping with atmosphere with a corkscrew plot, Laura Purcell just gets better and better.' - Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars and The Foundling
'It's her best one yet and that's saying something. A story of a woman haunted in every way possible, I think it's a future gothic classic.' - Martyn Waites
'A clever and well-researched novel with a good twist, and it shows the nightmare of life for single women of limited means in the 19th century.' - Literary Review
'Darkly addictive and utterly compelling. Reading Laura's books is like watching a horror movie where you have to keep hiding behind a cushion because you dread what is coming next, but you simply have to find out!' - Ruth Hogan
'Every bit as brilliant as I knew it would be. The writing has all the gothic creepiness that only Laura can summon, with characters as darkly ambiguous as the silhouettes themselves. It truly kept me guessing to the very last page.' - Sonia Velton
'Beautifully eerie ... Laura Purcell's brilliance is in showing you a place and a time you think is familiar, and making every atom of it uncanny - and in The Shape of Darkness, she does it better than ever.' - Natasha Pulley
'Purcell is rapidly making a name for herself as the queen of the superior bone chiller.' - The i
'Purcell has established a claim on Daphne du Maurier's territory of psychological suspense and Gothic spookiness.' - Sunday Express
You may also be interested in...
“Her best yet...?”
I read this is one evening, finishing it at around midnight just before bed...which may not have been wise, as the ending left me fairly spooked. Agnes is a silhouette artist in Victorian Bath, struggling to make ends... More
“Brilliant”
Another really dark gothic Victorian novel from the talented pen of Laura Purcell. Will have you gripped from page one to the very end. This lady just gets better and better.

“Will keep you awake at night....”
When silhouette artist Agnes’s clients start being murdered, she approaches Pearl, a renowned child spirit medium to attempt to make contact with those who have passed on and reveal just who killed them.
But Agnes and...
More
Please sign in to write a review
Sign In / Register
Sign In
Download the Waterstones App
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?