The Shape of Darkness: 'A future gothic classic' Martyn Waites

Reviews

Ms Holz

I’ve taken SO long to review this book because I didn’t know where to even start! Our main character here is a silhouette artist. This one is dark, disease-ridden, the cobbles are slippy and dangerous and the hansom cabs make a daily clatter creating the soundtrack to the day’s events. As I said, I applauded at the end with the deliciously dark twist.

jemma

They embrace the uncertainty of the afterlife, choosing to err on the sinister, often downright evil, side of what comes next. There were times I found this book a bit slow and, for me, it didn’t quite live up to the glory of her first two books (I am yet to read Bone China), but overall this was a gripping gothic read I would recommend to those who love the genre. It made the story all the more real for me because of that I think (and made a nice change of setting! 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰, 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞.

The booktrail

This is the kind of novel where you know things are bubbling under the surface, causing you to feel a sense of unease as you read; going from chapter to chapter somewhat cautiously. '𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. Laura Purcell knows how to set up a story and pull the reader into the mystery. I was so happy to receive it after having read Laura’s debut, The Silent Companions, a few years ago, which I thought was fantastic and really played with my nerves!

Hayley Westwood

She is the main attraction at the seances she and her sister hold, with people coming far and wide to see her in hope of connecting with a loved one they’ve lost. -𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 . However, women in the work place had it hard then. This novel contains every single thing I love in a story - ghosts, mesmerism, supernatural happenings, mediumship, seances.

Emma's Biblio Treasures

Oh this book is just indelibly inked on my brain now. Ultimately, it is left to the reader to decide what they believe based on what they know of Agnes' experience and Pearl's life. I was left satisfied yet stunned. I loved this atmospheric and gloriously gothic novel set in Bath.

As always, the book is well researched and includes fascinating historical facts that will both thrill and horrify you (phossy jaw, I’m looking at you). Ms. I know enough of Laura Purcell’s books not to take anything for granted, and suspect all characters.

The prose, too, is irresistible. 𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐬. It’s spooky, supernatural, spiritual, gothic, ghostly, a tad gory, and overall just plain astonishing - and the ending was sublime.