Elsie's new husband dies suddenly, leaving her the sole mistress of his ancestral estate, the Bridge, with its distrustful servants and collection of lifelike wooden props, "not a statue or a painting but somewhere in between." These figures multiply, assuming the likenesses of people from the house's and Elsie's history alike. The two households, both alike in tragedy, unite, and the result is predictably disastrous. Elsie has married into the Bainbridge family, which "had a nasty habit of losing their heirs." Her own family history is similarly grim, her father having died gruesomely in an accident at the family's matchstick factory. Purcell's debut is an atmospheric, eerie Victorian gothic novel centered around a decaying English country estate.
The residents of the estate are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition-that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her.Ī Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, The Silent Companions is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect-much like the companions themselves. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure-a silent companion-that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself.
But pregnant and widowed just weeks after their wedding, with her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her late husband’s awkward cousin for company. When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. Laura Purcell's THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS is now out from Penguin! The residents of The Bridge are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition-that is, until she notices the figure's eyes following her.“ extraordinary, memorable and truly haunting book.” - Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author
But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband's awkward cousin for company. "When newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge, what greets her is far from the life of wealth and privilege she was expecting.
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