THE BLURB





Inspired by the work of Shirley Jackson and Susan Hill and set in a crumbling country mansion, The Silent Companions is an unsettling gothic ghost story to send a shiver down the spine...

Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge.

With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. But inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself..



Published by Raven Books





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About the Author







A former Waterstones bookseller, Laura is now a full time author of chilling Gothic fiction. Her ghost story THE SILENT COMPANIONS was published by Bloomsbury Raven in October 2017 and will be followed by THE CORSET in 2018.



Laura has also blogged extensively about the Hanoverian monarchy. Her biopic novels QUEEN OF BEDLAM and MISTRESS OF THE COURT are the first in a series covering the lives and loves of the Georgian era queens.



Twitter - @spookypurcell



Website - http://laurapurcell.com/



MY REVIEW



If you are looking for a stunning, chilling read then look no further! I was drawn to this by the exquisite cover - it's beautiful - and the story inside was just as beautiful in the most creepy, unsettling manner! It's one of those books that makes you sleep with one eye open and noticing anything out of place.. did I really leave that cupboard open? I don't remember putting that there....... seriously spooky!!

This book is set in the 1600's and 1800's and centres around a mansion named The Bridge, and features two women - Elsie who is in an asylum unable to speak as she recovers from a traumatic event, and Anne whose diary we read from back in the 1600's when the Silent Companions are introduced to the household. The Dr at the asylum is completely fascinated by Elsie and her silence and gets her to write down what she can't say and this is when we get to 'hear' her story of what happened after she ended up living at The Bridge after the death of her husband. The distressing events that then follow her time living there are expertly crafted and written in such a way that you are experiencing the isolation, the fear, the terror and every alarming event with the character.

Elsie only has her husband’s awkward cousin for company when she moves to The Bridge. Or so she thinks. For inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself... Even the locals are wary of the house so refuse to work there and Elsie wants to try and understand why there is such fear of her new home. The events she witnesses leave her wondering if she is losing her mind but help explain the terror of those living nearby.

As the pasts of both characters reveal disturbing events you are often unsure how the story will play out, and there were a number of shocking twists that took my breath away! I'm not normally a big fan of spooky stories (yes I'm a wimp!) , but this was so well written and beautifully set out that I was gripped and I loved the dark vibes and the many creepy moments!





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How to describe this novel? Spooky, mysterious? A tale of witchcraft and trickery or malicious exploitation and fraud? ‘The Silent Companions’ by Laura Purcell starts with a woman in an asylum. Mute, she is given chalk and a slate with which to communicate. What follows is her account of the Bainbridge family and their country home, The Bridge.
From the beginning until the end, we do not know who to believe. The story is told in three strands – a woman in an asylum, accused of murder; a young widow who arrives at her husband’s family home, pregnant and vulnerable; and a couple excitedly prepare for a royal visit by Charles I. What unfolds is a complicated story. Purcell handles the many threads well although I would have preferred a clear delineation with each new section marked by date.
Elsie, the daughter of a match factory owner in London, is a survivor. She supported her mother after her father was killed in a ghastly workplace accident, she supported her younger brother Jolyon as their mother also fell ill. And when Jolyon brings a new investor for the factory the siblings, now jointly own, Elise marries Rupert Bainbridge. Odd things start to happen after Rupert dies soon after the marriage and Elsie goes for the first time to The Bridge. Exploring the rundown dusty house when she hears a noise at night, Elsie finds a locked door and in the room behind is a wooden stand-up figure of a girl. From this point, odd things start to happen, getting odder and more frequent as the tale progresses. The reader doesn’t know who to believe or who to trust. It feels as if everyone might be lying for their own ends, or perhaps the villagers are right and the house is riddled with witchcraft. But concrete things keep happening which cannot be denied.
This is a strange, unsettling read.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

This book has instantly become one of my favourite books ever. Dark, unsettling and beautifully descriptive, it will keep you up late on these cold winter nights. Elsie is grieving for the unexpected death of her new husband when she moves into his old country estate, but not everyone welcomes her arrival. The Bridge is full of secrets and servants who do not like her, not to mention something more sinister that hides behind locked doors.

This book genuinely gave me the fear. I love ghost stories and horror novels, but I find it pretty rare to be actually frightened by them. Throughout The Silent Companions I felt that pervading sense of unease, The story is wonderfully written and keeps you gripped right from the start – I couldn’t put it down even when I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what happened next.

I loved the characters too. They were so well written – complex characters who all held their own motivations – and often weren’t quite what they seemed on the surface. The story is told in several different narratives – Elsie in a hospital as she recovers from the traumatic events at The Bridge, Elsie as she relives her experiences with the silent companions as well as a diary from Anne Bainbridge, an old ancestor who lived at the estate 200 years before. I loved the different narratives as the were so multi-layered and each had their own exciting story line that I wanted to hear more from. When you have multiple points of view you tend to prefer one over the other, but I was completely engrossed in both Elsie and Anne’s story.

This book is atmospheric, chilling and will definitely send a shiver up your spine. What more could you want from a Gothic ghost story? If you love books by the likes of Shirley Jackson then The Silent Companions will make for perfect reading.

Okay, you guys, normally I tell you there will be spoilers but seriously, SPOILER ALERT, I will be spoiling quite a few things here!! You’ve been warned.

The Story:

Only a few weeks after they are wed, Elsie Bainbridge’s husband dies unexpectedly. Pregnant and in mourning, Elsie is sent away from London to her late husband’s country estate, The Bridge; a life far away from the luxury she had been expecting. The estate has a weird feeling about it. The servants barely speak and seem to resent her presence, whilst the villagers are seemingly hostile after hearing mysterious rumours about the place. Elsie only has Sarah, her husband’s cousin, for company. Soon things start to go bump in the night and Elsie is confused by the presence of sawdust and the sound of a saw through the night. Intrigued, Sarah and Elsie venture through a locked door only to find some mysterious diaries by a woman named Anne Bainbridge, and a striking wooden figure named – yep, you guessed it – silent companions. Elsie brings the silent companion down but soon finds that they are starting to appear everywhere. More and more appear and some bear striking resemblance to people of the past. The companions seem to move and something isn’t quite right about them.

Chapters alternate between the 1800’s, when Elsie and co, live in the house, an insane asylum, and the 1600’s, the date from the diaries. These chapters slowly but surely reveal all.

The Review:

This was a great book to start 2018 with. What is better than a good, old, Gothic ghost story when it is dreary and cold, and the January blues are upon you? It is the classic tale of a woman, shipped off to the countryside only to find that her servants are not who they say they are and her house is not what she expected it to be. I could not put it down. It was dark and twisted at times, making you want to read more. You get to the end of one chapter and you just cannot stop, you need to know what happens in the corresponding chapter. It is a very quick read so if you are looking for one of those, this book is a good choice. I would not say this is a holiday read as it is quite eerie and gloomy!

Firstly, the idea of this book is superb – wooden figures that seem to move and watch you, hunting you down as you walk through your own house. Splinters and sawdust appear everywhere, including under the skin, and in the dead bodies. *Shivers* It gives me the creeps and so it should, that’s the whole idea. The story isn’t your typical ghost story, witchcraft is involved and you are constantly guessing what is possessing the silent companions. It’s creepy and I love it!

A few irks that got me; The dead bodies. There are A LOT of those. I just finished IT by Stephen King after Christmas and this book has just as many dead bodies as IT does (okay, exaggeration but shh.. it has a lot of dead people, okay?!). I was actually a little annoyed that so many people died, especially any that just happened ‘off-page’ where we hear about it from another character. That was disappointing, I didn’t think it was that type of book really. Some of the deaths seemed quite rushed and they felt as if they were just thrown in for a quick shock – the death of the baby and Mabel, for example. Others were spectacular – Helen. A antler pierced her eye! I was so not expecting that!

I was deeply disturbed by the animal deaths in this book. I don’t know if any of you know this about me (maybe I have mentioned this) but I am an animal fanatic and I really need a trigger warning for animal death or animal cruelty. It affects me more than most other things in novels. I know that is bad to say because of human suffering and stuff but I feel like television has desensitized me to that stuff – it does not mean that I do not care or wish to prevent social injustice and other issues – it just means that I can read it without flying into a frenzy of panic and upset. It’s weird – please don’t hate me. But yeah, cow head was unnecessary. The dead horse I get was a catalyst for events from the diaries but the cow head… really?! I was so worried the cat was going to die too!

Now the witchcraft storyline was interesting and definitely explained a bit about what was happening in the 1600’s storyline but it just was not utilised enough for me. It did not explain why the shop that sold the companions disappeared or why the companions were so weird even before the witch/spirit possessed them. There were a few plot holes appearing from this addition. I do not know how this could have been fixed but it was a thought throughout the book and I said I should be honest about it!

On a positive and final note; This book was beautifully written. Laura Purcell has a way with words; she really does. Some parts felt a little rushed – as if she needed to pack too much in – but some of the descriptions and the atmosphere she creates is great. She can be a little confusing sometimes as you do not realise what is going on. Purcell is one of these authors that has you work out that someone has died before telling you and having you witness the scene. Personally, I love that. I think she is a very good Gothic writer and she stick to that genre. I know she is working on another called The Corset so hopefully we will see that in 2018!

I have given this book 4 stars. It wasn’t entirely perfect and that is why it didn’t get a 5th star, and I can say I wouldn’t read it again but it is definitely going on a highly recommended shelf.

This book includes everything I enjoy in a story: a good, scary Gothic tale set in Victorian times.

The story starts with Elsie Bainbridge, a young woman that is recovering in the hospital, unable to speak about a number of murders that she’s accused of committing. Since she doesn’t speak a word, she’s advised by one of the doctors to write down her story. Elsie is a recently married and recently widowed young woman that moves to her husband’s old estate, The Bridge, in order to bury him and give birth to her child. Surrounded by her husband’s cousin Sarah and three servants, Elsie begins to realize that in the walls of the old estate dark secrets are whispered in its walls. From strange figures of children and maids painted in wooden boards which seem to watch every move and seem to never stay in their designed place, to some old diaries that described the horrific events that took place in the beginning of the Bainbridge family’s downfall, Elsie slowly begins to transform from a confident and bright young woman to a broken shell governed by nightmares of past events she doesn’t fully understand.

A creepy Gothic horror novel that left me afraid to look at the walls and the paintings of my house for too long. It’s a deeply unsettling story that I will remember for a long time as being one of the books that made me be afraid of the dark for a few nights.

The setting is perfect for me, it hold everything for this novel to be a true horror story. It takes place in 1866 in Victorian England and in an old estate that has more history than its inhabitants realize until it’s too late. The story-line is solid and all the historical facts make this novel memorable in many ways. It’s a psychological horror story that develops perfectly from beginning to end, suspenseful until the very last page. The fact that the author started with the end, the reader is fully aware from the first page that this story doesn’t have a happy ending.

The style of writing is brilliant and it creates this atmosphere of suspense within a complex plot. I’m an admirer of the authors that manage to recreate a Victorian novel with all the phrase structure and vocabulary that truly brings the reader closer to the plot and its characters. The way that Laura Purcell writes builds up the horror throughout gets the reader completely addicted to the story even if deep down they're waiting for something scary to take palce.

The characters are amazing and as mesmerizing as the plot itself. Elsie is a great character and it’s impossible for the reader not to get involved in her story and feel for her as she walks down a dark path without realizing. Her transformation from a strong woman to a depressed, hollow, traumatized, mute, full of scars character is both admirable and scary.

A brilliant, creepy novel that will scare any reader out of hers/his wits. I highly recommend this novel for the fans of the genre and of Victorian fiction.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher Bloomsbury, and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.

It is has a gothic spooky feel to it mixed with a wee bit of horror.

The reader follows the story of two women in the same grand house. One in the distant past and the other in the more past. Elsie’s story starts in an insane asylum charged with quite a few murders. The doctor in charge is trying to get her to communicate, because he is convinced there must be more to the story. Why would a well situated woman suddenly go off the deep end and cause such brutal mayhem?

Before ending up in the asylum Elsie is pregnant, has just recently lost her husband and is returning to his childhood home accompanied by her husband’s impoverished cousin. This isn’t exactly her choice, as her decisions are being made by her much younger brother. Her brother is more concerned about the way it looks to society and any possible scandals. Women weren’t allowed to own anything per se in that era and any property, inherited or otherwise would always fall to the men. This includes husbands, brothers, fathers and cousins.

It isn’t long before the women in the household start experiencing strange events. Footprints and messages in the dust, empty rooms suddenly become fully furnished clean ones, and peculiar wooden statues start appearing throughout the house.

A peaceful retreat turns into a fight for sanity and a fight to survive. Elsie finds herself drawn into the dark abyss of the past and the personal tragedies of the previous inhabitants of the house.

It’s a decent premise, however the execution could have been better. The companions are an excellent idea, they give the whole story a creepy vibe, and the ending is wonderfully macabre. Purcell is creative enough to pull off a great story, this one just needs a bit of a polish.

Atmospheric, chilling and unnerving, The Silent Companions is an ideal winter read. Let the candles flicker and the rain batter at the windows and tuck yourself in for one hell of a creepy read. Whatever you do, don't read it in the dark!
The plot is sinister and tense and genuinely scary! It's so beautifully and skilfully written that no matter how scared you get, it's impossible to put down and turning the pages becomes addictive.
I really liked the cast of characters and I thought they were all well developed and engaging.
I did like the ending in general, but I felt that it was a little bit too vague in places for me and I would've liked a bit more detail. However, I also understand how this fits the story and that some people might prefer to imagine the rest for themselves. I definitely think it's a matter of opinion but what I think everyone will agree on is the impact it has and that it stays with you for ages afterwards! I think I'll still be sleeping with the lights on this time next year!
Overall, I'm giving The Silent Companions 4 out of 5. It's creepy, unsettling and eerie. I'll be on the look-out for more books by Laura Purcell.

Gothic. Spooky. Wonderful. Many books have tried and failed in this genre recently. The Silent Companions on the other hand excelled. Changing time periods, assignments, crumbling mansions. The perfect setting for a story like this. And despite that, it still managed to be wholly and beautifully original! Probably one of my top reads this year.

FULL REVIEW AVAILABLE AT THE ATTACHED LINK.

There are things that take place in this book that are a little predictable, cliched, and specific to these kinds of creepy stories of supernatural otherness. The voice also feels as though it has been tempered for modern readers in that the language used in the 1635 pieces differs little from the language used in the 1865 sections. Of course it would be hard for modern readers to get into the story if written in language that was true to the time, but it would have been nice if these two were more easily distinguishable.

But there are definitely some moments of decent creep-factor, and though it can be a little hard to get into, once the events begin unfolding it can be hard to put down. There were other elements that this reader, who finds far too many books predictable, did not anticipate and one situation in particular that I didn’t pick up on until later discussions with others who had also read the book.

All in all this is a nicely creepy, atmospheric story with a premise that hasn’t been done to death (pardon the pun) and showcases one of the more creepy and forgotten facets of our past.

An enjoyably creepy and gothic-style tale which you should avoid reading at night.

This is a very effective gothic chiller with a genuinely disturbing premise.

Fantastic, creepy Gothic horror story. I couldn't put it down. Not sure I will.be able to sleep anytime soon either!

Finding out she was pregnant and then losing her husband was hard enough for Elsie but when her brother decides she must spend time at her late husband's country estate then issues come to the fore. Elsie married late and married for convenience, her husband brought money to prop up her family business but she knew little of his background. Now left in an isolated house with few people around her and conscious of the locals fear and dislike of the house and the family Elsie realises that not all is as it seems and the house holds many secrets.

This book has had great reviews and I can see why it appeals to a wide range of readers, the problem is that I was not one of them. I can admire the intricate plotting and the construction of the plot but I found the whole 'ghost' business just a little too silly for me. That's a real pity as I think Purcell is a talented writer and if this had been a straightforward historical novel I would have liked it a lot more.

Elsie Bainbridge is newly widowed and in the early stages of pregnancy when she moves to her late husband’s crumbling country estate to grieve, and convalesce. But before long, Elsie begins to wonder about the history of the house, and its connections to the ‘companions’ - strange wooden figures that keep showing up in different room and contain a malevolent evil.

This book was dreary, dark and creepy and such a great, addictive read. This kind of felt like a creepy doll horror story except there was this history linked to the 1600s in the story and it was done really well.

There are three different timelines in this book - one is a future Mrs Bainbridge in a mental asylum. She is mute, and a doctor is trying to figure out her story. The second is when Elsie and her cousin-in-law arrive to the house around the 1860s and all the weird happenings begin, and the third is diary entries of Elsie’s husband’s ancestor Anne who lived in the house in the 1600s and was the first to introduce the companions to the house. I really enjoyed all the time periods, particularly the diary entires. I’m not sure if it was Kindle format I was reading but I found the switches between each timeline a bit confusing, and sometimes it would switch and I wouldn’t realise it for a few paragraphs.

The ending of this just got more twisted and spooky and this definitely left me feeling uneasy, and I loved that!

Elsie Bainbridge, recently widowed and also pregnant is sent by her brother to her late husband's family estate, The Bridge. It's meant to be restful, a safe place for her confinement. But the locals are suspicious and hostile, the staff resentful and every night she is woken by a strange noise that leads to a locked room. When opened a 200 old diary reveals a tragic history and also a strange life-like wooden figure, known as a Silent Companion. And the figure bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself....

The Silent Companions is one of those rare beasts these days....a ghost story that actually is very unnerving. I found myself casting a nervous glance at my daughter's teddies and dolls reading this novel.....a pair of staring eyes watching you while reading this is really not good! Seriously though this is a potential classic in the genre, strong enough (and eerie enough) to sit with The Woman in Black and The Haunting of Hill House and be considered their equal.

We meet Elsie as her carriage approaches her new husband’s crumbling country estate. It is her first time here, but it is tainted with tragedy as her husband is laid out within and awaiting her so his funeral can begin.

Her new servants are resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, and pregnant Elsie is confined there with only her husband’s awkward cousin for company. But whilst exploring she finds a delightful nursery and a locked room containing the two-hundred-year-old diary of her husband’s ancestor and an unusual painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. Her cousin is charmed by it and wishing to strengthen their friendship Elsie helps her re-instate it in the main house.

But whispers of a curse start to rise as the house suffers misfortunes and Elsie tries desperately to hang on to her sanity to deliver herself and her unborn baby to safety.

This is a gorgeously gothic ghost story which would be spectacular if filmed.

Four Bites

NB I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. The BookEaters always write honest reviews.

The premise of this book had me at 'Susan Hill' and 'crumbling mansion', and although it wasn't without its flaws, I ended up really enjoying it.

In The Silent Companions, we first meet Elsie in an institution. She can't talk and the doctors seem very wary of her; she's mad; a lost cause. But there is one doctor who tries to help her to communicate, to hear her story.

Elsie tells the story of how she came to The Bridge, an old mansion with incompetent staff, pregnant and husbandless. Now a Lady of the House, Elsie tries to adjust to her new life, but the mansion is strange, cold, and unwelcoming. Her only friend is Sarah her late husband's sister, who she finds dull, but beggars can't be choosers as they say.

When Elsie and Sarah come across a locked attic room whilst exploring the house, they wonder what could possibly be up there. Then, all of a sudden, the door isn't locked anymore. In the room is something that will propel a series of bizarre and dangerous events - a silent companion.

I had never heard of silent companions, and this book compelled me to look them up. They are strange wooden paintings made to look like people with shading and the like. They're pretty creepy by all accounts, especially when they start multiplying and moving of their own accord!

It took me a while to get into this book- I wasn't a fan of the beginning- but by the time Elsie and Sarah found the first companion I was already starting to get intrigued, and from then on I was hooked.

What I struggled with was the structure. Now, I don't know whether it was down to the digital proof (which could be resolved now it's published) but there was no indication of when we shifted in time which was really off putting. It threw me off on a lot of occasions. It also took me a while to realise that a second storyline came from a diary that Sarah found - also in the attic - and gave us an origin story as to the original ghost/companions. It would have certainly benefited from a dinkus or *** each time, so the reader doesn't have to work too hard in figuring out where they are in the story, and whose storyline we are following.

However, this was a great read overall. As the premise suggests, it is a return to a traditional ghost story in the style of the likes of Susan Hill & Shirley Jackson, and it's an impressive diversion from Purcell's usual historical fictions.

et in the 1800s in a countryside mansion this book has the perfect setting for a gothic novel, add to that a recently bereaved widow, unwelcoming servants and what was commonly known as a malady of the mind, then all the ingredients are there for a ghostly read. Elsie Bainbridge had barely been married a few months before her husband passed away in unexplained circumstances, now she must leave her beloved London and decamp to the country for the expected period of mourning. As in any good gothic novel, the servants are suspicious and the villagers more than reluctant to venture up to the house and it doesn't take Elsie long to see why. Wooden, lifelike figures called 'Companions' are dotted around the house, each bearing a resemblance to a former resident or someone from Elsie's past. Along with the discovery of a diary from a previous inhabitant of 200 years ago by Elsie's cousin in law, Sarah, the scene is perfectly set.

The novel jumps back and forward through time. It begins with Elsie in an asylum, being examined by a doctor and unsure as to why she's there. Encouraged to write down her story, the reader is only given Elsie's view of how she ended up there. A parallel is drawn with the narrator of the diary, Anne Bainbridge, who is slowly been driven into madness by a series of tragic events and the things she believes she sees around here. The author deftly avoids falling into cliche, the Companions are genuinely creepy as they seem to appear around the house at will, taking on the form of increasingly emotive figures from Elsie's past. There's touches of historical fiction in the diary entries and while this is undoubtably a gothic ghost story there's so much more going on there under the layers.

Traditionally in October I make a point of reading more ghost stories and this fits the bill perfectly. It can't be easy trying to scare your readers out of their wits but Laura Purcell has done a fantastic job here. Atmospheric, creepy and unsettling this book ticks all the boxes! Highly recommended.

I received a ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

Elsie Bainbridge is young, newly married and newly widowed. Pregnant with her dead husbands baby she is sent to The Bridge, a crumbling mansion in the middle of nowhere to wait for the babies arrival. Travelling with her is her husbands cousin, Sarah, quiet and bookish and not the companion Elsie was perhaps hoping for.

On arrival they are greeted by indifferent, untrained staff and a village who believe the house is cursed with bad omens and bad luck.

A search of the mansion uncovers a family diary and a cast of carved wooden figures, known as the Silent Companions, and Elsie and Sarah are soon embroiled in a nightmare they may not survive.

I love a good spooky story and this does not disappoint. Told via multiple timelines, we learn the history of the house and The Silent Companions, the experiences of Elsie and Sarah, and the aftermath as Elsie finds herself in a mental institution accused of a crime she is not sure she actually committed.

Sounds confusing??? It really isn't and the various storylines fit seamlessly together increasing the intensity and the drama surrounding events in the house.

The characters are multi dimensional, Elsie so recently widowed, seems cold and harsh yet underneath, is grieving deeply for the husband she had for such a short time. Her time in the mental institution is brilliantly done, Purcell conveying the raw emotion and damage that Elsie has suffered but also posing many questions for the reader about Elsie's innocence.  Sarah is the intelligent, quiet one, dependent on Elsie for her hospitality, yet there is something that I found quite unsettling about her and couldn't quite work out until later on in the story!

The scariest character has to be Grace, a mute with a love for gardening and growing herbs, an innocent young girl or is she?!

The crumbling mansion is the perfect setting and my imagination certainly went into overdrive thanks to Purcell's brilliant vivid descriptions. Purcell is excellent at creating an atmosphere that is both very eerie and extremely spooky. When dead bodies start to appear the novel becomes even more chilling and disturbing.

I loved the ending, even if I did guess what it might be, and it certainly sent a shiver down my spine.

The Silent Companions has all the qualities of a good gothic, Victorian novel.  It is disturbing, deeply unsettling and the perfect book to curl up with on a dark chilly autumn night.

Thank you to Netgalley and Raven Books for the opportunity to read and review.

Just as childhood ghost stories began with a drip, drip, drip, Elsie Bainbridge’s personal horrors are signalled by a hiss, hiss. The Silent Companions opens with its protagonist in an institution, badly burnt, mute, and suppressing memories of decades of traumatic events – the most recent of which have placed her under suspicion of murder. Diarising her past for a psychoanalyst, Elsie transports us to The Bridge, her late husband’s country estate. Pregnant and newly widowed with only the company of an awkward cousin-in-law, Sarah, all is not well at their ancestral home. A hiss leads Elsie to open the garret and unwittingly unleash a dark force which takes its form in a set of “silent companions”: uncannily human-like wooden figurines. Their mysterious provenance and ever-changing appearance set off a series of creepy and increasingly dangerous “accidents”. More family history is introduced through an ancestor’s diary, which intertwines with Elsie’s story, compounding horrors for the reader to unravel.

Purcell shows a deft talent for the big and small – from overarching atmospherics to subtle plot manoeuvres. The centrepiece of the haunted house fits well into the gothic genre, while creative additions make this a satisfyingly plot-driven read. Yet the characters are also carefully drawn, and although Elsie is of greatest import, the roles and dreams of each character are well realised. There’s also a little restrained feminism at play here, bold enough to contextualise its characters’ plight but not so distracting as to undo the plot’s effective mysteries. Overall, it’s a well-rounded debut that’s sure to tingle some spines in time for Halloween.


[This review will be published in the Big Issue on 23 October and on the website sometime after that.]