I discovered Laura Purcell via The Silent Companions, an atmospheric Victorian Gothic which I enjoyed and as I rated her second Gothic novel, The Corset, even higher it meant I immediately put her on my auto author list and was looking forward to Bone China with much enthusiasm.

For me, Purcell's strengths lay primarily in her writing style, which manages to be descriptive and lyrical without veering into the dreaded purple prose. So far, all her stories fall into the 'maybe magic, maybe mundane' territory but as I'm a complete sucker for those that's also a plus in my book.

Sadly, there were a few things which didn't work for me and this came down to the plot and pacing.

The pacing was slow because the plot had been split into two narrations.

With one we follow Hester as she goes on the run to Cornwall and settles into Louise's house as her nurse. In the second we go back 40 years to when Louise was young and first settled in Cornwall with her physician father, a man so desperate to be renowned for curing TB that he would resort to any method necessary.

There was no linking between the two points of view between Hester and Louise and so we're suddenly thrown into Louise's history when we're just getting into Hester's present.

This random inclusion at the mid-point may not have thrown the pace completely off if we hadn't also then been introduced to Louise's father's point of view (via diary entries). This was one too many (or two too many) narrative points of view and it was an abrupt introduction of new POV's and tenses which pulled me from the story we were originally following.

In terms of characters the majority are filler. The ones who make an impact don't offer much - the father is one note character (driven by his desperation to cure TB), Louise as an old woman is passive and mute and as a young lady too bland to make any impact.

However, we do get Hester in all her unpleasantness.

Luckily I don't care about likable - I want my characters to be interesting. Hester is a destructive, tantrum filled woman with addiction problems and a possible case of Manchausen's by Proxy and she was the saving grace of the story perhaps because she is so detestable. It makes a change for the main character to be one of the villains of her own story.

It sounds like I'm picking on this story as one I didn't like but actually did like it. I happen to be a critical reviewer. The things I enjoy are still present in Bone China but I wonder if my cantankerous review is because I've realised you can have too much of a good thing.

Bone China seemed to follow a 'blueprint' that the author is now adhering too and while these components work for me, we're looking at the third book in a row which contains them so the stories are beginning to feel slightly predictable.

So far we have:-

*Question over whether the events are supernatural in origin or have a logical explanation (magic vs. Mundane)
*Victorian Gothic style
*Female narrator
*A secondary viewpoint (also female) making it a two person narrative
*Creepy setting
*An object of focus of the story
*Someone being abused or having been abused physically or sexually
*A domineering, emotionally abusive (at the very least) female is present to varying extents
*One or more parent of one or more of the main characters dead or dying
*Ambiguous relationship (possibly romantic) between one female character and another
*An ending which is also ambiguous but manages to be a downer?

With the above I could be describing Bone China, The Silent Companions or The Corset.

Don't get me wrong, all are well written and enjoyed by me and I know that authors have their themes or 'author fingerprint' but I enjoyed Bone China significantly less because it was beginning to read the same as her previous work.

I'll definitely read the one she has out in 2021 but I'm beginning to feel the need for a break to the formula otherwise the next one may be the last.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

A troubled woman whose inner demons battle with the cruel reality of the world tries to flee from her conscience to Moroven House, a spooky and unsettling place to choose, but finds herself in a situation where her sanity is tested.  We are also introduced to the story of the arrival of another woman at Mororven House, hundreds of years earlier and her father’s attempts to restore his professional reputation by effecting a cure for consumption. Both tales run parallel with increasing dread and eeriness - pure gothic.

I've loved Laura Purcell's previous works so I was highly anticipating Bone China and although this was my least favourite so far, it was by no means a bad book! It had all the creepy vibes that I've come to expect from Laura Purcell, it was just a lack of connection to the characters which made this bottom of the rankings in my experience and opinion. I found our main character to be slightly unbearable and naive, which for me, did hinder my enjoyment but I did still like the plot and would recommend it.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I have read this author’s work before and I love the way she writes.  This novel is masterfully written - gothic and mysterious and chilling,  Hester and Louise’s stories and revealed in bits-size pieces.  At the beginning I didn’t like them and by the end I loved them.
Everyone in this story is a little bit mad in a wonderful way and the supernatural elements reveal them to be achingly human,  I loved this book!

I loved the start of this book but somehow I got a bit bogged down in the middle.  It then picked up at the end but the conclusion was a bit sudden and random. So, a bit mixed with this one.  Some wonderful period detail, loved the dark nature of the characters including the reliance on alcohol , the spooky woman-child, the bone-china, the mysterious pasts of all of them.  Just found it a tad too long, too convoluted.

I ended up buying a physical copy of this novel as I couldn’t resist the cover and the author has become an auto-buy for me. The book was very atmospheric with well developed characters and really portrays the subtle gothic creepiness really well. I’ll definitelt be buying the next book by this author and I’m happy to add this one to my collection.

I enjoyed Bone China it was historical fiction with a touch of supernatural.  It told the story of Hester a lady's maid who became just a tad obsessive about her mistress.  She left employment after some trouble and got a job in Cornwall as a nurse to Louise, an elderly lady.  The house of her new employer had lots of strange goings on and you then found out the history of Louise (the elderly lady).  One thing I did not know is that to make Bone China in olden days they crush the bones of animals to add to the mix.  Something that makes the tale all the more spooky.  One I recommend if you like books that make you draw the curtains before you start reading.

A delightfully creepy mystery that kept me guessing to the end. Highly atmospheric and unsettling. The setting was perfect and the characters played their roles beautifully.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Bone China is the first book by Laura Purcell I've read.  I know that her former books have been popular so when this book became available for review I jumped at the chance.  I love, love, love gothic literature.  My adoration of the genre is partly why I am studying literature at university.  So I really thought this book was going to be amazing.  Alas, it fell rather short of my expectations.

It was clear very early on that Laura Purcell is a gifted writer.  Her prose is interesting and easy to digest.  This book was gothic in a very basic sense but it lacked the uncomfortableness the genre is known for.  This book didn't scare me nor give me the creeps.  I have seen 'Bone China' described as a horror which is rather far from accurate.  There are a couple of moments of unease but I found this book to be lacking in atmosphere.  I feel like there was an emphasis on 'letting the reader decide' are these people mad or is there something spooky going on here? I wish it had been a little bolder.  As the book came to its end I found it gave no real answers and felt almost unfinished.

I cannot say I liked or enjoyed Bone China.  It was perfectly readable but failed to excite me in any way.  That being said there is enough talent in the writing for me to pick up another one of Laura Purcell's books.

This is another spooky tale from Laura Purcell that is based on the mythology of Cornwall. 
Hester Why flees to Cornwall to take up the position of nurse to the ailing Miss Pinecroft and quickly witnesses very strange behaviour within the household. Forty years before, Louise and her father moved to the house in the hope of finding an effective treatment for Consumption, which tragically took three members of their family. When things come to a head, Hester manages to save an innocent person by repenting for her previous sins. 
This is an incredibly atmospheric story, steeped in superstition and so well written that you will start to believe fairies are real.

Always a brilliant read, Laura Purcell writes gothic horror thrillers like no one else. They are exciting and dark

First of all I have to say I absolutely loved Silent Companions (if you haven't read that, do it now!)  This however I was not so keen on.  Now this may have been because I read it at the start of lockdown, and the story is based around people dying of consumption. 

Chilling and atmospheric -yes.!  Victoian gothic thriller - yes!  For me the story just didnt flow, and I couldn't connect with any of the characters.   

I haven't given up with this author and will definitely look out for her next book.

Thank you Netgalley for advancing me a pre-publication copy of this book.
Reading "Bone China" is a strange experience. Reminiscent of "Thr Girl with thr Pearl Earring" or "Tulip Fever", Purcell draws us into a world where medical science is in its infancy and superstition dominates the life of the poor. Potions, herbs and pottery thread their way through the tale.
The narrator is a lady's maid whose specialism is treating her mistresses' various ailments. Her previous positions have not been  a success. She is a disturbed woman, obsessive and secretive and thus unreliable, an interesting device. 
Escaping London after a peculiar attempt to abort her mistress' child, she finds herself in a house near the sea, inhabited by people obsessed with the "fairies" who apparently seek a young woman. Her new mistress is disabled after a stroke and obsessed by a room full of blue china.
We go back in history to find out who these characters are and the implications for the "now" of the story.
Purcell tells us less rather than more and sometimes the dots of the narrative refuse to join. Perhaps this is our unreliable narrator, drawn into the strange events despite her belief in medicine. Her life parallels that of her crippled mistress, also a believer in medicine.
Moody, dark, strange...the book is all these things. And knowing that china was created using real bone as well as clay, casts a new light on the title. 
The ending is sudden and perhaps inconsistent with the narrative but as the story is still swirling in my head it may be that Pucell's trail of breadcrumbs will take me to a new understanding. I will let it swirl for a whole more.

I have a love of Victorian gothic tales, all information on their attraction to spirituality, the supernatural and ghosts have always fascinated me.

Purcell’s Bone China is certainly atmospheric and ghostly and the way the story is told – via two tales set forty years apart, sets the tone for strange behaviour and spine tingling moments.

I highly recommend this book and will now be looking to read other Purcell books.

Creepy and atmospheric but ultimately, unforgettable. Good choice to while a way a stormy evening (if you can ignore its weak protagonist and the confused plotting of its narrative), but not one destined to make any lasting impression, either on its readers or on the ghost story genre in general.

Hester Why is on the run from her last position as lady's maid in a well-to-do household in London, where her jealously led to tragedy.

She  has taken up a position at the remote Moroven House in Cornwall, as the nurse to a partially paralysed and almost completely mute old lady called Miss Pinecroft, where she hopes to escape her past.

But Moroven House has a sinister history. Forty years ago, after her family having been ravaged by consumption, Miss Pinecroft moved here with her father to undertake a revolutionary experiment to find a cure for the disease that had brought them so much grief.

Dr Pinecroft housed a group of consumptive former convicts in the cliffs under the house in the hope that the sea air would relieve their suffering and bring about a cure. But his experiment did not end well and only brought further tragedy to the lives of himself and his daughter.

What happened in those caves all those years ago and why is Miss Pinecroft obsessed with silently guarding the collection of china that is housed at Moroven House? What is she afraid of?

******************************************************

After thoroughly enjoying Laura Purcell's terrifying debut The Silent Companions, I couldn't wait to get started on her latest book, Bone China. And, dear reader, it did not disappoint!

The secretive Hester Why, on the run from her dodgy past, thinks she has successfully hidden herself away in a new position in the wilds of Cornwall. But it is not long before we realise that she may have actually jumped out of the frying pan into the fire, because things are not quite as they seem at Moroven House. There are whispers of strange beings in Hester's new home, namely fairies and pixies, that Hester is quick to dismiss as superstitious nonsense, but there is no denying that something is not quite right here - be it stemming from the supernatural, or by human design - and the house itself is extremely creepy and filled with rather odd residents.

As Hester begins to wonder whether she has made the right decision in taking up the position as Moroven House, we are suddenly whisked back 40 years to the circumstances surrounding the experiment of Dr Pinecroft and his daughter - and from then on, the story moves back and forth between Hester's tale and the doomed experiment from the past.

This is wonderful stuff - atmospheric, chilling, tense and exciting - and we are never quite sure how much is real or the work of imagination. The remote setting, on the edge of the cliffs, and in the dark damp caves below, is terrifyingly perfect. No spoilers from me, but Bone China is every bit as scary as The Silent Companions, and it kept me completely spellbound from the first page to the very last.

As a side note, I have also listened to the audio versions of both The Silent Companions and Bone China, and they are fabulous too.

Laura Purcell is quickly becoming my go to author for terrifying historical fiction and I can't wait to make a start on her second book, The Corset, which I hope will tide me over until her new novel The Shape of Darkness is published in January next year!

Fascinating read, enthralling and unnerving, allowing the reader to take those parts into their own imagination. The journey of the main character was intriguing was she destined to end up where she was to finally resolve the past history. I loved going into the past to find out more about the mistress and how she became as she was and what was haunting her. Very enjoyable read! I do love this authors style of writing, keeping the reader gripped right up to the end.

A very complex book.

There is so much going on in this that I actually had to keep putting the book aside to give myself time to process - and this just isn't something that I ever do. 

On the whole, I really did enjoy reading this.  The research that must have gone into the writing is just mind-blowing but I just feel that the conclusion was lacking something.   A real shame as I had enjoyed reading this so much.

A cracker of a gothic-style novel, filled with mystery, the supernatural and streaks of madness. The story of maid Hester Why and that of her mistress 40 years ago in the spooky clifftop house in Cornwall  is written in a hugely compelling way with characters who are richly drawn. The atmosphere is genuinely chilling and certainly had me jumping at noises.