Book Review: The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell

“Be careful what you wish for… it may just come true.”

Set to be published on 2nd February, The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell is set at The Mercury Theatre in London’s West End, where rumours are circulating of a curse. It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and, desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in her nature. On stage, it’s as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders whether the rumours are true and fears that when the muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.

Book Review: The Haunting Season by Various Authors

“Curl up, light a candle, and fall under the spell of The Haunting Season..”

Published in 2020, The Haunting Season is a collection of short ghostly stories by Bridget Collins, Natasha Pulley, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Elizabeth Macneal, and Laura Purcell.

From a bustling Covent Garden Christmas market to the frosty moors of Yorkshire, from a country estate with a dreadful secret, to a London mansion where a beautiful girl lies frozen in death, these are stories to make your hair stand on end, send shivers down your spine and to serve as your indispensable companion to the long nights of winter.

Audiobook Review: The Corset by Laura Purcell

“Mad or a murderer? Victim or villain?”

Published in 2018, The Corset by Laura Purcell follows Dorothea and Ruth. Prison visitor and prisoner. Powerful and powerless. Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young, poor and awaiting trial for murder.

When Dorothea’s charitable work leads her to Oakgate Prison, she is delighted with the chance to explore her fascination with phrenology and test her hypothesis that the shape of a person’s skull can cast a light on their darkest crimes. But when she meets teenage seamstress Ruth, she is faced with another theory: that it is possible to kill with a needle and thread. For Ruth attributes her crimes to a supernatural power inherent in her stitches.

Can Ruth be trusted? Is she mad, or a murderer?

Book Review: The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

“You could not explain fear; you could only feel it, roaring through the silence and striking your heart still.”

Originally published in 2017, The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell follows pregnant Elsie who believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But widowed just weeks after her wedding and with her new servants resentful, Elsie has only her late husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks…

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. 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…