Silent Companions

Laura Purcell is a former bookseller, she lives in Colchester with her husband and pet guinea pigs. Her second novel for Bloomsbury, gothic chiller The Corset, <\/i>was published in 2018.

laurapurcell.com
@spookypurcell<\/p>","

LAURA PURCELL'S SPINE-TINGLING HOUSE OF SPLINTERS<\/i> IS OUT NOW<\/b>

As featured on the Radio 2 Book Club<\/b>

Some doors are locked for a reason...<\/b>

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. 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...

‘[An] extraordinary, memorable and truly haunting book’ Jojo Moyes

‘[It] shone, for originality for the sheer quality of the writing, the characters and some masterly chills’ Peter James<\/b>

READERS LOVE THE SILENT COMPANIONS<\/i>:<\/b>
'Phenomenal' <\/b>
'Will stay with you long after you have finished reading'<\/b>
'Spooky, imaginative, original' <\/b>
'Couldn't put it down' <\/b>
'Truly creepy' <\/b>
'Deserves a place on every bookshelf' <\/b><\/p>","

Some doors are locked for a reason... <\/b>
Perfect for lovers of Susan Hill, Shirley Jackson and Bridget Collins<\/b><\/p>","Ghost stories are for Christmas. Some recent ones haven't quite got it right but t<\/b>his is terrific<\/b>. Perfect setting, great build-up, chilling. What more could you want ?<\/b>","Layering on the dark and creepy<\/b>, this intriguingly plotted<\/b> novel is the full-blown Gothic, maintaining throughout an unsettling claustrophobic atmosphere<\/b> mixed with some unusual historical detail","A deliciously creepy ghost story<\/b>","Laura Purcell has nailed it with a story that conjures up Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black<\/b><\/i>, Henry James’s The Turn Of The Screw<\/b><\/i> and a little bit of Rebecca<\/i> <\/b>by Daphne du Maurier","A perfect read for a winter night<\/b> … Intriguing, nuanced and genuinely eerie","A creepy, unsettling<\/b> tale that I had to finish reading in broad daylight<\/b>","A sinister slice of Victorian gothic<\/b>... creepy and page-turning","Really tense and unnerving<\/b>, it still won't let me go","A true page-turner..<\/b>.neatly crafted and compelling...with a spine-tingling revelation every few pages<\/b>","Irresistibly creepy, this romps along<\/b>, Purcell turning her screws with skill. It's what crumpets and dismal afternoons were made for<\/b>","Writing in the tradition of country house ghost stories, Laura Purcell has created a book that is unnerving and compelling <\/b>in equal measure. The Silent Companions<\/i> is an atmospheric gothic tale which chills the blood<\/b>","Not since The Little Stranger<\/i> has a book so entranced and haunted me<\/b>. Compelling, bewitching and beautifully written. Read it if you dare<\/b>","A superbly atmospheric<\/b>, tense novel full of creeping dread<\/b>. I could only read it during daylight hours!","A brilliant, unsettling debut. Don’t read just before bedtime!<\/b>","If The Silent Companions <\/i>lands on your night table, don't plan on leaving your bed anytime soon. Immersive, meticulous, and reminiscent of the masters of gothic fiction<\/b> – not only a compulsively readable ghost story<\/b>, but a skillful, loving ode to the entire genre<\/b>","Frighteningly<\/b> atmospheric<\/b>, genuinely haunting<\/b> and psychologically astute, the horror of The Silent Companions<\/i> lingers like truth in the darkest corners<\/b> of the human mind","This incredibly creepy ghost story plays out in the very best tradition<\/b> against a backdrop of a crumbling house … Superb<\/b>","Things begin to go bump in broad daylight as well as the night. Compulsively creepy<\/b>","Menacing <\/b>and unsettling","Compelling <\/b>and claustrophobic. The pages all but turn by themselves<\/b>","Magnificently creepy <\/b>… I really wished it were longer","

You may want to leave the light on once you put down this intensely spooky<\/b> Gothic chiller ... Irresistibly<\/b>
creepy<\/b><\/p>","

Some doors are locked for a reason... <\/b>
Perfect for lovers of Susan Hill, Shirley Jackson and Bridget Collins<\/b><\/p>"]