The Shape of Darkness: 'A future gothic classic' Martyn Waites

Product Information

The writing has all the gothic creepiness that only Laura can summon, with characters as darkly ambiguous as the silhouettes themselves. Agnes make a silhouettes but with the rise of the photography her business is failing and when the people she captures in shadow begin to die she endeavours to find the cause be it earthly or otherwise.

Shade/Shadow – Free Exercise - Lingolia

Exciting, poignant and full of lovable quirky characters, this story is a firm favourite in our household. Agnes is long suffering in more ways than one, and readers can easily sympathise with her desire to seek out answers of her own when she fails to get them from the supercilious and dismissive men around her. The Shape of Darkness is Purcell's fourth novel, and I will state from the outset that it's the scariest yet! The plot is most engaging and intriguing, and the climax as unpredicatble as may be expected in a novel by Ms Purcell. We’re given the tantalising reference to an Accident, a period of pneumonia which has left Agnes and her health forever changed (something which, in these days of “long covid”, has a particularly dark resonance), and a sense of crumbling Gothic circumstance in the description of her home, which “cowers in the abbey’s shadow, its walls discoloured by time and soot… all day long [magpies] chitter and cackle, disturbing her work; mocking it, as others do, dismissing it as the vestiges of a bygone age.I really felt for both Agnes and Pearl but never saw the reveal when it came, the book was that well written it gave nothing away. The times of increased interest in mesmerism, spiritual seanses and the art of making silhuettes that is becoming less and less popular due to new techniques, namely, daguerreotype and photography. Scared and suspicious, and worried for her business, Agnes turns to a child medium named Pearl for help contacting the dead to try and solve the mystery. Nineteenth-century medium Elizabeth d’Esperance wrote in her memoir Shadow Land, “I feel very much like reminding [the ghost Anna] that she ought to be obliged to me, and take some notice of me sitting there, instead of sweeping past in so unceremonious a fashion. Each woman has her own story and struggles but the way Purcell presents these stories and then mashes them together in a slow burning read is addictive.

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell | Waterstones The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell | Waterstones

This makes the vampire exceedingly hard to stake as the position of their heart changes nightly, and can even allow the user to free themselves from paralysis. Her own family history is similarly grim, her father having died gruesomely in an accident at the family's matchstick factory. Agnes hopes that if Pearl can contact her deceased clients, they might be able to reveal who killed them and why.Both the women at the heart of the novel are concerned with creating something out of darkness, and they act knowingly or unknowingly to shape the form which that creation takes: Agnes, the silhouette cutter, and Pearl, the child spirit-medium. Faerie Fire is straightforward and easy to understand how I'll use: targets are lit up, can't possibly hide, and everyone gets advantage when attacking them. Taking place in the atmospheric setting of Victorian Bath we are introduced to the impoverished world of Agnes Darken, silhouette artist, and watch as she is drawn in to the world of mesmerism and spiritualism whilst attempting to uncover a mystery. Pearl and her sister make their living through mesmerism and holding seances, however nothing is quite as it seems in their household, and secrets emerge as the story moves forward. But by opening up a doorway to the other side, Agnes and Pearl find themselves further consumed by the death and heartache they’re both trying to rid themselves of.

Book Review: The Shape of Darkness reinforces Laura Purcell

She is recovering from an illness that has left her breathless and frail, trying to make ends meet from her profession which is losing out to the new fashion for daguerreotype photography.The Shape of Darkness is a triumphant foray into the world of Victorian spiritualism and deception, of women and girls doing what they can to survive. Recovering from illness, when two of her recent clients meet sudden violent deaths she fears she is being targetted. Overall, this is a compelling and enthralling read of high quality which I recommend to fans of the genre or who just like a really good mystery! Agnes Darken, a silhouette artist, is dismayed to discover that a serial murderer is picking off her clients one by one. Although Harry is an infamous sceptic, he is soon unsettled by the events that take place – along with the reader.

The Shape of Darkness | Laura Purcell | 9781526602541 - NetGalley The Shape of Darkness | Laura Purcell | 9781526602541 - NetGalley

Whereas it’s impossible not to feel for poor little Pearl and wanting to know what would happen to her kept me turning the pages. This book is everything that you would expect from Laura Purcell, the gothic and shadowy setting in Bath, a chilling plot, unnerving characters with secrets, and a creeping sense of dread.The vampire can only change into one type of animal (usually a wolf, sometimes a large feline or a giant snake), usually one associated with their clan or the type of prey they most commonly feed on.