Her first novel for Raven Books THE SILENT COMPANIONS won the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award 2018 and featured in both the Zoe Ball and Radio 2 Book Clubs. Other Gothic novels include THE CORSET (THE POISON THREAD in USA), BONE CHINA and THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS (2020) Deep down, I was every bit as sentimental and self-deceiving as Mrs Dyer herself. For I wanted her to be the kind benefactor from a story-book, my fairy godmother. I wanted my happy ending.” She is the author of the horror novels The Silent Companions and The Shape of Darkness and served as lead writer on the historical horror podcast series Roanoke Falls which was executive produced by John Carpenter and Sandy King. [1] Bibliography [ edit ]

The Whispering Muse by Sjón – review | Sjón | The Guardian

The offer was too good to be true, but Jennifer had to take it to be able to provide a better life for her siblings.Mrs Dyer wants to prepare Jenny for theatre life and Shakespeare productions in particular. She pays for her to see Dr. Faustus at a local theatre. The actor playing Faustus is well renowned for being the best. But the performance becomes marred with tragedy when the actor dies on stage in a grisly and gory fashion. A small timepiece seems to be connected and Jenny feels distraught at what she’s witnessed.

THE WHISPERING MUSE by Laura Purcell (BOOK REVIEW) THE WHISPERING MUSE by Laura Purcell (BOOK REVIEW)

Laura Purcell has done it again. An actress sells her soul for fame and success. Dripping in atmosphere, gloriously gothic' 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.As I watched her, washed in that red light, I almost believed that Melpomene was on her way. Every beat of the drum was a footstep.

The Whispering Muse – Laura Purcell The Whispering Muse – Laura Purcell

Jenny Wilcox is a character you immediately feel sympathy towards, she is desperate, selfless and therefore easily manipulated. Her life has clearly not been easy, abandoned by her father and left in debt by her brother, Jenny must provide for her younger siblings, one of whom has a disability. With very little choices in life for an unmarried woman, she makes do with whatever coin she can earn. It’s easy to see why she agrees to Mrs Dyer’s offer, even when her requests become increasingly immoral. Lilith, though more complexly flawed, brazen and more ambitious than Jenny, also comes across as desperate. The way Lilith clings to the idea of Melpomene and her promise of all her desires coming true, shows us that she is desperate too but not just for wealth. Lilith is lonely and is seeking love and adoration by any means necessary.

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Really creepy gothic horror finds its perfect setting in a Victorian theatre, full of superstition, ambition and dramatic exits! In Victorian London, Jenny is forced to take on a job at The Mercury Theatre, her brother’s erstwhile employer, to secure a better life for her siblings. Dressing new leading actress Lilith is the less challenging part of the bargain; she must also be the theatre owner’s wife’s spy. The threat and presence of Melpomene – well I didn’t know much about this but I did wait until after the novel to research it and wow, so much to learn and investigate. I feel Laura must have had some fun researching all of this. The subplots in this story was just the icing on the cake - perfectly woven. I just devoured this one!

Inspiration Information: “The Whispering Muse” | The New Yorker Inspiration Information: “The Whispering Muse” | The New Yorker

Jenny is struggling to get to get by and keep her family together after being disgraced from her last job and her older brother abandoning her to look after the rest of the family on her own. Her brother Greg stole the money meant for her brother’s operation and a woman’s ring and then fled to America. O’Donnell, Paraic (11 September 2019). "Bone China by Laura Purcell review – a homage to Du Maurier". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 11 May 2023. The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell is definitely a contender for book of the year. The plight of a young woman trying to make ends meet to care for her family. Their brother ran off with another man’s fiancée and stole from Jenny’s employer threatening to bring her record into disrepute. The story is told in Victorian London and let me tell you – I was right there. I imagined the cobbled streets, the smog, the costumes, the inequality. Laura Purcell has a way of transporting her readers into the heart of the tale with her strong narrative skills. A tremor shook Lilith's frame. Her eyes flew open, fixed and staring at the gallery. The audience looked over their shoulders. Did she see something we couldn't?” At first it is wordless, like crooning over a cradle, then it swells into a song. The singer is a woman.In desperate need of employment, Jenny takes up a job as a dresser at the Mercury Theatre. However, the post comes with strings attached, in that she must spy on the lead actress, Lilith. The latter is a true artiste, with a demanding nature, and a secret that threatens Jenny's employer. As events unfold, this becomes a story of superstition and revenge, with a range of startling deaths to match. Purcell’s prose is wonderfully precise, from the onset there is an easily immersive flow to Jenny’s first person narration, compelling us to learn more about her life and of those she meets along the way. However as the novel progresses the prose fittingly becomes lyrical, atmospheric and razor sharp when the more unsettling scenes play out. I know it's early days yet, but it's just possible that The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell has gone straight from being one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2023, to being one of my favourite reads of the entire year. I absolutely adored this! The muse whispers into the ear of Caeneus, once an argonaut questing for the golden fleece, now second mate on a 1940s Danish merchant vessel schlepping paper pulp to Turkey. Each evening at dinnertime he tells tales of his 3,000-year-old experiences, prompted by the voice inside a rotten fragment of the Argo's hull, which he holds to his ear like a telephone receiver. Long-term fans of Sjón, the Icelandic bard whose projects have included lyrics for Björk, volumes of surrealist poetry and several prizewinning novels, will recognise this trademark interweaving of myth and postmodern playfulness.