Laura Purcell – The Shape Of Darkness

‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell is a dark gothic tale that, I am ashamed to say, is the first book I have read by this author. A story that focuses on spiritualism and a silhouette portrait artist in Victorian England.

The book takes us to Bath in 1854, we are introduced to Agnes Darkin, a woman who is attempting to keep her mother, nephew and herself alive and well with her business drawing silhouette portraits. She discovers that one of the clients who sat for her was murdered after having their silhouette captured and it doesn’t stop there, it seems more and more are being killed and Agnes wants to know what’s going on.

Agnes is that determined she finds a child medium, Pearl, who lives with her elder half-sister and their father, who is suffering phossy jaw. Agnes goes with good intentions, hoping Pearl can co tact the children and they can find out who killed them. The only trouble is, it doesn’t work that way this time…

As I said this is my first Laura Purcell book and I was blown away! I now understand why I see this book everywhere, it is such a dark, twisty and eerie read. The research that has gone into this book is clear to see. The Bath that everyone pictures of the past, the beautiful buildings, the well-to-do strolling on the streets is not the same place as captured in this tale. This one is the world of the poor, the gritty, dirty, industrial world. The place where it is a fine line between breaking the law and staying out of the workhouse. Here is not the Bath anyone wants to be and it is an excellent atmospheric base for this deliciously dark tale. Every word is evoking the senses to smell, hear, see and even touch, the author’s intentions are that clear.

The characters are so vivid, Agnes for one, a woman who is not in good health herself and her work is waning, then the murders of her clients and the sense of danger for herself, causing her to go to the edge of desperation and seek out a medium. The biggest question is does Pearl REALLY have the gift of contacting the dead or not? Who or what could be haunting Agnes?
A story which is almost smoke and mirrors. I was kept guessing too. The questions kept forming as to what was real and what wasn’t? Who was genuine? Was anyone genuine for that matter? And who can be trusted?

I don’t think I can recall a book that had me in the dark for so long and when you think with certainty the author flips everything back again!
A book that won’t be forgotten easily and one I had the total pleasure of reading.

Thank you so much to Random Things Book Tours and Bloomsbury Books for the gift of the book to write my review of this stunning, dark and gothic tale today.