A number of elements that seem to be important, like the lock that counts the number of times it is opened but keeps jumping forward and back or the bone china itself, never quite resolve into anything substantial. The supernatural elements are kind of creepy but never become clear enough or threatening enough to become too frightening. But beyond the atmosphere it is often hard to get a bead on what Purcell is trying to achieve with this book. And while they are never seen, there is plenty of talk of pixies and the fae, and evidence of their activities. From the opening which has Esther, squeezed into a carriage that runs out of control, to her windswept journey along the coast to Morveren house, to the caves blow the house in which the consumption experiments took place, to the house itself with its room full of hand painted china. Much like The Silent Companions, Purcell revels in the gothic atmospherics. The three time periods (present, recent past andĭistant past) are explored as the story progresses, revealing more of Esther’sĬharacter but also an evil which may be haunting Morveren House. Years before, the Moroven House had been used as the base for experiments intoĬonsumptions (or pthisis) by Louise’s father, experiments on prisoners based in After Esther has settled and met all of the otherįairly unsettling and creepy characters in the house, Purcell goes back forty That she was working for in London, she also has developed a bit of a ginĪddiction along the way. Hester/Esther is trying to hide her identity after running from a wealthy family The wild Cornwall Coast to care for a woman called Louise Pinecroft. When the book opens Hester Why (a pseudonymįor Esther Stevens) is travelling to Morveren House, a large stately home on

Her latest book has all of the elements – a creepy old house on the Cornwall cliffs, a protagonist with a secret, superstitious staff and things that go bump in the night.

From her debut novel The Silent Companions, Laura Purcell set herself up as a writer of creepy, Victorian gothic.

Bone China by Laura Purcell