The House of Whispers: A gripping new contemporary psychological thriller with a chilling twist!

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Hester arrives at Morvoren House forty years later to work as a nurse for the ailing and partially paralyzed Miss Pinecraft. She comes with some baggage, so to speak. She is fleeing from a previous job and finds her new living situation strange but not as strange as the customs and bizarre behavior of others who live there. Something isn't quite right here, but what?

I really enjoyed reading Laura Purcell’s book, “The Silent Companions,” therefore, I was quite excited to get my hands on a copy of this book. A very interesting thing about this book is that it has three different timelines. The first is with Hester at Morvoren House. The second is of an earlier time in Hester’s life, when she was known as Esther Stevens. Here, we learn why, and what exactly she’s running away from. The third is from the youth of Louise Pinecroft, when she came to Morvoren House with her father, after the rest of her family had passed away due to consumption. I enjoyed reading the two separate parts of Louise's life and trying to work out what had really happened in the past. Then came the totally surprising ending and I realised we will never really know. I usually hate endings that leave things unexplained - for some reason I do not mind when this author does it! What will she write next I wonder. The characters are well drawn out and detailed. The story is full of deep and vivid imagery. It is quite reminiscent of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, with the same gothic undertones.Forty years ago, Louise and her father, Dr Pinecroft, lost their entire family to consumption, leaving them the only survivors, weighed down by an unbearable grief. Dr Pinecroft becomes convinced that sea air is the key to a cure for the ravages of the disease. To prove his controversial ideas, he undertakes an experiment, acquiring some prisoners with the disease, with his daughter, Louise helping him to manage. He brings them to the house, has them taken down into the caves, looked after by carers. What happens there has consequences that echo down the years, and form the basis of local legends and myths. Hester is a woman with the love of gin and opium, it is rather difficult to discern just how far we can trust her through the blurring haze of unreliable experiences. The author excels in creating the psychological conditions where ambiguity runs throughout the narrative, is it the supernatural at work or is it madness? The book opens with Hester Why on her way to Morvoren House, In Cornwall, where she has acquired the position of a nurse, for Miss Louise Pinecroft.

I jumped at the chance to read this because I loved the author's previous two offerings, The Silent Companions and The Poison Thread. Laura Purcell has become my "go to" author for gothic historical fiction. However, this book fell just a bit short for me compared to those previous two. It's not a good sign when I'm hoping I can finally get through that last hour my kindle is showing me I have to go until it's finished. The book's beginning held great promise, so I was disappointed with the book's progression. There were a lot of really strange things going on with supposed fairies, bone china that sometimes changed pictures, sounds of drips and disembodied singing, that all added up to a lot of hogwash to me. My favorite part of the book was when Hester was first welcomed upon arrival into the warmest part of the house, the kitchen- fussed over and made to warm up with freshly baked bread and hot tea. I also loved hearing about how they made hot chocolate each morning for Miss Pinecroft. I guess you could say my favorite part of the book was in the kitchen! Although I was slightly disappointed with this offering, I will definitely look forward to reading her next one. Hester Why arrived in Cornwall with a hope for a fresh beginning as the new live-in nurse. Running from her troubled past, little did she know Morvoren House held its own secret, festering into the household in the last 40 years. As she tried to help them with the truth, she must toe it delicately or risked shattering everything she believed in. Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft's family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken, but Dr Pinecroft is working on a ground breaking experiment, convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the same disease in the cliffs beneath his new Cornish home. I enjoyed the past story line more than the present. I found the characters in the past story line were more interesting and more fleshed out. I felt that there was something missing with Hester's character. I wanted to know a little bit more about her and her past before she was employed by her previous employer. We do get some info but I really felt as if her character was a little flat.I have had Bone China on my list for some time, and considering how much I loved "The Silent Companions" I was hoping for something just as good. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the case. Having loved The Silent Companions and The Corset by Laura Purcell I was excited to read Bone China as it was described as a A brilliantly atmospheric and chilling tale and seemed like my kind of book and while I enjoyed the story I found it a little confusing and had trouble connecting the threads within the story.

I didn’t love this one as her previous two books. Neither have come close to The Silent Companions - I loved that one. The story was similar to The Corset in that the main character considered herself responsible for the deaths which seemed to follow her. She was in fact a very unreliable narrator since she was mostly under the effects of either gin or laudanum but that just added to the overall sense of suspicion and confusion. My stomach churns along with the waters below. One of the few consolations I had cherished before this night was that I should behold the ocean at last. I had imagined it blue, serene. What seethes beneath me is dark, frighteningly powerful; a cauldron of demons”. A gothic tale set in a rambling house by the sea in which a maid cares for a mute old woman with a mysterious past, alongside her superstitious staff–from the author of The Silent Companions. I will agree that this book is atmospheric and Gothic but for me it missed the mark on bringing on the full "creepy" factor and the ending left me with more questions than answers. The two story-lines do come together but with a fizzle and not with the bang I was hoping for. For me this book felt a little disjointed and I would have liked the past and present story-lines to line up a little better than they did.A Victorian tale replete with laudanum, tuberculosis and possibly fairies… a clever, creepy read.”— Sunday Express, Best New Thrillers Hester Why has changed her name and moved to Cornwall to look after the ailing Ms Pinecroft. Ms Pinecroft barely speaks or moves, spending her days in a freezing cold room filled with china. I was still excited for Bone China because I love her spooky, gothic writing style. Also, the history and atmosphere she contains in her books are amazing. I still find the historic and atmospheric quality of her books very strong. But, I just don't get along with her plots.

Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft’s family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken. But Dr. Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the disease in the caves beneath his new Cornish home. While he devotes himself to his controversial medical trials, Louise finds herself increasingly discomfited by the strange tales her new maid tells of the fairies that hunt the land, searching for those they can steal away to their realm.A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. Could not tell him that to my eyes, this was when she was truly beautiful; at the moment of fragility, when she required only me. Parts of this felt entirely rushed, like Purcell wanted to bring the plot up to speed, but by doing this, she missed out key developments, which would have been handy for the reader. I have read and loved The Silent Companions and The Corset, so I was really excited when I saw LP had a new book due out. Bone China continues LP’s reign as the new Queen of Gothic Fiction. Purcell introduces superstition and the folklore of fairie with the inevitable changeling myths. Cornish folklore is central to the story. Add a few doses of laudanum and gin, some odd goings on with china (possibly something to do with the title no doubt) with the bone part being a bit literal, lots of things going bump in the night and some gloomy corridors. There’s plenty of melodrama and odd goings on and atmosphere: