October Book List Theme- Horror by Female Authors: The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell10/26/2018 Never has wood been so terrifying.
The plot of this Victorian Gothic horror revolves around pregnant widow Elsie, who has moved to her late husband's estate in the country. The local village is a mess and right away the house proves very disturbing. Rumors that a witch who was part of the family was killed there after she murdered several of her staff run rampant. Elsie plans on cleaning up the house and moving on with her life, but when she finds some painted wooden figures in a locked room, things go from vaguely unsettling to full blown horrific. The wooden figures, which are very lifelike and rather large, seem to move at their own will. And they also multiply. What builds is a revelation about the supposed witch of the manor and her family, and it turns out Elsie is hiding some secrets of her own. Somehow Purcell manages to make wood very scary. There are bizarre sawing sounds, wooden figures with a life of their own, murderous splinters, and doors and rooms that seem to operate under their own rules. Having haunted stand up figures (envision a modern day cut out of a TV character or celebrity and you can envision what these things look like) be the major threatening feature of your horror novel seems like a risk, but man does it pay off. There's the building sense of horror as you realize there's no way for Elsie to escape from this, and no one outside of the situation is going to believe her, especially when bodies start hitting the floor. Then there's the added twist of revelations about Elsie herself, which throw some interesting speculation into her character. All I can say about this novel is that it is bang up Gothic horror that doesn't just use the mood to be atmospheric, and the ending has real teeth as a horror novel. The building hysteria of the situation is pitch perfect, and the book starts out letting you know how badly this thing is going to end. The best gothic novel I've read in ages, The Silent Companions is terrifying in a way I never expected. On a side note, I bought those obviously cursed wooden figurines from Goodwill for that picture, and now have to live with my choices.
1 Comment
Lauren Brandon
10/29/2018 02:27:09 pm
It sounds like The Miniaturist. Dolls are always creepy. Dolls that bump in the night are in a whole new category.
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AuthorA librarian who likes to travel and experience life. CategoriesArchives
June 2022
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