The Silent Companions is built upon gothic tropes that all of us recognize and are quite familiar with.

I had hoped The Silent Companions would be a similarly immersive, consuming reading experience but, though it had the elements of an atmospheric story, something fell flat. I was continually reminded of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield while reading The Silent Companions and couldn’t help but compare the sense of atmosphere in each story. The elements were there, but didn’t click for me. While Purcell’s writing was good, I wasn’t as immersed as I would’ve liked.

I wanted a story rich in atmosphere, but I felt that I couldn’t quite discern whether much of this novel’s atmosphere was based in effective writing or reliant on the typical elements of its gothic elements-that old, isolated manor in the country specifically-to do the heavy lifting. The setting alone and the classic gothic ghost story elements add a sense of isolation and suspense naturally and Purcell’s writing was generally evocative in its descriptions, but something felt thin about it. While The Silent Companions had an enjoyable gothic atmosphere, I found it a bit lacking. One of the most alluring and captivating elements of gothic fiction is the atmosphere it creates, spinning tales that are impossible to turn away from as the story’s suspense, tension, isolation, and foreboding seeps from the pages. The foundation of the story will be familiar to all fans of horror-be it novels or movies-but does it live up to the potential those familiar tropes offer or does it fall back on classic mainstays of the genre to anchor an otherwise unremarkable story? For me, the answer isn’t obvious. The story of a newly widowed woman arriving to her late husband’s manor in the English countryside only to find a strange house fallen into disrepair, the premise of The Silent Companions is as classic as a gothic novel gets. The residents of The Bridge are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition–that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her.Ī Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, this is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect–much like the silent companions themselves.Īs one of our choices for atmospheric autumnal reading, The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell was one of our most anticipated novels of the season. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure -a silent companion -that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband’s awkward cousin for company.

When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury.

The silent companions book