To whoever recommended Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions
companions to me, I don’t know whether to thank you or glower at you. (Freya, that was you, wasn’t it?) I gobbled up The Silent Companions in one night, which seemed like a good idea at the time, because the idea of waiting another day to find out how it ended was just unthinkable.
If you also grew up on Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels’s more gothic Gothics, and the ghost stories of E.F. Benson and Edith Wharton, you must get this book. Then you can decide whether to thank or glower at me…. It’s pitch-perfect Victorian Gothic with an excellent twist ending.
Right now, rather in a similar vein, I’m reading Elly Griffith’s new stand alone, The Stranger Diaries
, which is a contemporary but also has strong Gothic overtones– and the legacy of a Victorian writer of ghost stories. I’d been saving it as a reward for good behavior (i.e. pages produced), but if I waited for good behavior, I’d never get to read it, so I’m treating myself anyway and really wishing I could just cordon off the afternoon to read it all in one gulp instead of waiting to read it in snippets at bedtime.
What have you been reading this week?
It took me over a week to finish my non-fiction book The Wizard and the Prophet, which was fascinating, but very long. I thought I was going to read something frothy, but Dear Mrs. Bird turned out to be so much more, loved it.
I’m revisiting all my Georgette Heyers. So good. I read The Stranger Diaries and loved it.
Love this! I revisit all my Georgette Heyers too.
The Masqueraders and The Reluctant Widow are annual re-reads 🙂
The Silent Companions is fabulous, isn’t it? Laura Purcell has a new book out, by the way, if you’re looking for more.
I’m (finally!) reading I Capture the Castle.
Finally reading Where The Crawdads Sing
Laura Purcell’s new book isn’t out stateside until June… and I agree, the twist at the end is what it’s all about! Finishing up Alison Goodman’s Dark Days series, it’s just so good, the final volume is in Bath and all Austen and demons, and I love it!
Read Pretty Face and Making Up, both by Lucy Parker, both laugh out loud funny (anyone who can fit in a reference to Nymphadora Tonks is A+ in my book)!
Just finished The Death of Mrs Westaway. Really good!