Book Review – The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
First published, 2017
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Now, I love a gothic mystery. If there’s an asylum, I’ll read or watch until I can’t see straight. Throw in some supernatural stuff and I’ll be lost in it for days. I’ve found myself with a Netflix addiction largely because of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. I swear, it’s not just because of Victoria Pedretti.
And here’s the proof. The Silent Companions is amazing. I was hooked from the first page and read it in record time. I’ve taken a couple of days off just to sit with the story and, oh, but you’re in for a treat.
So, the story.
Elsie Bainbridge has always been practical. After the loss of their parents, Elsie has raised and doted on her brother Jolyon, and consolidated investment in their match factory by marrying Rupert Bainbridge. Rupert, being a decent enough sort holds some responsibility for his really quite irritating cousin, Sarah. So, Rupert, being a decent enough sort, drops down dead, leaving Elsie, newly married, pregnant, and widowed, with lots of time to spend with Sarah in Rupert’s country estate, which neither has seen before.
It’s not in great shape. The house comes with a small staff but, having had no Bainbridges to take care of for some years, none are exactly equipped to see to the needs of a lady. They don’t know to take dinner trays away. They don’t really deal with buttons and bustles as a matter of course. Some of them are lacking in manners and etiquette. The staff has, up to this point, done enough just keeping the building upright. But the fact remains, without her husband, and in a village that distrusts the family, Elsie is pretty much on her own. She has Sarah, but since all the Bainbridge estate has passed directly to the new widow, the cousin/hanger-on has yet to prove herself a blessing.
With little else to do, Elsie and Sarah explore their new surroundings, and they happen upon a sort of painted, wooden cutout of a person, with eyes that seem to follow one around the room. It is termed a ‘silent companion’, and there are others. Other secrets in the attic space. Other figures. Other words. A diary in two parts. A story of a mute girl and a visit from the King. There is an explanation for the vilagers’ hatred. But with a whole pile of corpses and Elsie in a hospital, when the truth becomes clear, will anyone be free to hear it?
A dark delight. For me, The Silent Companions brought to mind The Woman In Black, with a smidge of Fingersmith. I’m just waiting for the BBC to turn this into a series. It is begging to be filmed. I’ll accept a name check in the closing credits, thank you.
Petrina Binney - Author 