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The Shape of Darkness

A Novel

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The Shape of Darkness

Written by: Laura Purcell
Narrated by: Ell Potter
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About this listen

Edgar Award Finalist

A struggling silhouette artist in Victorian Bath seeks out a renowned child spirit medium in order to speak to the dead—and to try and identify their killers—in this beguiling new tale from the queen of Gothic fiction, Laura Purcell

As the age of the photograph dawns in Victorian Bath, silhouette artist Agnes is struggling to keep her business afloat. Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another... Why is the killer seemingly targeting her business?

Desperately seeking an answer, Agnes approaches Pearl, a child spirit medium lodging in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father, hoping that if Pearl can make contact with those who died, they might reveal who killed them. But Agnes and Pearl quickly discover that instead they may have opened the door to something that they can never put back.

©2021 Laura Purcell (P)2021 Penguin Audio Fiction Ghosts Gothic Historical Fiction Scary Business
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What the critics say

Edgard Award Finalist - Best Paperback Novel

"Purcell is fast establishing herself as the doyenne of gothic mystery, and this positively oozes uncanny menace . Niftily plotted and deftly researched, it's one to read with the lights blazing and the door bolted." ― Mail on Sunday (London)

"There are ghosts, ghouls and ghastly goings on aplenty in the tale of Agnes Darken . There are some spine-chilling moments in this twisty tale, and fans of murder mystery and gothic fiction will love getting lost in Agnes and Pearl's spooky world."― Daily Mirror (London)

"A clever and well-researched novel with a good twist, and it shows the nightmare of life for single women of limited means in the 19th century." ― Literary Review (London)

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Profile Image for Aditi Sen

Victorian murders and ghosts

I have read all of Laura Purcell's books. She is one of my favourite authors. Her books usually have somewhat similar content, but that is not a negative thing at all. There is a serial killer on the loose in Bath. There are plenty of ghosts, seances and mesmerists. Everything works. I will highly recommend her earlier works as well.

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