My love is a grasping thing. A vine I cannot extricate myself from, pulling me down, down. It is dragging me all the way to Cornwall". "Anger has ever been a failing of mine. When it surges, it sings in my veins like a dram of gin. Any action seems possible, reasonable. It is only afterwards, when the fire fades, that I see the dark soot-stain of what I have done". Parts of this felt entirely rushed, like Purcell wanted to bring the plot up to speed, but by doing this, she missed out key developments, which would have been handy for the reader. My stomach churns along with the waters below. One of the few consolations I had cherished before this night was that I should behold the ocean at last. I had imagined it blue, serene. What seethes beneath me is dark, frighteningly powerful; a cauldron of demons”. I really enjoyed reading Laura Purcell’s book, “The Silent Companions,” therefore, I was quite excited to get my hands on a copy of this book.

Purcell paints a colorful portrait of her tale’s distant time and place and immerses the reader in an era when superstition was a tenacious thread in the social fabric that bound its people. Her tale of secret guilt and atoning for it through ancient customs will please fans of classic gothic melodrama.”— Publisher’s Weekly A Victorian tale replete with laudanum, tuberculosis and possibly fairies… a clever, creepy read.”— Sunday Express, Best New Thrillers Purcell introduces superstition and the folklore of fairie with the inevitable changeling myths. Cornish folklore is central to the story. Add a few doses of laudanum and gin, some odd goings on with china (possibly something to do with the title no doubt) with the bone part being a bit literal, lots of things going bump in the night and some gloomy corridors. There’s plenty of melodrama and odd goings on and atmosphere: A gothic tale set in a rambling house by the sea in which a maid cares for a mute old woman with a mysterious past, alongside her superstitious staff--from the author of The Silent Companions . The past actions of Louise Pinefield (the lady of the house that Hester cares for) are still having repercussions to this day, and as Hester discovers more about the house certain revelations will change her forever.

Success!

Bone China did not let me down. There was my much loved Cornwall which can indeed be a spooky place up on the moors and on the bleaker parts of the coast line. There was all the history of the time - the folklore, the strange to us medical practices, the china clay industry in earlier days. As with “The Silent Companions”, Purcell again creates a claustrophobic, eerie, dark, gothic atmosphere around Morvoren House. And again, just like the companions, the fairies feel like a malignant presence, always watching. At times I almost felt I was trapped alongside Hester in the cold, dank china room. With this book Purcell has proven that she is, or is well on her way to becoming, a master of this genre. This book is told in two alternating story-lines. One where Louise Pinecroft's family has died from consumption. Leaving her and her Physician father alone and grieving. In his grief Dr. Pinecraft believes that he knows a cure - he is going to conduct an experiment using prisoners who have consumption and show how the sea air can cure them. He is housing the prisoners in the caves underneath their new home. While he treats his patients, his daughter is becoming more uneasy as her maid talks of fairies and how they hunt the land.

The second part of the novel will reveal what Hester is running from and that Hester is not even her real name. This part of the novel gives the reader some insight into Hester’s character and reveals that she is an alcoholic. This affliction plays a wonderful role in the narrative placing doubt in the reader’s mind about everything Hester encounters later in the novel. I must say that I loved the character of Hester. A broken young woman, addicted to gin, stealing the laudanum from the supplies. Hester is flawed and far from your perfect cardboard heroine. When I see a book by Laura Purcell now I snap it up instantly. I also know what to expect - something Victorian, gothic, slightly creepy, containing lots of accurate historical fact, well written and very enjoyable. I think at this stage, we can say the only book I enjoyed from Purcell is The Silent Companions. The Corset was a miss being very crowded and having plot holes in it. Also, the use of same content now feels like a copy paste. The spooky house, the creepy staff, a furniture related to the story (in this case, the china). I personally don't want to read the same book that feels like it's built over a formulation. I would like to see some originality even if it's the same writer.

Forty years ago, Louise and her father, Dr Pinecroft, lost their entire family to consumption, leaving them the only survivors, weighed down by an unbearable grief. Dr Pinecroft becomes convinced that sea air is the key to a cure for the ravages of the disease. To prove his controversial ideas, he undertakes an experiment, acquiring some prisoners with the disease, with his daughter, Louise helping him to manage. He brings them to the house, has them taken down into the caves, looked after by carers. What happens there has consequences that echo down the years, and form the basis of local legends and myths. Hester is a woman with the love of gin and opium, it is rather difficult to discern just how far we can trust her through the blurring haze of unreliable experiences. The author excels in creating the psychological conditions where ambiguity runs throughout the narrative, is it the supernatural at work or is it madness? I have had Bone China on my list for some time, and considering how much I loved "The Silent Companions" I was hoping for something just as good. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the case.

Forty years later, Hester arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralyzed and mute Miss Pinecroft. Hester has fled to Cornwall to try to escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers her new home may be just as dangerous as her last. It's not a good sign when I'm hoping I can finally get through that last hour my kindle is showing me I have to go until it's finished. The book's beginning held great promise, so I was disappointed with the book's progression. There were a lot of really strange things going on with supposed fairies, bone china that sometimes changed pictures, sounds of drips and disembodied singing, that all added up to a lot of hogwash to me. My favorite part of the book was when Hester was first welcomed upon arrival into the warmest part of the house, the kitchen- fussed over and made to warm up with freshly baked bread and hot tea. I also loved hearing about how they made hot chocolate each morning for Miss Pinecroft. I guess you could say my favorite part of the book was in the kitchen! Although I was slightly disappointed with this offering, I will definitely look forward to reading her next one. A very interesting thing about this book is that it has three different timelines. The first is with Hester at Morvoren House. The second is of an earlier time in Hester’s life, when she was known as Esther Stevens. Here, we learn why, and what exactly she’s running away from. The third is from the youth of Louise Pinecroft, when she came to Morvoren House with her father, after the rest of her family had passed away due to consumption.Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft’s family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken. But Dr. Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the disease in the caves beneath his new Cornish home. While he devotes himself to his controversial medical trials, Louise finds herself increasingly discomfited by the strange tales her new maid tells of the fairies that hunt the land, searching for those they can steal away to their realm. Bone China is an eerie tale of obsession and redemption. It would appeal to readers who enjoy a psychological gothic mystery. This is a Victorian gothic tale that is complex and dark. It explores fairy legends and folk tales of Cornwall in a lot of detail and we also learn some historical facts about how consumption (Tuberculosis) was treated in those times. The book opens with Hester Why on her way to Morvoren House, In Cornwall, where she has acquired the position of a nurse, for Miss Louise Pinecroft. I didn’t love this one as her previous two books. Neither have come close to The Silent Companions - I loved that one.

Creeda, who is an unnerving young woman at the time is just as obsessed with fairy legends and folk tales in the past, as she is in the present and tells Louise all sorts of stories about fairies and changelings. This is a good book, if you like slow burning gothic horror. I love Author Laura Purcell she is one of my favorites. This particular book is not my favorite of hers. The book is true to Purcell, a slow burn into the story with a sudden end. I loved the first half of the book but the second half when a new characters past started up I was a bit confused. I also didn't understand some of the dark fae? I enjoyed the past story line more than the present. I found the characters in the past story line were more interesting and more fleshed out. I felt that there was something missing with Hester's character. I wanted to know a little bit more about her and her past before she was employed by her previous employer. We do get some info but I really felt as if her character was a little flat.With Louise’s help, Dr Pinecroft does experiments and tries to test his theories of treating consumption. He takes a group of prisoners, who are suffering from the illness, and places them in a cave beneath the cliffs, where he says the salty sea air will be good for their health. The details of Dr. Pinecroft’s research are based on real life cases from the Victorian era. The characters are well drawn out and detailed. The story is full of deep and vivid imagery. It is quite reminiscent of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, with the same gothic undertones. I enjoyed reading the two separate parts of Louise's life and trying to work out what had really happened in the past. Then came the totally surprising ending and I realised we will never really know. I usually hate endings that leave things unexplained - for some reason I do not mind when this author does it! What will she write next I wonder. I have read and loved The Silent Companions and The Corset, so I was really excited when I saw LP had a new book due out. Bone China continues LP’s reign as the new Queen of Gothic Fiction.