Deliciously creepy, riveting and full of heart with compelling characters and brilliant twists ... glitteringly dark and mesmerising' Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne and Elektra However, something far worse than Lilith’s tantrums and Mrs Dyer’s dangerous jealousies lurks in the theatre, whispering in the shadows. A dark force is draining the life out of the theatre and the leading lady. What is the mystery of the silver watch? And what is the price of greatness on the stage?

The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell | Waterstones The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell | Waterstones

Set in Victorian England we are introduced to the world of theatre and all the superstitions it holds. After her elder brother abandons them our protagonist Jenny is struggling to provide for her younger siblings. She is desperate and wants to create a better life for them all so when Mrs Dyer makes her a generous offer, Jenny finds it hard to say no. In desperate need of employment, Jenny takes up a job as a dresser at the Mercury Theatre. However, the post comes with strings attached, in that she must spy on the lead actress, Lilith. The latter is a true artiste, with a demanding nature, and a secret that threatens Jenny's employer. As events unfold, this becomes a story of superstition and revenge, with a range of startling deaths to match. Laura Purcell excels in the territory she has claimed as her own, the dark, disturbing and the tragic in this, with her chilling, atmospheric Victorian gothic storytelling with its elements of horror, with its blood and gore, as she slowly immerses the reader in the drama laden world of the characters that inhabit the Mercury Theatre in London's West End. The narrative is structured around 5 plays that echo the themes and issues of the characters, whilst simultaneously driving the storylines onwards. It soon becomes apparent that it is no accident that the plays include Dr Faustus and Macbeth. Jenny Wilcox is a desperate woman, drowning in a precarious situation exacerbated by her brother Greg, leaving her solely responsible for her family. So when she is made a job offer that she cannot refuse, she accepts, the pay is generous, there is a house and includes much needed essential medical treatment for a sibling, but will she live to regret her decision?Purcell’s prose is wonderfully precise, from the onset there is an easily immersive flow to Jenny’s first person narration, compelling us to learn more about her life and of those she meets along the way. However as the novel progresses the prose fittingly becomes lyrical, atmospheric and razor sharp when the more unsettling scenes play out. This is my first book by Purcell, but it’s safe to say it wont be my last. I’ve never quite felt as transported when reading historical gothic novels as I did with The Whispering Muse. Her atmospheric writing style wholly brings the theatre and the characters who inhabit it to life. Her use of the different parts of the book, each part focusing on a different play, was exceptionally done. Each part, and with it, each play seems to perfectly capture the atmosphere and feelings not only of the story but of the characters themselves, and the use of foreshadowing was just *chefs kiss.* I also enjoyed the mythological element. It was spooky without being outright fantasy, but had enough of the element to keep me on my toes, wondering whether the muse, Melpomene, was actually causing Liliths bizarre behaviours, or whether it was her obsession with needing to become a star so bright no one could ever forget her.

The Whispering Muse: The most spellbinding gothic novel of

People always said there was a fine line between genius and madness. Lilith had been walking it like a tightrope for too long. Perhaps I’d pushed her off the edge.” It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her. The year before, I had traveled to Greece to be at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games, in Athens, where Björk sang the song that she and I had written for the occasion. The lyrics had been inspired by the Greek myths, with their cycles of metamorphosis and their complicated interactions between man and the superior powers that surround him, and so I made a point during my stay to visit the ruins of the great Temple of Poseidon, at Sounion. There, I discovered that Poseidon had never left the dilapidated temple, that in fact he still lay, in his magnificent blueness, at the bottom of the cliffs that supported this structure that men had so long ago built in his honor. With the memory of that year’s Indonesian tsunami fresh in my mind, I knew that, although he was calm and beautiful on the day of my visit to his temple, Poseidon remained an uncontrollable, unpredictable force. He and his fellow gods from Mount Olympus had not forsaken us, even if we had forsaken them. The subplots in this story was just the icing on the cake - perfectly woven. I just devoured this one! The offer was too good to be true, but Jennifer had to take it to be able to provide a better life for her siblings.I'll be reviewing it soon, but the Companion also describes the set design, history of the show and the creation of the music, making it a perfect yet unintended and equally gothic companion to The Whispering Muse. A tremor shook Lilith's frame. Her eyes flew open, fixed and staring at the gallery. The audience looked over their shoulders. Did she see something we couldn't?”

The Whispering Muse, The most spellbinding gothic novel of The Whispering Muse, The most spellbinding gothic novel of

A tremor shook Lilith’s frame. Her eyes flew open, fixed and staring at the gallery. The audience looked over their shoulders. Did she see something we couldn’t?”Caeneus tells his tale over the course of the journey, often to the disgust of Haraldsson, who was not very much taken with it. The other passengers, however, very much enjoyed it, though Haraldsson did come round in the end, as it is he alone that hears the tale of the driftwood and Jason’s last days. The story focuses on just one part of the Argonauts’ adventures – their arrival at the Island of Lemnos. The men arrive, hoping, in particular, to get something to drink but when they enter the taverns on the shore, they find them deserted and barren. They soon find out that the island is inhabited only by women, the women claiming that the men had all left because they did not consider the women attractive enough. The speaking bow advised Jason to leave at once but he saw a huge advantage in having an island full of available women. However, the women emit an awful stench, apparently caused by Aphrodite, as punishment for driving their men away. (In the actual legend, the women of Lemnos had murdered their husbands. Aphrodite had caused the stench as the women had neglected their worship of her. The stench had persuaded the husbands to take concubines from a neighbouring island and, as a result, the women had killed their husbands. Therefore either Caeneus and/or the women who told him the story are unreliable narrators.) Caeneus continues with the story of the Argonauts’ stay on Lemnos which lasts ten months and involves Caeneus himself getting seriously injured and temporarily reverting to his original, female form. Sjón even throws in an Icelandic saga – the Völsunga saga– told by a poetess on the Island of Lemnos and which, as Caeneus states, is actually predicting the fate of Jason. The story-telling is interrupted only once – when Haraldsson persuades the captain to let him give his lecture on fish and how it made the Nordic race superior. The lecture does not go down well. Reading The Whispering Muse put me in mind of City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert but I suspect that's only because I haven't read too many novels set in a theatre. The books are set in different countries and eras - 1940s New York and Victorian London - however the leading lady there (Celia) was just as awful as Lilith. In fact, my favourite quote from City of Girls works perfectly for Jennifer and Lilith too! Unable to refuse and eternally grateful for the position of dresser to Lilith Erikson, Jennifer soon learns there's more to the situation. Mrs Dyer explains that her husband has been bewitched by the woman, and Jennifer is to keep a close eye on her. The reader is thrust straight into the social politics of the theatre, and additional meaning and nuance is communicated in the different plays the characters stage throughout this historical fiction masterpiece. Hardyment, Christina. "Review: The Corset by Laura Purcell". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 11 May 2023. I also loved the way the supernatural was presented as something that could be real, or could be an aspect of our characters losing their minds and losing the plot. There was nothing that definitively said "The supernatural elements are real" or "They're all just figments of their imagination" and that uncertainty was quite delicious.

The Whispering Muse | The Modern Novel Sjón: The Whispering Muse | The Modern Novel

That is how an alliance was made between the ancient hero Caeneus and the Icelandic seaman Hrafn Valdimarsson, how their voices, their fates, were joined to fight the intolerable drone of my great-grandfather. But even great men like those two need an amazing tool to help them to tell their tale: a talkative, rotten chip of wood that came from the great ship Argo itself. At the end of “The Whispering Muse,” the old man does indeed learn a lesson, but the cost to his rival storyteller is dear. When the principal actress, Lilith, is gifted a cursed timepiece once belonging to a famous actor who died a grisly death on stage, her performances seem to take on a new level of energy that leaves her in a state of deterioration as the season progresses. Jenny, who is no fan of Lilith, can’t help but begin to feel concern, that slowly gives way to dread, as more and more, it seems as though the timepiece is possessed of a power that reaches beyond Lilith’s grasp. The muse whispers into the ear of Caeneus, once an argonaut questing for the golden fleece, now second mate on a 1940s Danish merchant vessel schlepping paper pulp to Turkey. Each evening at dinnertime he tells tales of his 3,000-year-old experiences, prompted by the voice inside a rotten fragment of the Argo's hull, which he holds to his ear like a telephone receiver. Long-term fans of Sjón, the Icelandic bard whose projects have included lyrics for Björk, volumes of surrealist poetry and several prizewinning novels, will recognise this trademark interweaving of myth and postmodern playfulness. Once inside the theatre, Jenny discovers that this is going to be more than just a simple job of dressing and reporting activities to Mrs Dyer. Whilst Lilith is not the kindest of people Jenny soon finds herself ‘bewitched’ by her and wonders if she has fallen in too deep. As more and more tragedy befalls the theatre Jenny begins to question who the enemy really is and is the curse of Melpomene true? Ritchie, Gayle (7 November 2021). "Seances, shadows and secrets: Laura Purcell's latest gothic thriller oozes menace". The Courier . Retrieved 11 May 2023.The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell is by far her best yet. I’ve enjoyed her others, immensely, but this one has the aura of a classic about it. Set in Victorian London, it follows the goings on at the Mercury Theatre in London’s West End. Jenny has been given a job there, as dresser for the principal actress, yet right from the beginning, nothing is as it seems. When Jenny is offered the job of dressing the heroine of Mercury theatre by Mrs Dyer, the wife of the owner, she has every reason to be grateful. Jenny's brother Greg had a bad parting with The Mercury and Jenny is struggling to make ends meet and care for her three younger siblings. This opportunity is a god's gift, and so what if Mrs Dyer wants Jenny to spy on the leading lady Lilith? But as the story progresses, Jenny realises that she has bitten more than she can chew and is soon hanging between the two women, in turn liking and hating both these complicated characters. And then there's the muse and her curse which Jenny feels is destroying Lilith as well as The Mercury. But what can a lowly dressmaker do but watch them all burn?