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The Whispering Muse: The most spellbinding gothic novel of the year, packed with passion and suspense

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Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence, by James Bamford (Twelve)* 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. As I began to research and consider the phrase ‘silent companions’, the themes of repression and censorship began to surface. Towards the end, Sjón gets fed up with maintaining a Pooteresque tone for Haraldsson, and the former fish inspector relates an eerily vivid account of Caeneus in bird form, scavenging for putrid meat near the decaying ruins of the Argo. It is here that the dehumanised mate meets "the most wretched of vagabonds: a bald, haggard, pinch-bellied, shrunken-limbed old man" who, Caeneus realises with a spasm of grief, is all that remains of the once-magnificent Jason. Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration

It's official: I'm now on a Laura Purcell binge. I fear I may even be coming a fan of Victorian gothic! I did not really warm to the characters - some of them are supposed to be vile - but even Jenny the protagonist felt a little one-dimensional and I couldn't really get on board with how she was used as a pawn throughout the novel. Divided in five parts, like the five acts of the plays of yore, the book makes use of five plays - Macbeth, The Duchess of Malfi, Anthony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, and Faust. Each of them cranks up the level of the tension in the story and the lives of the characters become more and more entangled with problems of both natural and supernatural origin. This is one of Purcell's novels where the supernatural is more present in the hints than it makes an actual appearance, but it is menacing all the same. I like how Purcell's books feature strong, complex and complicated female characters at a time when it was a man's world even more than it is today and how they fully manage to engage and capture the reader's imagination. She is also adept at world building, and the world of theatre comes alive in The Whispering Muse. Obsession plays a large role in this book, and is shown through multiple lenses. We have Mrs Dyer, obsessed with bringing down Lilith and determined to do whatever it takes to ensure that happens, and Lilith herself who is so incredibly obsessed with not only performing, but ensuring that she goes out and gives the performance of a lifetime every time she steps on the stage, but both of these characters share one, large obsession, which brings them only darkness and danger and death. Purcell shows just how encompassing obsession can be and how, once we loose focus on it, our world can come crashing down around us, making us a mere shell of who we were before. Purcell blends the magical with the mundane brilliantly, ensuring were never quite sure who is behind the tragic goings on at the theatre, and leaving it open enough for our imaginations to run wild. 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…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, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

O’Donnell, Paraic (11 September 2019). "Bone China by Laura Purcell review – a homage to Du Maurier". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 11 May 2023.

Away from the corsetry and curtsies of polite society, Camille finds herself surprisingly…free. She is also strangely drawn to Lucy, a pale, fragile girl who dreams of stars, but has never left the farm. Your forthcoming book, The Whispering Muse, publishes in February 2023. Can you tell us anything about it?

Jenny Wilcox is a character you immediately feel sympathy towards, she is desperate, selfless and therefore easily manipulated. Her life has clearly not been easy, abandoned by her father and left in debt by her brother, Jenny must provide for her younger siblings, one of whom has a disability. With very little choices in life for an unmarried woman, she makes do with whatever coin she can earn. It’s easy to see why she agrees to Mrs Dyer's offer, even when her requests become increasingly immoral. Lilith, though more complexly flawed, brazen and more ambitious than Jenny, also comes across as desperate. The way Lilith clings to the idea of Melpomene and her promise of all her desires coming true, shows us that she is desperate too but not just for wealth. Lilith is lonely and is seeking love and adoration by any means necessary.Kyriazis, Stefan (1 August 2014). "The dirty lives of Georgian women". Express.co.uk . Retrieved 11 May 2023.

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? At the Mercury Theatre in Londons glamorous West End, rumours are abound which all point to the impossible, curses that could never be anything more than simple hearsay and gossip. Unless….. The threat and presence of Melpomene – well I didn’t know much about this but I did wait until after the novel to research it and wow, so much to learn and investigate. I feel Laura must have had some fun researching all of this. I did feel like the aforementioned supernatural elements weren't explored enough, however. I had hoped to learn more about the origins of the "Muse", and how the watch and Eugene Grieves fit into all of it. This was explained to a certain extent but was only done so very briefly, and it would've made the story just slightly more satisfying.As events become increasingly more difficult to explain, Jenny starts to wonder that perhaps the rumours about Lilith might ring true, yet as both Jenny and Lilith shall learn no one can simply be given such a grand gift and to just walk away from the very thing that was so generous to part with it in the first place. The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell is definitely a contender for book of the year. The plight of a young woman trying to make ends meet to care for her family. Their brother ran off with another man’s fiancée and stole from Jenny’s employer threatening to bring her record into disrepute. The story is told in Victorian London and let me tell you – I was right there. I imagined the cobbled streets, the smog, the costumes, the inequality. Laura Purcell has a way of transporting her readers into the heart of the tale with her strong narrative skills.

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