![]() ![]() ![]() Look up to an upstairs window, and you just might see one peering down. Turn your back on them, and they might just vanish. The trouble with the companions in this story was that they were never quite where they were supposed to be. Not exactly at the top of my decoration list, but I’m sure some of them had their charm. What are the silent companions? They’re wooden cutouts of people, which harken back to the 17th century. Each story is not only haunted by the otherworldly, but it’s also haunted by the people themselves. The last story actually propels the reader back to the time of Elsie’s ancestors, who had interesting and dark problems of their own. ![]() The other is about a terribly disfigured and mute Elsie in an asylum, who’s facing a hanging for unspecified crimes. One is about a young and intelligent Elsie who lives in the manor. The novel, it should be noted, skips around between three linked stories. ![]() Elsie moves into his crumbling estate, with its odd servants and creaky floors, and soon starts to notice that something isn’t quite right. The Silent Companions follows the troubled life of Elsie Bainbridge, a young and pregnant widow who has recently inherited her husband’s fortune, sprawling manor (called The Bridge), and interestingly, his cousin. Quite frankly, the scarier the better for this Hoarder. This was a novel that I was eager to read, as I’m an enormous fan of all things creepy and mysterious. Many thanks to Penguin Books for sending a copy of Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions. ![]()
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