Read January 2020.
1866: Newly widowed Elsie Bainbridge is sent to her late husband's crumbling family estate, The Bridge, to see out her pregnancy and escape the gossip that surrounds the brevity of their marriage and her wealthy spouse's untimely death.
When Elsie married handsome Rupert Bainbridge, she was looking forward to a life of comfort, well away from her late father's match factory and the bad memories it holds, but The Bridge proves to be somewhat of a shock. The house is decaying, the few servants employed there are resentful of their new mistress, and the local villagers are downright hostile. Her only company is her husband's impoverished cousin, Sarah, who she barely knows and she longs to be back in London with her beloved brother, Jolyon.
In an attempt to get over her grief, Elsie sets about trying to become mistress of the country estate that is now her home, and improvements certainly need to be made before her child is born. There is much work be done, including finding out what is making the eerie, nocturnal noise beyond the locked garret door - the door that the housekeeper seems reluctant to see opened.
One afternoon, Elsie and Sarah are exploring the rooms they have not yet seen, when they notice that the garret door is now unlocked - the housekeeper must have arranged for a locksmith to come to The Bridge after all. In the dark and dusty garret, they find some old journals and a very strange painted wooden figure of a young girl, that bears a strange resemblance to Elsie as a child - a silent companion - that Sarah takes an immediate liking to.
But the other residents of The Bridge are not so keen on the silent companion, in fact they are terrified. There is something not quite right about the figure and although Elsie puts this down to superstition at first, she soon begins to feel the same - especially when she notices the figure's eyes following her.
Soon, nearly everyone at The Bridge is in fear of the strange silent companion, and things only get worse as more figures start to appear around the house - figures that have materialised from nowhere, and seem to move of their own accord.
The history of The Bridge is bathed in blood and the story behind the companions slowly reveals itself as Sarah reads the journals that were found locked in the garret - the journals of Anne Bainbridge, who was the mistress of the house in 1635. Something very bad happened in this house all those years ago and the evil that lurks there will not rest until it has achieved its aim.
The residents of The Bridge are in terrible danger...
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The Silent Companions is a most unsettling ghost story that chilled me to the bone. I do not scare easily, but this book is the scariest I have experienced since Michelle Paver's terrifying Dark Matter - which is pretty damned scary, I can tell you!
At the beginning of the story, we find Elsie Bainbridge in an asylum, where she has been recovering from terrible burns that have disfigured her and robbed her of her voice. We know that something awful has happened during her time at The Bridge and the story is gradually revealed over the course of the book. Elsie begins to tell her tragic tale by writing an account of her life for the new, young doctor who has been given the task of discovering if she is guilty of causing the fire that has destroyed the house.
The story then follows three timelines - the present, when Elsie is a resident in the asylum; 1866, when Elsie first goes to The Bridge, after Rupert's mysterious death; and 1635, when Anne Bainbridge recounts the tragic events surrounding her own family, via her journals. Throughout, we also learn the history of Elsie's own childhood, with her abusive father and the uncaring mother who fell into madness, and find out why she loves her brother so much.
The story that unfolds is dark, terrifying and completely absorbing. This book evokes a visceral response, but not just from the elements of horror - there is something so claustrophobic and confined about the whole atmosphere of the time periods both Elsie and Anne inhabit, that combines wonderfully with the more sinister elements.
The narration by Katie Scarfe is excellent and she manages to convey the blind fear of these women beautifully. It was so spellbinding that I found myself just sitting and listening, rather than getting on with household tasks at the same time, as I normally would when listening to an audio book!
This is an impressive debut novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also have copies of Laura Purcell's follow up books The Corset and Bone China, and can't wait to read them too.
The narration by Katie Scarfe is excellent and she manages to convey the blind fear of these women beautifully. It was so spellbinding that I found myself just sitting and listening, rather than getting on with household tasks at the same time, as I normally would when listening to an audio book!
This is an impressive debut novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also have copies of Laura Purcell's follow up books The Corset and Bone China, and can't wait to read them too.
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