Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure-a silent companion-that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. But pregnant and widowed just weeks after their wedding, with her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her late husband’s awkward cousin for company.
When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. Laura Purcell's The Poison Thread is now out from Penguin! And then Purcell reminds you again, and you wonder if the author even likes the character she's created.“ extraordinary, memorable and truly haunting book.” - Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author Her dialogue of different characters, especially the servants though, does nothing to endear us to Elsie who's internal monologue at times is so ignorant that you forget she's from a working class background. Scarfe does a pretty good job at trying to get listeners to sympathise with otherwise very unsympathetic characters.
The monsters themselves were underwhelming, and at the end, I found myself rooting for them over the heroine. With the murder of innocent Romani characters left unpunished and as a loose end by the novel's conclusion. And rather than Purcell make a comment about the prejudices of the time, she seems to revel in them. Similarly, the vilification of the 'gypsies' along with the liberal use of the slur was surprising. For example, the main character, Elsie, despite being from a working class background, is so haughty and judgmental on every other female character in the text! Not only their actions but perhaps more unforgiving, their appearance too.
I was surprised to see that Purcell, a woman, wrote female characters who were either two-dimensional, or unfavorable. But what Purcell promises in her blurb is not seen in the text at all, except through glimpses of prose that does nothing to endear the reader to her protagonist. Heroine's battling darkness by themselves? Check. Oppressive atmosphere fueled by the weather? Check. The premise of the novel has everything you would want in a Gothic novel.
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