Hester Why, the narrator of Laura Purcell’s latest gothic novel Bone China, is a woman with secrets. We know that Hester Why is not her real name, but what is the reason for her new identity? Why is she fleeing to Cornwall from London, who is she hiding from and how did she come to be addicted to gin and laudanum? These are questions we ask ourselves in the very first chapter and they are answered eventually, but first we must follow Hester to Morvoren House, perched high on the Cornish cliffs, where she is taking up a new position as nurse to Miss Louise Pinecroft.
Hester quickly discovers that her job is not going to be easy and soon she is asking questions of her own. What is wrong with Miss Pinecroft, who barely moves, never speaks and spends her days sitting in a cold room surrounded by china cups and plates? Who is Rosewyn, the strange, child-like young woman described as Miss Pinecroft’s ward? Is there any truth behind the claims of the superstitious servant Creeda that Rosewyn needs to be protected from fairies who are trying to steal her away and replace her with a changeling?
Bone China moves between three different timelines; as well as following Hester at Morvoren House, we also go back to an earlier time in her life, when she was known as Esther Stevens, and learn what went wrong in her previous employment, leading to her decision to run away and start again. Finally, in a third narrative we meet Louise Pinecroft as she was forty years earlier, when she and her father first arrived at Morvoren House after losing the rest of their family to consumption.
Laura Purcell has become known for writing dark, creepy Victorian novels and Bone China does have a lot of classic Gothic elements, including a gloomy, imposing clifftop house, family secrets and hints of madness. Despite this, I didn’t think this was a particularly scary or chilling story and although the exploration of Cornish folklore added atmosphere, I never doubted that the fairies and changelings existed only in legends and in Creeda’s stories. How much more spine-tingling it would have been if I had found myself feeling convinced that they could be real after all!
What I did find very disturbing and unsettling was the storyline set in Louise Pinecroft’s younger days, describing the work of her father, a doctor, who is looking for a cure for consumption (tuberculosis), the disease which took the lives of his wife and his other children. With Louise’s help, Dr Pinecroft carries out a revolutionary experiment, taking a group of prisoners who are suffering from the illness and lodging them in a cave beneath the cliffs where he claims the salty sea air will be good for their health. This part of the book was based on historical fact – cave air really was suggested as a possible cure for consumption at one time – and it was horrifying to read about the barbaric treatment of sick people due not to cruelty but to ignorance of modern medical procedures and a lack of understanding.
There are lots of interesting ideas incorporated into Bone China, then, but in the end I felt that the three threads of the story didn’t come together as neatly as they should have done. I also found the pacing uneven; in the second half of the book, the sense of mystery and carefully building tension of the earlier chapters was replaced by a sudden race to reach the conclusion. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped to, but I’m planning to read Laura Purcell’s first novel, The Silent Companions, soon and will see if I get on better with that one.
She Reads Novels 
I’m sorry to hear that this book is disappointing. “Silent Companions” was terrifying, but I’ll be giving this one a pass.
Well, it’s possible that you would like it more than I did, but I did find it disappointing and certainly not terrifying.
I thought I had read a book by Laura Purcell, but when I look at what she has written, I guess not. It was set in Cornwall, too. Unfortunately, I can’t remember either the book’s title or the actual author’s name.
Oh, it’s annoying when that happens!
Yes, I can’t think of the name of the book or the author’s name, but I”m pretty sure it was someone named Laura.
Ah, I’m sorry to hear that. I first read Silent Companions and enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it. Then I read The Poison Thread and I loved it. I was a lot more invested in the characters and the different time periods tied together well. I had hoped that the author had found her stride and that Bone China would be more along the lines of The Poison Thread, but it sounds like that might not be the case.
Have you read any of this author’s historical fiction books? I haven’t yet, but they’re on my list, too.
I haven’t read the other two Laura Purcell books you mention (although I do have The Silent Companions on my shelf) so I don’t know how this one compares. Maybe you would enjoy it more than I did. I’ve never read her historical fiction books either but I think they sound interesting, especially as I don’t know much about the Georgian queens.
This book had so many awesome elements in it, it’s too bad they didn’t come together better.
It could have been a great book, so I was sorry I didn’t enjoy it more.
Your review reminds me of an Iris Murdoch novel, The Unicorn. Have you read it? It has all the gothic elements with that Murdoch twist.
I haven’t read The Unicorn, but I’ll have to consider it now that you’ve made it sound so intriguing!
I thought it was just me, I felt the same about this book. I put it down to my logical reasoned mind that would not see some of the things that were hinted at.
I have to confess, Silent Companions had the same effect, although well structured I think it could be me and my brain that can’t process the intended scary/mythical/chilling parts of the novels.
I often find that I’m not scared by books that are supposed to be terrifying, yet I am scared by ones that aren’t! I’ll be interested to see what I think of The Silent Companions when I get round to reading it.