Reintroducing is our new blog series which shines a light on #TeamMushens books from years past! To kick off, we’re looking back at Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions…

Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge.

With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks.

For inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure - a Silent Companion - that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself...

The Silent Companions was published in 2017 and was Laura Purcell’s first Gothic novel. It was a Radio 2 Book Club pick, was selected for the Zoe Ball ITV Book Club and the winner of the Thumping Good Read Award.

The success of The Silent Companions established Laura Purcell as a standout voice in the historical fiction scene. Her other Gothic titles include The Corset, Bone China and her most recent novel The Shape of Darkness. Laura also contributed to the Sunday Times Bestselling anthology The Haunting Season, which was published in October 2021 and instantly charted upon publication.

“Those creepy wooden figures changed my life.

I went from being an author at a small press, waking up at 5.30am every day to write before work, to the privilege of writing full-time as a client of one of the UK’s most sought-after literary agents.

It was hard to process the sudden success of the book. One day I was in the office photocopying in my role as an assistant, then suddenly I was being asked to film for the Zoe Ball book club! Though much of it feels like a blur now, I remember the great day I spent with Juliet meeting the publishers who wanted to offer on the novel, being plied with cake and various Silent Companions-themed goodies.

My absolute highlight was the moment Susan Hill tweeted to say she loved the book. Her work was a major inspiration for the novel, The Woman in Black is my quintessential ghost story, and to see her quote on the front of my paperback still makes me pinch myself.” - Laura Purcell

Praise for The Silent Companions…

Ghost stories are for Christmas. Some recent ones haven't quite got it right but this is terrific. Perfect setting, great build-up, chilling. What more could you want ? ― Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black

Layering on the dark and creepy, this intriguingly plotted novel is the full-blown Gothic, maintaining throughout an unsettling claustrophobic atmosphere mixed with some unusual historical detail ― Daily Mail

A deliciously creepy ghost story ― Sunday Express

Laura Purcell has nailed it with a story that conjures up Susan Hill's The Woman In Black, Henry James's The Turn Of The Screw and a little bit of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ― Emerald Street

A perfect read for a winter night . Intriguing, nuanced and genuinely eerie ― Guardian

A creepy, unsettling tale that I had to finish reading in broad daylight ― Stylist, 'Must-Read Books'

A sinister slice of Victorian gothic... creepy and page-turning ― The Times

Really tense and unnerving, it still won't let me go ― Woman & Home

A true page-turner...neatly crafted and compelling...with a spine-tingling revelation every few pages ― Times Literary Supplement

Irresistibly creepy, this romps along, Purcell turning her screws with skill. It's what crumpets and dismal afternoons were made for ― Glamour