The Shape of Darkness

Name: The Shape of Darkness
Rating: 3.88 (8035 reviews)

by Laura Purcell

First published 2021

Amazon

3.9(8,035)

Bath, 1854. Silhouette artist Agnes Darken is struggling to support her family when clients whose portraits she has cut begin to die. Unable to find a rational connection between the deaths, Agnes turns to Pearl Meers, a celebrated child spirit medium whose performances appear to offer communication with the dead. Their investigation draws Agnes into a world where grief, commerce and belief are difficult to separate.

As further deaths tighten the pattern, both Agnes and Pearl become vulnerable to people who profit from spiritualism and to secrets within their own households. Purcell combines a murder mystery with the séance culture of mid-Victorian Britain, using silhouettes, mediumship and the desire to contact lost loved ones to explore how readily evidence can be shaped by hope, fear and manipulation.