In the later timeline, Louise Pinecroft is in her sixties, mostly mute and suffered from a stroke.

The remote setting added greatly to the feeling of pervading unease. In the earlier timeline, Miss Louise Pinecroft was surrounded by an obsessed father, terminally ill convicts, and unsettling domestic staff. Set on a Cornish cliffside, the book was atmospheric and foreboding. “ The House of Whispers” aka “ Bone China” was told via dual timelines forty years apart. I’ve reached the stage where I will automatically pick up her newest works as I know to expect gothic, creepy, well-researched historical fiction that holds my interest throughout. “ The House of Whispers” is my third read from the talented Laura Purcell. “She knew all too well that when all you saw for hours was sickness and death, your musings could take the strangest turns.” He takes five criminals from Bodmin Prison and houses them in a cave on the beach below Morvoren House. He believes he can cure tuberculosis (then called phthisis) by housing patients near the sea believing that the fresh sea air has healing properties. Having lost his wife and two children to the dreaded disease, he is determined to find a cure. Forty years earlier, twenty-year-old Louise Pinecroft has recently moved to Morvoren House with her father, a physician.

Cornish superstitions are rife among the house’s residents. The staff are peculiar and there are several mysterious features of the house which cause Hester to question her own mind. Morvoren House is plagued with a foreboding sense of unease. Hester herself is quite addicted to gin and pines for a drink daily which compounds her predicament. She aims to become indispensable to Miss Pinecroft, though her plan is thwarted as Miss Pinecroft is acting unreasonably, and does not take Hester’s advice. She left her previous position under a dark cloud, so wants to start afresh. She is using an assumed name to take up a new post there as nurse to Miss Louise Pinecroft, the mistress of Morvoren. Thirty-two year old Hester Way arrives in a memorable fashion to Morvoren House in Cornwall.

Bone China by Laura Purcell