Who doesn’t like a Gothic Victorian novel? The Silent Companions is a perfect read for November, where days are getting shorter..

 

I’ve stumbled upon the book in Audible’s new section and immediately fell in love with the cover. Curiously read through the summary and did an impulse buy. I am glad I  bought it as I really liked this book and I think it will be widely known in future. I have a gut feeling that this book will be a classic. I loved it that much!

The story is mainly centred on Elsie, who is recently widowed and with child. Her husband Rupert dies unexpectedly and leaves her an eerie house and estate, connected with a village where everyone seems unhappy and cursed. Even animals! The late Rupert’s cousin, Sarah, is accompanying Elsie.

Elsie, a Londoner in a remote part of the country, struggling with the loss of her husband  puts out an effort to be the master of the house and servants, but discovers things behind a locked door in the house. In this room there is also a diary of a former lady of the house, Anne. The story goes back and forth between 1865/66 (Elsie) and 1600s(Anne)

I don’t want to say too much and spoil the book for you, but I must say I throughly enjoyed this book and literally took every opportunity to listen to Audible copy and read the paper copy at the same time.

The back cover mentions a resemblance of the book to Sarah Water’s ‘The Little Stranger’ however I don’t agree. The Little Stranger was more a psychological book where The Silent Companions is more on the horror / paranormal side. This book reminded me of The Miniaturist in many ways. There are mysterious figures, and lots of unknowns around those. There is a female protagonist away from her hometown, struggling to find her feet in a new setting. If Susan Hill wrote her own version of The Miniaturist, it would be like this!

I recommend reading this book if you like gothic, horror mysteries.

My understanding is that this book will be followed by another book called ‘The Corset’ which will be out in 2018! Excited to wait for it..

Some similar books if you liked this one: The Miniaturist, The Historian, The Woman in Black, The Woman in White, The Thirteenth Tale

This book has:

GoodReads: 4.1

Amazon: 4.4

Audible: 4.3

scores by the time this review is written.

My review: 5 (I loved it!)