The Shape of Darkness

By Laura Purcell, Bloomsbury

Gripping gothic storytelling from polished Purcell (The Silent Companions), set in Victorian Bath, England, where the infirm flock to the Pump Room for cures. Agnes is mourning the disappearance of Navy sailor beau Montague – presumed drowned. She works as a silhouette artist, fashioning paper “shadows” of interesting passers-by or sitters at her shop, who pay her for the early form of photograph. She is skilled at her art – an exact replica of the shade a person casts, which must be honed and exaggerated so they recognise the profile as their own. When a man whose “shadow” she cut drowns, and another man dies after she traced his portrait on her physiognotrace machine, a desperate Agnes seeks help from 11-year-old spirit medium Pearl.