The whole book is told from two characters point of view Dorothea’s and Ruth’s.

I understand why, as Ruth might have spoken very little of this to block this memory out, but I wish Purcell would have written more in this section. I felt there were passages that could have been better, for example when Ruth was forced to cut off her friend’s hand, I felt that this was skipped over. This was the only time that Purcell did this well. When Ruth sewed up her mother, I really had to turn away from the book. I’ve read a lot of dark and gory passages in books but this was one of the rare occasions where I struggled to read what was written because it was so gory but brilliantly written. Was Dorothea’s father killed by Ruth’s powers, or by another villain? It really left that question open for the readers and I’m not sure what to think of this. However, with the death of Dorothea’s father, it really leaves a question as to what was real and not. It would have been clear that Ruth didn’t have any magical powers and was innocent in all her crimes. While this isn’t quite as creepy as The Silent Companions it is, in my opinion, just as good. Her evocative writing works it’s way under your skin and keeps you in a corset-like grasp until the last page.

The Corset Laura Purcell Raven, £12.99, pp416 Laura Purcell’s second novel revisits the gothic preoccupations of her first. If she ended the book with Ruth’s death then that would have been that. Laura Purcell has brought the Victorian era to life in The Corset. This book is a fitting testament to the sacrifices they made.

The corset by laura purcell