Last year, a friend introduced me to the books of Laura Purcell. And when she offered to lend me ‘The Corset’ after having lent me ‘The Silent Companions’, I knew I had to take her up on the offer. I read this book in one weekend; I could not put it down. ‘The Corset’ is a fantastic piece of Gothic Literature and I just had to know where the story was going as soon as I started reading it.
I am not going to share any spoilers, other than that the book is about a corset which appears to have some kind of ‘power’ over those who wear it. And the young seamstress who made it believes she gave it that power. As with all good Gothic novels, there are dark characters, strange events and lots of twists and turns.
I found this book an interesting comment on the society of the Victorian era. That rich/poor divide that so many of us are aware of, and how those with wealth were often held in much higher esteem that those who did not have such luck. How this narrative could change the story for so many and create such a distrust between the rich and the poor. And anything that could not be explained was often suggested to be witchcraft or some kind of evil spirit at work. Especially when it appeared to be attributed to women.
However, I should return to the book. This is a fantastically constructed story, which moves between the past and the present as we find out what has brought Ruth to be imprisoned at 16 years old for murder. Trust me you will not be able to put it down as you have to know what has happened in this tragic tale.
This is a book that I will be recommending for a long time, and it is one of my top reads this year, just pipped to the post as my book for March, and you will have to return to read other reviews if you want to know what that was…