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House of Splinters
the spine-tingling return to the world of The Silent Companions from the Queen of the Ghost Story
House of Splinters
the spine-tingling return to the world of The Silent Companions from the Queen of the Ghost Story
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Description
'An enormous treat . . . beautifully vivid, claustrophobic and macabre . . . a masterful page-turner' Bridget Collins, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Binding
'Laura Purcell really is a master of the unsettling ghost story' Jen Williams
Not every house is a home...
Belinda Bainbridge has spent her life in the shadow of her anxious mother, so when her father-in-law dies at The Bridge, his remote ancestral seat, she is secretly thrilled. His death means she, her husband Wilfred and their children can relocate and finally begin to create their own happy home together: born a merchant's daughter, she will now be lady of the manor.
But their new home quickly proves far from ideal. The garden is a wilderness, the estate is struggling financially, there are whispers about the mysterious death of a servant many years before while their young son, Freddie, seems unusually fixated on the strange wooden figures – so-called 'silent companions' – that were once owned by his ancestors.
When Wilfred's charismatic brother, Nathan, arrives unexpectedly from abroad, bringing a very different account of the family's past, Belinda begins to question what her husband has told her. What really lies behind the sad history of the house?
And are Belinda's children truly safe here?
The outstanding new haunted house story from Sunday Times bestseller and multi award winner, Laura Purcell, who is credited for reigniting readers' passion for classic gothic tales for a new audience.
Product details

Published | 09 Oct 2025 |
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Format | Ebook (PDF) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 368 |
ISBN | 9781526677020 |
Imprint | Raven Books |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Laura's books are always an enormous treat, and this one is no exception. It is so beautifully vivid, claustrophobic and macabre - and it balances the picturesque and the horrifying perfectly (the roses! the splinters! argh!). On one level it's a masterful page-turner, but on another it's a wonderful metaphor for buried secrets and injustice and the damage they wreak when they begin to reveal themselves... A real pleasure
Bridget Collins, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Silence Factory
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House of Splinters is everything you would expect from Laura Purcell's return to the world of The Silent Companions: spine-chilling and malevolent, with the eerie companions making up only a part of a mystery involving family grievances, inheritances and resentful locals. A twisty, sinister read
Rosie Andrews, author of Sunday Times bestseller, The Leviathan
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Laura Purcell's follow up to The Silent Companions is everything I wanted it to be. Return to The Bridge, with its eerie wooden Companions and sinister happenings around the old house… It's exactly the right blend of dusty glamour and mystery, and cosy-shiver scary: a guaranteed and exquisite chill even as the summer heats up! I inhaled this in two days!
Natasha Pulley, author of The Mars House and The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
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House of Splinters is that most delicious type of horror that makes you want to sleep with the lights on. Laura Purcell ratchets up the tension to an unbearable degree and there is no respite as the twists and turns come thick and fast. Highly recommended for when the nights draw in
Lianne Dillsworth
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House of Splinters by Laura Purcell is a triumphant return to the gothic world of The Silent Companions and completely gave me the shivers
Theresa Howes
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A return to The Bridge was always going to be enjoyable. House of Splinters did not disappoint. It is a deliciously twisty tale, full of Laura's signature spookiness. The companions themselves remain one of the scariest inventions in recent Gothic horror, and this book adds newly terrifying depth to them.
James Oswald