Laura Purcell is a former bookseller living in Colchester, Essex with her husband and pet guinea pigs.

She began her career with two historical novels about the Hanoverian monarchs, Queen of Bedlam and Mistress of the Court before her break-out Gothic ghost story The Silent Companions.

The Silent Companions won the WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award in 2018 and was shortlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell. It was selected for both the Radio 2 Book Club and Zoe Ball's ITV Book Club.

Her other Gothic titles include The Corset, Bone China, The Whispering Muse and The Shape of Darkness, which won a Fingerprint Award for Historical Crime Book of the Year 2022. The Shape of Darkness was also shortlisted for both an Edgar Award and a Dead Good Readers' Award.

Laura's short stories have been published in a number of collections including the Sunday Times best-selling The Haunting Season and The Winter Spirits. She worked as lead writer on Roanoke Falls, a Realm podcast executive produced by John Carpenter and Sandy King Carpenter. It won a silver Signal Award for Best Scripted Fiction.

Laura's latest novel and YA debut Moonstone was published in May 2024 by HarperCollins' Magpie imprint.

Please note that in the USA Laura is published by Penguin Books, where The Corset is titled The Poison Thread and Bone China is called The House of Whispers.

Photo Credit: Jasmine-Leann Gaterell https://www.instagram.com/tobewanderlustcreative/