I was surprised that I wound up being even more impressed with The Poison Thread. I listened to this right after finishing The Silent Companions, which was a fantastic book and left me hungry for more gothic horror of this quality. This is my second Laura Purcell book, and I think I have a new author to add to my top 5 favorites. Can Ruth be trusted? Is she mad, or a murderer? For fans of Shirley Jackson, The Poison Thread is a spine-tingling, sinister listen about the evil that lurks behind the facade of innocence. The story Ruth has to tell of her deadly creations - of bitterness and betrayal, of death and dresses - will shake Dorothea's belief in rationality, and the power of redemption.

But when she meets one of the prisoners, the teenaged seamstress Ruth, she is faced with another strange idea: that it is possible to kill with a needle and thread - because Ruth attributes her crimes to a supernatural power inherent in her stitches. When Dorothea's charitable work brings her to Oakgate Prison, she is delighted by the chance to explore her fascination with phrenology and test her hypothesis that the shape of a person's skull can cast a light on their darkest crimes.

Ruth Butterham is young, poor, and awaiting trial for murder. ' (Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Deathless Girls )įrom the author of The Silent Companions, a thrilling Victorian gothic horror story about a young seamstress who claims her needle and thread have the power to killĭorothea Truelove is young, wealthy, and beautiful. 'A romping read with a deliciously dark conceit at its center. Satisfying.' ( The New York Times Book Review )

Laura purcell the poison thread