• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 June #1
  A dark, gothic story of two women's lives entangled at Oakgate Prison. Young Ruth Butterham is serving a sentence for murder. Wealthy heiress Dorothea Truelove visits inmates as part of her charity duties—with the hidden agenda of studying phrenology, the study of the skull to discern character and mental ability. The early Victorian-era mystery draws upon Dorothea's rebellion against society's expectations and Ruth's struggle with poverty and the possible power to kill with nothing but her talented sewing needle. Charged with killing her villainous employer and school bully, Ruth tells Dorothea of her extraordinary experiences as a dark cloud comes over the prison as well, while Dorothea works out complicated plans for a disagreeable marriage. Purcell alternates character narratives to question motives, reality, and truth on a "bumpy" ride full of violence and death. Both girls hang by a thread but neither can control the outcome. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Laura Purcell is the author of The Silent Companions. She worked in local government, the financial industry and a bookshop before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Colchester, the oldest recorded town in England, with her husband and pet guinea pigs. Fascinated by the darker side of royal history, Laura has also written two historical fiction novels about the Hanoverian dynasty.