The corset - ending and spoilers

[fatpatsthong]

Ok SPOILERS

I don't get the very end. So get the whole Billy/Nell thing. Get that her dad was trying to poison her and killed her mum.

Don't get why her dad had the package with the cap with the R on it. I presume she killed him etc but why did he have the cap? What did I miss?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

So glad I’m not the only one one who was left a little perplexed

[N0rdicStar]

I was a bit bemused too. Did her stitches have powers after all?🤷🏻‍♀️

Didn’t like the lack of answers re many characters and the flat characterisation of many main characters. Also didn’t like the torture scenes(not necessary imvho), thanks Laura Purcell.

Still devoured it in a day though.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I was a bit bemused too. Did her stitches have powers after all. Well, that’s how I understood it. He but that bemused me was how her DF came to have the package.

[N0rdicStar]

She put it outside his door. So if Ruth’s stitches could kill then was as guilty as the other two, or not.....

What a silly ending. No answers to anything.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

It was a silly ending. i thought parts of the book were badly written and suffered with poor editing, like the childbirth scene but I’d hoped the ending would be ok.

[JAPAB]

Just finished the audiobook and also puzzled by the ending. Dorothea left the package at Billy's house. So her dad went there for some reason and stole it?

Or maybe he had some suspicion about her and Billy just as it is hinted that he did with David, and followed her.

Well, I enjoyed it anyway despite that ending.

[Kayleigh2]

The ending really puzzled me too, but having read the last few pages again I think I’ve got it sorted.

Dorothea sets off to deliver the handkerchief. “The clock strikes eleven when I arrive, giddy, at his door...” On first read, you assume she’s gone to Billy’s house. But reading it again (already knowing the ending), it’s clear she hasn’t left the house at all - she’s left the handkerchief outside her father’s door.

[Kayleigh2]

Also found this explanation by the author on Goodreads:
"Note how Dorothea makes Ruth think about hanging while she is sewing her initial on the handkerchief. Then in the last chapter she explicitly does not leave the house ... She makes us think she has gone to Billy Rooker's, but in fact left the handkerchief outside her father's library door. So Ruth DID have the power all along ... and Dorothea has used it to get rid of the problem in her life, thereby confirming fate suggested the 'murderous' lumps she found in her own skull."

[Quackersandcheese3]

I’ve just finished it couple hours ago. Had to google an explanation for the ending.

[Cam2020]

She didn't go to Billy's house, she left the handkerchief Ruth embroidered for her father, confirming that Ruth does have a magical power and her reading of her own skull was, correct and she is a murderer.

[Cam2020]

I loved this book, including the twist in the tale at the end. I think you're so focused on what you think you know is happening, you almost miss what is, actually happening. I definitely had to re-read that paragraph.