Old Bones by Helen Kitson

 

Old Bones by Helen Kitson.

Published 16th January 2021 by Louise Walters Books.

From the cover of the book:

Diana and her sister Antonia are house-sharing spinsters who have never got over their respective first loves. Diana owns a gift shop, but rarely works there. Antonia is unemployed, having lost her teaching job at an all girls’ school following a shocking outburst in the classroom after enduring years of torment. Diana is a regular at the local library, Antonia enjoys her “nice” magazines, and they treat themselves to coffee and cake once a week in the village café.

Naomi lives alone, haunted by the failure of her two marriages. She works in the library, doesn’t get on with her younger colleagues, and rarely cooks herself a proper meal. Secretly she longs for a Boden frock.

When a body is discovered in the local quarry, all three women’s lives are turned upside down. And when Diana’s old flame Gill turns up unexpectedly, tensions finally spill over and threaten to destroy the outwardly peaceful lives all three women have carefully constructed around themselves.

Helen takes us back to the fictional Shropshire village of Morevale in this, her brilliant second novel which exposes the fragilities and strengths of three remarkably unremarkable elderly women.

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Welcome to the Shropshire village of Morevale, a quiet, but growing little village, where nothing exciting seems to happen. Until, that is, a body is found in the local quarry. Gossip is rife about the possible identity of these remains, and the resulting hullabaloo causes ripples in the outwardly calm lives of three of the village's residents - staid librarian, Naomi, and the spinster sisters Diana and Antonia. What could this body possibly have to do with three such stalwarts of village life? Well, it seems that even the most respectable looking women can hide deep, dark secrets that they would prefer remain hidden...

The discovery of the human remains, and the unexpected arrival of Diana's old flame, Gillian, set in motion a series of events that bring matters to a head for all three of our women. It is soon clear that they have been living in the past for most of their lives, unable to break free of the legacy of the unfulfilled relationships with their first loves. The time has come for them to rake over the old bones of their own past deeds and misdeeds, and finally find a way to move on. 

This is a reflective kind of book, told in three separate accounts from each of our main characters, and it has an interesting narrative structure. Diana's side of the story is told with the immediacy and intensity of a first person account, which puts her right at the centre of the book, while Naomi and Antonia's accounts are both in the third person. I found this quite intriguing, since Naomi seems the obvious choice as the central character, given her storyline. However, it is actually Diana that links the threads together, and her developing friendship with Naomi plays nicely against her irritation with Antonia. It is Diana's head we need to be in for this tale to work, as it is through her that we see the truth, and we are right there beside her as it gradually dawns on her that the past might not have happened quite as she remembers it.

Coming to this book from a couple of fast-paced thrillers did make it difficult for me to get into the rhythm of this novel at first, but by the time I had got to about a quarter of the way in, I was so enmeshed with the relationships between the women and their past history that I was completely hooked. Even so, I could have easily dispensed with the new vicar who I found rather distracting and at odds with the compelling triad of the three women, there were some threads that I felt did not really reach a resolution, and I am not sure that I would describe these women as 'elderly'. Perhaps there was a little too much left unsaid for me too, which I found a tad frustrating, but I leave you to make up your own minds on that one.

There is a lot to recommend about this book, but my favourite thing is the wonderful timeless atmosphere of the story. I felt that these women could easily have lived at any time in the last hundred years and, with just a few minor tweaks, the tale would still have worked just as well. Their focus on the past, and the way their experiences have aged them, are themes that repeat throughout history, and Helen Kitson writes them so well here that their relationships would ring true against any time period. 

This is another enchanting and many layered read from the LWB stable, and I can highly recommend it to those who like their books on the quiet side, but with lots of deep emotion under the surface.

Old Bones is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer, or via the links below:

Louise Walters Books     Amazon UK     Foyles     Waterstones     Amazon US

Thank you to Helen Kitson and Louise Walters Books for sending e a copy of this book in return for an honest review and to Emma Welton of Damp Pebbles Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Helen lives in Worcester with her husband, two teenaged children and two rescue cats. Her first

poetry collection was nominated for the Forward Best First Collection Prize. She has published three
other poetry collections and her short fiction has appeared in magazines including Ambit, Feminist
Review and Stand. She holds a BA (Hons) in Humanities.
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Helen's debut novel The Last Words of Madeleine Anderson was published in March 2019. Her
second novel, Old Bones, was published on 16 January 2021.

Find out more about Helen on Twitter.