Book Review: Old Bones by Helen Kitson

It’s been another full on and scary start to the year!! And I haven’t had nearly enough time to immerse myself in the blanket of books I had planned for January. Reading time has been sparse, but oh so important and it has been an absolute pleasure to disappear into the pages of my gifted copy of Old Bones by Helen Kitson.

Published by the wonderful Louise Walters Books on 18th January, this is a story of lives, loves and long standing regrets.

Old Bones is set in the fictional Shropshire Village of Morevale, first introduced to us in Helen’s first novel The Last Words of Madeleine Anderson. It is the home to three women. Sisters and spinsters Diana and Antonia share a house and a life but seems to co-exist in a uncomfortable atmosphere of bitterness and regret. Diana owns a small, successful business, but is on the edge of it, rarely entering the shop. Antonia has fallen from grace, dismissed from her teaching job under a cloud.

Naomi lives alone, tormented by the failure of two marriages, working at the local library, lonely and unfulfilled.

Their lives have moved on almost without their consent and their hopes, passions and dreams are firmly trapped in the past, tied up with lost love and ambition. All three women are keeping secrets and all three women are haunted by what they feel is their own reality, but as the novel progresses we begin to question the accuracy of their memories. Have the women forgotten their own truths?

The lives of the women and the village are unsettled by a series of events. The discovery of a body in the local quarry, coupled with the reappearance of an old flame, threaten the exterior peace of the women’s lives and force them to confront old ghosts.

Helen Kitson has created a story that hangs on it’s characters. These are characters that are authentic, believable and crucially, brilliantly drawn. Here is a portrayal of three flawed women, all with regrets, all trapped in the past and clinging in their own ways to lost loves and opportunities. Each woman is struggling to live in the present, all unable to grasp their present opportunities.

These characters draw the reader in and keep us in an air of gentle suspense and recurring compassion. The discovery of the bones is clear catalyst for change, but also for reflection.

This story is carefully plotted; it’s characters provide both light and shade, raising questions about the path life takes us on and the opportunities we allow ourselves to take.

This book was a gentle and moving start to my January reading, for which I am extremely grateful.

Rachel x