''The Bone Readers'' is a 2016 novel by Grenadan British author

Jacob Ross Jacob Ross (born 1956) is a Grenada-born poet, playwright, journalist, novelist and creative writing tutor, based in the UK since 1984. Life and career Jacob Ross was born in Hope Vale on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where he attended the G ...

, the second in his "Camaho Quartet." In 2017, it won the inaugural

Jhalak Prize The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner. The Jhalak Prize launched in 2016 and was created by writers Sunn ...

. In 2022, ''The Bone Readers'' was included on the "

Big Jubilee Read The Big Jubilee Read is a 2022 campaign to promote reading for pleasure and to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. A list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, 10 from each decade of Elizabeth II's reign, was selected by a panel of e ...

" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952, the first British monarch to ever celebrate one. In the United Kingdom, the ...

Plot

The novel is set on the island of Camaho, based on Ross's native

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

(

Kalinago The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language ...

: ''Camerhogne''). Michael "Digger" Digson testifies in a murder case and is recruited into a plainclothes homicide squad led by the mysterious Chilman, who is obsessed with the disappearance of a young man several years ago. Digger is also researching a

cold case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

: his mother's, who was murdered by police when he was a child.

Reception

''The Bone Readers'' was praised in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' by

Bernardine Evaristo Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel ''Girl, Woman, Other'', jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's ''The Testaments'', making her the first woman with Black ...

, who wrote: "Ross's characters are always powerfully delineated through brilliant visual descriptions, dialogue that trips off the tongue, and keenly observed behaviour. He excels at creating empathetic female characters. ��''The Bone Readers'' is a page-turner, but its insights and language are equally testament to a literary novel of impressive depth and acuity." It won the inaugural

in 2017, with judge

Musa Okwonga Musa Okwonga (born 11 October 1979) is a British author, podcaster, and musician. Early life and education Okwonga's parents, medical students, fled Uganda under Idi Amin's dictatorship and settled in the UK. He is the eldest of four children w ...

describing it as "by turns thrilling, visceral and meditative, and always cinematic", and Catherine Johnson saying that it "effortlessly draws together the past and the present, gender, politics and the legacy of colonialism in a top quality Caribbean set crime thriller". Co-founder of the prize and chair of judges Sunny Singh characterised the novel as "not only as an exemplar of the genre but for rising well above it". In 2022, ''The Bone Readers'' was included on the

, a list of 70 books by

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

authors produced to celebrate

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

Platinum Jubilee A platinum jubilee is a celebration held to mark an anniversary. Among monarchies, it usually refers to a 70th anniversary. The most recent monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bone Readers, The 2016 British novels Detective novels Novels set in Grenada Peepal Tree Press books