I’m pleased to be resharing my review of Bone Deep today along with a few thoughts about the audiobook version.
The story is told in alternating chapters by Mac, an author writing stories based on local folklore and Lucie her ‘Girl Friday’. Both characters were very intriguing. Lucie has been keeping secrets from her sister. Mac has her own secrets from the past she doesn’t want her only son Arthur, a baker, to find out.
The old mill, where Mac’s late husband was the miller, is a central character too and plays an important part in the lives of the characters, and of the local community past and present. There are echoes there of sisters who feature in Mac’s book but are they truly myth or perhaps reality? Their story seems to be an uncomfortable reflection of Lucie’s situation with her own sister.
This is a book I was keen to keep reading as I was curious to find out more. It is a captivating read with the characters’ emotions so well written, as well as that vivid setting. It becomes darker the further you are into the book. Bone Deep is a haunting, evocative story.
I have to confess to not quite having finished listening to the audiobook as yet but I am so enjoying the narration. It really has added to my enjoyment of the book. Often when you listen to an audiobook, there is one narrator and that of course is fine. Often these narrators do a fantastic job of using different voices for the different characters too and that’s great. In this audiobook though we have two different narrators and I think that works really well. With the story being told from the perspectives of Mac and Lucie, it really made sense to have two different narrators. Una McDade’s wiser voice brought dignity to somewhat surly Mac whereas Emma Hartley-Miller captured the vivacity of younger Lucie. Having looked up both these actresses, I can picture them both playing the parts of their respective characters were this ever to be made into a film or tv series. (Which would be an excellent idea in my opinion!). Both actresses give excellent, convincing performances in this audiobook, really bringing the story and the characters to life and I really recommend it.
My thanks to Kelly at Love Books Tours for inviting me to take part in the audiobook blogtour and providing a complimentary copy of the audiobook. Bone Deep is published by Polygon Books and the audio versions is available exclusively on Audible. You can order a copy here: Bone Deep
From the back of the book
What happens when you fall in love with the wrong person?
The consequences threaten to be far-reaching and potentially deadly. Bone Deep is a contemporary novel of sibling rivalry, love, betrayal and murder. It is a dual narrative, told in alternative chapters by Mac, a woman bent on keeping the secrets of the past from her only son, and the enigmatic Lucie, whose own past is something of a closed book. Their story is underpinned by the creaking presence of an abandoned water mill, and haunted by the local legend of two long-dead sisters, themselves rivals in love, and ready to point an accusing finger from the pages of history.
About the author
Sandra Ireland was born in England but lived for many years in Éire before returning home to Scotland in the 1990s. She is the author of Beneath the Skin, a psychological thriller, which was shortlisted for a Saltire Society First Novel Award in 2017. Her second novel, Bone Deep, a modern Gothic tale of sibling rivalry, inspired by an old border ballad, was published in the UK by Polygon last July, and will hit the shelves in the US, Germany and India this year. Her third novel The Unmaking of Ellie Rook is available now. She also writes poetry, often inspired by the seascapes of Scotland’s rugged east coast. Her poems have been widely published in anthologies, including New Writing Scotland, and Seagate III (Dundee). She won the Dorothy Dunbar Rose Bowl for Poetry, awarded by the Scottish Association of Writers, in 2017 and 2018. Sandra is Secretary of Angus Writers’ Circle and one third of the Chasing Time Team, which runs writing retreats in a gloriously gothic rural setting.
https://sandrairelandauthor.com
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