The Rattled Bones
-
-
5.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
“The feminist ghost story you’ve been waiting for.” —Bustle
Unearthing years of buried secrets, Rilla Brae is haunted by ghostly visions tied to the tainted history of a mysterious island in this “electrifying, taut tale of the sea, grief, and memory” (Kathleen Glasgow) from the author of The Girl Who Fell.
Maine-bred, independent Rilla Brae is no stranger to the deep. She knows the rhythms of hard work and harder seas. But when she experiences the sudden death of her father, the veil between the living and the dead blurs and she begins to be haunted by a girl on a nearby, uninhabited island. The girl floats a song over the waves, and it is as beautiful as it is terrifying. Familiar and distant.
Then Rilla meets Sam, a University of Southern Maine archeology student tasked with excavating the very island where the ghostly girl has appeared. Sam sifts the earth looking for the cultural remains of an island people who were forcibly evicted by the state nearly a hundred years ago. Sam tells Rilla the island has a history no locals talk about—if they know about it at all—due to the shame the events brought to the working waterfront community. All Rilla knows for sure is that the island has always been there—an eerie presence anchored in the stormy sea. Now Sam’s work and the ghostly girl’s song lure Rilla to the island’s shores.
As Rilla helps Sam to unearth the island’s many secrets, Rilla’s visions grow—until the two discover a tragedy kept silent for years. And it’s a tragedy that has everything to do with Rilla’s past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rilla Brae lives with her grandmother in a remote fishing village in Maine. Her father, a lobsterman, recently died, and her mother has long been confined to a psychiatric institution following a suicide attempt. As Rilla tries to sustain the family's lobster business, she meets Sam, a university student studying the mysterious history of nearby Malaga Island, including residents who were buried there in mass graves. When Rilla starts to hallucinate about Malaga's former inhabitants, she worries that she may have inherited her mother's mental illness, but she agrees to help Sam with his project. Parker (The Girl Who Fell) languidly explores the depths of Rilla's loss while giving her a tether in her relationship with Sam. Rilla's determination to unearth the injustices of Malaga and sustain her father's business anchor her, even as her hallucinations grow more frightening. Parker's vivid descriptions of life on Maine's coast and the lobstering business ground a haunting and atmospheric tale about the sea and reckoning with a community's past. Ages 14 up.
Customer Reviews
A spooky coastal read!!!
Ghosts and a deserted island and a girl raised on the ocean… this book is everything I love! EVERYTHING!!!!
S.M. Parker has either spent her entire life on a fishing boat off the coast of Maine, or she was a fisherman in a past life, because her lyrical prose had me firmly settled in this spooky coastal town. I felt like I was with Rilla each time she set out on her boat, navigating buoys and low lying fog, hauling up lobster traps and feeling the sea spray on her face. The author is masterful at crafting a setting that seeps into your bones, so that you feel the damp air at the back of your neck and the whispers of ghosts from across the ocean With each page, I was carried away to the shores of Maine.
And if the setting of this book isn’t enough to draw you in, the story absolutely will. A mystery to unravel, a girl who haunts the island. And Rilla, a main character who is brave and fierce and is the kind of girl you can’t help but root for.
Only one warning: don’t read this book after dark, or if you do, make sure you keep all the lights on. This book haunts me even now, once I’ve finished reading, in all the best ways. It makes me long to explore spooky islands, dig up artifacts, and peruse old photos of people long gone.
Oh, and did I mention Sam! Yeah, Sam…… I adore him more than I can express.
Two thumbs WAY up. Five gigantic stars. A hundred high-fives. This is one of my favorites of 2017!!!! Do not miss S.M. Parker’s sophomore novel, she outdid herself with this one.