BONES by Pat Murphy is to Be Experienced, Not Read

[Untreed]

The rich world of Victorian England Bones comes alive for readers:

Bones easily made it onto my top five reading list of 2012. It’s a heart-warming, rib-tickling romp through a world I so desperately wish I could visit in person.

The full review is posted at Long and Short Reviews and a book excerpt can be found at Untreed Reads.

Bones by Pat Murphy:

The Irish Giant – that’s what Londoners called Charlie Bryne, an enormous country lad standing 8 feet tall in his bare feet. He made his fortune by exhibiting himself, but Bryne was far more than a human oddity. He had the magical power of healing, a deep connection to the natural magic of the earth, and the blood of Irish kings in his veins. In 1782, he came to London with a single goal — to bring the Irish home to the island they had left.

John Hunter was a man of science and insatiable curiosity — a surgeon, a natural philosopher, and a tireless collector of natural oddities. With analysis and dissection, Hunter strove to understand the natural world — and he wanted to add the bones of a giant to his collection.

This novella, winner of the 1990 World Fantasy Award, examines what happens when the quest for scientific knowledge meets ancient natural magic.