Old Bones

Written by Helen Kitson

Narrated by Deryn Oliver

Diana and her sister Antonia are house-sharing spinsters who have never got over their respective first loves. Diana owns a gift shop, but rarely works there; and Antonia is unemployed, having lost her teaching job at an all girls' school following a shocking outburst in the classroom after enduring years of torment. Antonia enjoys her “nice” magazines, Diana is a regular at the local library, and they treat themselves to coffee and cake once a week in the village café.



Naomi lives alone, haunted by the failure of her two marriages. She works in the library, doesn't get on with her younger colleagues, and rarely cooks herself a proper meal. Secretly she longs for a Boden frock.



When a body is discovered in the local quarry, all three women's lives are turned upside down. And when Diana's old flame Gill turns up unexpectedly, tensions finally spill over and threaten to destroy the outwardly peaceful lives all three women have carefully constructed around themselves.



Helen Kitson takes us back to the Shropshire village of Morevale in this, her brilliant second novel which exposes the fragilities and strengths of four remarkably unremarkable older women.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Mar 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781004032082

Reviews for Old Bones

[Tamra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ahh, so many regrets...can there be any hope of healing? Redemption? Forgiveness given and received? Maybe. Just maybe.

The author and narrator have certainly worked some literary sorcery with this story of mundane, somewhat stunted women of a certain age. These ladies have a lifetime of petty (and not so petty) disappointments, unfortunate decisions, and secrets directing the various relationships in their lives, and listening to this story sometimes hit uncomfortably close to home, but I was always gently drawn along by the storyteller of the moment (one of the three main characters). I tisked, I shook my head at the childish way adults can act, and yes, damn it, I cried. For all of them, for all of us, for how lovely and terrible life can be. And for hope that never dies.

There you have it. This book was a surprise. I rarely write reviews, and yet wrote this as soon as I finished.