Thankyou to NetGalley, Unbound, Unbound Digital and the author, Stephanie Bretherton, for the opportunity to read a copy of Bone Lines in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion
Well, this is a debut novel. With some authors, you can tell it is their first foray into fiction writing. They hone their talent over subsequent publications, and it is magical to watch them grow as a writer. The readers reap the rewards of their talent. Not with this book/author though..
Ms Bretherton has delivered an amazing novel from the outset. I could not read it fast enough. I loved how seamless she has written the timeline changes and the engaging characters. The premise of the storyline offers the reader so much and what was promised was delivered. I, for one, want more. If this is a debut novel, I cannot wait for her future novels.
Definitely well worth a read.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Initially when I requested this book, I thought the cover and the description were intriguing. I happened to read some of the reviews before actually diving in and it was a bit of a mixed bag. What I did notice, was that people who had an interest or a background in anthropology or archaeology generally really enjoyed this book while others that did not have a bit of a background, tended to not like it or not finish it. So my advice to any reader is to read this if you have an interest in the field since it is very heavy on information in that regard.

The book primarily focuses on the remains of a woman found in the ice. The hunt is on to analyze her DNA to determine what characteristics she displays in comparison to what is already known about Homo Sapiens. Dr. Eloise Kluft lands the project and she is assisted by an American scientist who also has an interest in the project. What follows is a dive into human genetics, religion, cults, lost love, and trying to find the keys to unlock some of the characteristics of our species.

Running parallel to Eloise's story, is the story of the woman in the ice herself and her long journey with her baby. Trying to survive after a volcanic eruption which wiped out her clan, she must migrate across Africa in order to survive.

I'm a bit of a geek this way and I enjoyed it. However, if you're interested in just the story aspect and not so much the information, I'd leave this one for later. It's heavy on the info, light on the story. Overall though, neat concept.

2.5★
“ As the alcohol went to work, they shifted from the depressing to the inspiring and spent the rest of the evening exploring themes from chaos and convergence to the possibility of a predictive pattern, and from the mathematics of morphogenesis to the seductive notion of a unifying scheme. New-found compatriots in the unbounded country of the mind, they indulged a shared infatuation for the magnificence of the genetic chronicle, from Precambrian bacteria through exponential speciation and on to Homo sapiens sapiens, emerging Venus-like from the tree of life. Eloise felt, at last, a stirring from her lengthy hibernation.”

Okay, enough. You get the idea. I’m sorry I didn’t find this flirtation in a pub stirring. This has been published by Unbound, a crowdfunded group which has produced the likes of The Wake, a novel that was longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. This author can write, but I think the book needs a good editor.

This is a single piece of fiction that tries to do too many things. Science, chick lit romance, philosophy, religion, politics, history, conservation, the environment, activism, mostly passed off in dialogue (awkwardly placed) or occasionally as a speech (boring), and then there’s even a bit of a thriller thrown in.

Eloise Kluft is a scientist in London, excited to be working with some very old bones discovered by a climber who fell into a crevasse in the ice and spotted a skull. He marked the spot before being hauled to the surface. So far so good.

Then we cross to a prehistoric young woman, “Sarah”, pregnant and alone somewhere cold. “The mating that created this crisis was tender but temporary and they had parted with little pain.” She’s following stories her grandmother told her of a better place, but nobody has gone with her. The fellow went north, the fool.

Cut back to Eloise in her lab, who switches from long “pro-splaining” (my word) to us ignorant amateurs all about DNA, what it is, what she knows about it, how it works, plus the XY chromosomes and what she’s trying to study. Pages of it. Interesting perhaps to someone in the field, and something I might read in New Scientist (one of my favourite magazines), but completely out of place here written as it is. Large chunks are included as dialogue in odd places.

There are a LOT of information dumps, some very odd. Eloise sits down and writes letters to Charles Darwin (THE Charles Darwin) to explain to him what she’s doing and what’s happening in the world today. Lots of philosophising and she needs a sounding board.

She also reminisces at odd times and at length about different lovers and tells us about her new lab partner from America as he enters the story.

“Geek chic, she thought, wasn’t that what they called it in the magazines? Those Clark Kent-ish spectacles, the unruly black fringe that he had neither the time nor the forethought to trim before it flopped into his eyes. Cheekbones as sharp as his elegantly forensic mind (Eloise had done her research, read his published papers), a slender build and a disarming, off-centre smile.”

He’s supposed to provide the romantic tension. Or is it her ex? Or her other ex? I was never quite sure, nor was Eloise, I think.

Back to Sarah, who has become not only a new mother but a big game hunter as well! (And this isn’t the biggest beast she supposedly pulls down, either.) She skins things, makes things, and is a one-woman tribe with baby.

“Leaving the new shelter a while to venture deeper into the valley she follows a trail of fresh scat to make a shamefully easy kill, and the foraging this way is more fruitful. She will feed long from this good fortune. Sinew from the young buck’s carcass will make a strong sling for when the infant grows heavier.”

She also meditates, “trances”, as she calls it, and at one point imagines herself somewhere a bit like where Eloise is. She remembers all the ways of her people and SHE starts lecturing us about what life is like, what she learned from her grandmother – almost like a prehistoric culture Death by PowerPoint presentation.

I probably should have gone ahead and not finished it, as I kept threatening to do.

Thanks to NetGalley and Unbound for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. #BoneLines #NetGalley

This book was sadly a DNF for me, I only reached 22%.

This book had such an interesting premise. We follow a geneticist Dr Eloise Kluft in the present day and a young woman in a time before history had written about, a time of cataclysmic natural change. Having just given birth she is trying to survive, to find shelter and food and trying to keep her baby alive. When remains are sent to Eloise in the present day these two women’s stories come together.

From that alone I was intrigued and it is clear that the authors writing style is beautifully descriptive and emotive. However there is something lost in translation with this story. The character Eloise really let this story down. The writing for this character is matter of fact, we just follow her day and interactions without a true sense of who she is. The flash between the woman trying to survive is understandably matter of fact. But the character is of more interest, reading about her time, the struggles and hearing her thoughts is jarring at times which brings a connection. Unfortunately it couldn’t carry the story and meant that it fell flat.

I decided to put the book down when I realised that unfortunately I wasn’t connecting with the characters. The intrigue in regards to the plot was lost as it wasn’t driven by the premise. Still I decided to give this book 2 stars as I really did like the writing style in parts.

The premise of this novel was interesting: two women, one ancient, one modern, whose stories come together when the modern woman is asked to study the bones of the ancient. The narrative moves back and forth between them, mostly parallel, as the author details the daily concerns and struggles both face. However, neither woman is very interesting, and their characters are flat and dull, which makes for some stultifying reading. In addition, the modern woman, who is primarily occupied by her sex life and potential partners, comes off as unprofessional and far more interested in the dynamics of her relationship with a co-worker and former lovers than anything else. While it's undoubtedly fascinating to her, for readers it's a lot of repetitive navel-gazing. The ancient woman gives birth alone, must fight and kill a bear, and searches for a sustainable life. Her trek is only mildly more interesting that that of the modern woman, and the writing about both is riddled with cliches and stereotyping. Finally, the author apparently felt the need to educate her readers, which she attempts to do through a series of incredibly asinine and pedantic letters the modern woman writes to Charles Dickens in a one-sided conversation.

I understand that Bone Lines is the first in a series and I am very much looking forward to the next one.
The dual narratives and time lines are done exceptionally well and flow seamlessly, Eloise is a geneticist and is studying the bones of "Sarah" who lived thousands of years ago. The two women have a lot in common, strength of character, determination and a natural curiosity. Eloise takes us on a journey through the ethical minefield of genetic research, Sarah sets out on an epic trek to find a safe haven after a massive catastrophe has made her home uninhabitable.
A fascinating and thought provoking read with exceptional characterisation, I was eager to finish the story but also I didn't want it to end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Stephanie Bretherton for a wonderful and engrossing read.

This is definitely a book of two parts, one set in the present day and one set very firmly in pre-historical times. The link between the two is a set of bones, those of the historical character, being examined by the modern character.

Dr Eloise Kluft has managed to acquire the right to conduct research on the bones and DNA of the remains. There is ongoing competition for access to the bones and also opposition for all the work that is being done on genes in general. I kept getting the impression that something was going to happen, but as I don't want to put any spoiler into my review, I won't give any more information on that.

There were areas where the modern character droned on a bit, I got used to it after a while and did manage to read my way through it all. My favourite bits were where the historical character is front and centre, thinking through her options and ensuring the survival of herself and her child. She is not afraid to take life by the scruff of the neck and wring it out, if it means that they will eat, be safe, move on.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I would like to see how the story of Eloise continues, more so on the exploration of the environment that the bones were discovered in, than her personal life though.

Time works in two ways in this exciting and vivid thriller. It’s smart writing, bring to mind Jean Auel and Michael Crichton — while carving out its own niche.

I freaking loved this book. Where it’s done well, I love dual narratives and timelines and Bretherton has definitely done it well. Telling the stories of Elouise – a modern day geneticist who is given ancient bones to study – and ‘Sarah’ – a woman living 74,000 years ago on the edge of survival, this intelligent, riveting book tackles the very depths of human nature from philosophy to history, to religion, gender and moral vigour. It’s a stunning debut and a thoroughly compelling narrative. Highly recommend.

This is planned as the first in a series called The Children of Sarah, and it absolutely can be read as a standalone book. It fits into quite a few categories when it comes to genre. It is historical fiction, and yet it is also evolutionary, philosophical and features genetics, migration and climate change.

On a side note, I would just like to say that although I enjoyed the way the author goes from past to present with the living Sarah in the past and the bones of Sarah with Eloise in the present, I think the story of Sarah in the past is compelling and strong enough to succeed alone without the storyline of Eloise.

I felt myself drawn more towards Sarah, perhaps because of her determination and strength, despite the fact the two women share those traits, Sarah’s battle was the element of the story that drew me in completely.

We follow the journey of a young woman many thousands of years ago, a woman who possesses gifts of an intuitive nature, passed down from her ancestors. She separates from her tribe and sets out on her own path of migration, because her instincts are telling her that survival lies elsewhere. Her journey, which may be recognisable to some, as she encounters different terrains, wildlife and natural resources, takes place over a few years.

It’s a fascinating read from the perspective of migration, especially when you take into consideration which tribes we are linked to and everywhere they have melded into the story of our evolutionary path. I also enjoyed reading about a possible predisposition of specific genetics, which are or were perhaps a more accurate determinant of survival, as opposed to survival of the fittest.

The focus is on evolution, migration and genetics, but the author does due diligence by including the religious theory of creationism, albeit to disprove and show how improbable it is. It is a physical, genetic and scientifically proven impossibility. Having faith and believing in a higher divinity to comfort yourself is one thing, disregarding factual evidence to support your comfort blanket is quite another. My thoughts, and not those of the writer by the way.

The author invites her readers to discover the journey of our ancestors. To reach far into the past and live through their struggles, determination and watch them influence our future. To take Sarah’s hand as she searches for sustenance, protects herself from the environment and the danger she is surrounded by, and to help her as she searches for the place she believes will make her feel safe.

Bretherton has clearly researched the topics in the story meticulously and presents them in layman’s terms. Combining facts with fiction to create an intriguing read, which is simultaneously also an educational experience. It’s a story that leaves you with food for thought, and those are my favourite kind of books.

I am genuinely looking forward to reading the next part in this series. It has a lot of potential, and has a Jean Auel feel to it, which is combined with the forensic obsession of a Kathy Reichs novel, but without a crime element to the story. It is a tale of survival, pain and the search for a place to establish roots. The story of our footprints in the sand, our scent in the wind and our genetic material morphing and mutating as it moves throughout the years.