The Bones of the World

“An unflinching assessment of the ragged edge between good and evil, tolerance and intolerance, Ms. Ross’s debut novel offers a solution that can mend hearts and patch together lives that have been torn apart – faith. Three stories braid and ravel through the pages, mysteriously but ineluctably connected, until they finally come together in something very like the illumination. Throughout, suffering itself emerges as both the content and the conduit of the stories we must tell to make sense of it all. A deeply moving and memorable narrative journey across the landscape of loss and faith. – Lynn Stegner, author of Because a Fire Was in My Head

"The Bones of the World feels terrifyingly familiar in its portrait of a contemporary America riven by political resentments and prone as always to find someone—the same someones as always, alas—to blame and banish and purge. But despite its well-rendered settings of agony (the Holocaust, the Inquisition, a mother’s inconsolable grief for her son), Betsy Ross's novel succeeds in winning through to a hope that’s not beyond suffering but that is composed of suffering. By making anguish into story, the novel implies, those who are scapegoated and victimized may not only preserve bitter experience but transmute it into a kind of salvation. Vivid, moving, intricately structured—The Bones of the World is an excellent debut." – Michael Griffith

“A book about returning to the heart over and over and how to access the courage to return, Betsy Ross’ debut novel dives head-first into the darkest regions of human suffering and breathes life into every part of us we thought we may have lost. The Bones of the World offers us a choice—we can either let grief calcify and haunt us, or allow it to initiate us into a secret world governed by an ancient, forgotten language that connects us all. A brave, beautiful work.” - Rachel Nagelberg, author of The Fifth

"A profound spiritual meditation on the human reaction to atrocity and if any meaning can be found in great suffering." Independent Book Review

"A powerful and affecting novel of the fight against antisemitism across the ages." Kirkus

"The Bones of the World is a prolific account of why we must ‘never forget’ what history encourages us to learn." Feathered Quill

"A well-written and thought-provoking read for an emotionally mature audience" Literary Titan

"The Bones of the World speaks the language of pain and contrasts experiences ranging from Holocaust to Inquisition" Midwest Book Review

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