A young woman walks alone through a barren landscape in a time before history, a time of cataclysmic natural change...
I ain’t gunna lie to you lovelies, I love books. Like Michael Gove loves hoovering up big old powdery piles of hypocrisy levels of love. But such love cannot be contained, hence 'Book Crushes' was birthed from my obsessive spine cracking grubby mind. These are my favourite and most mind blowing books. Books that have danced in the carnage of what I thought I knew and bitched slapped the scraps into next week and this week's book is absolutely of that variety. Strap in book worms, we're going existential.
Title:
Bone Lines
Date of Birth:
September 19th 2018
Author:
Stephanie Bretherton
The Synopsis:
A young woman walks alone through a barren landscape in a time before history, a time of cataclysmic natural change. She is cold, hungry and with child...
In present-day London, geneticist Dr Eloise Kluft wrestles with an ancient conundrum as she unravels the secrets of a momentous archaeological find...
Bone Lines is the story of two women, separated by millennia yet bound by the web of life. A tale of love and survival – of courage and the quest for wisdom – it explores the nature of our species and asks what lies at the heart of being human.
Why it's great:
This novel wears it's scientific heart with pride and is all the better for it.
A balancing act between a heartfelt story and scientific chit chat between nerds Bone Lines is a fearlessly researched novel filled with exciting ideas on what it means to be human. This book grabs you by the cerebrum, swings you around and doesn't even have the good grace to dumb it down for the clueless amongst us. Which is why this book made my list, being intelligently slung around like a rag doll is my ma raison d'être.
The story is woven from two completely different humans' journeys. Dr Eloise Kluft a scientific Indiana Jones, (minus the whip) the lab is her temple and the human genome is her sacred stone. On the flip side is the pre-historic young woman who is only looking to survive each day as it comes, channelling her inner survival ninja. Hard.
The more technical ideas in this book does keep you on your toes, but the powerful narrative motivation of both characters more than makes up for the occasionally needed Google search. And what glorious Google searches they were.
I fell down rabbit holes that suggested consciousness may, in fact, be an emergent property of chaos itself. That rather than the school of only the strongest survive perhaps humans may have evolved and grown in numbers because we were kind to each other rather than despite it. And that nice and easy subject of whether religion and scientific truths are two half's of one coin, or destined to always be at odds and at the risk of sounding like a game show host, 'So much more.'
Best Time To Read:
Wow the pants off first dates, dead marriages, teachers that didn't believe you'd amount to anything at your 15 year reunion, with some intense-existential-fun-time-sprinkles. Basically anytime you need to spice up your vanilla chats.
Dinner Party Prat Fact:
An international lady actor before the writing bug took hold, Bretherton had a couple roles in Cantonese gangster movies and historical TV shows. Followed by a speaking part in a big American TV miniseries based on the James Clavell book Noble House which lead to the big leagues. A weather report on Hong Kong telly.
Best quote:
Why then does it so often lead to self-destruction? Or the ultimate in self-sacrifice? Could 'love' be an emergent property, somehow greater than the sums of it's parts?
In a word:
Contemplative.
Here's the magical link* for buying.
If you fancy asking her any questions or just saying hi, she's also on The Twitter and has one spanking website.
*Cannot be exchanged for cash value, or smarties.