The award-winning author of The River Wife returns with a multigenerational family saga set in the unforgiving Nebraska Sand Hills in the years following the massacre at Wounded Knee—an ambitious tale of history, vengeance, race, guilt, betrayal, family, and belonging, filled with a vivid cast of characters shaped by violence, love, and a desperate loyalty to the land.Ten years after the Seventh … land.
Ten years after the Seventh Cavalry massacred more than two hundred Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, J.B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J.B.’s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J.B.’s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future.
At the center of The Bones of Paradise are two remarkable women. Dulcinea, returned after bitter years of self-exile, yearns for redemption and the courage to mend her broken family and reclaim the land that is rightfully hers. Rose, scarred by the terrible slaughters that have decimated and dislocated her people, struggles to accept the death of her sister, Star, and refuses to rest until she is avenged.
A kaleidoscopic portrait of misfits, schemers, chancers, and dreamers, Jonis Agee’s bold novel is a panorama of America at the dawn of a new century. A beautiful evocation of this magnificent, blood-soaked land—its sweeping prairies, seas of golden grass, and sandy hills, all at the mercy of two unpredictable and terrifying forces, weather and lawlessness—and the durable men and women who dared to tame it. Intimate and epic, The Bones of Paradise is a remarkable achievement: a mystery, a tragedy, a romance, and an unflagging exploration of the beauty and brutality, tenderness and cruelty that defined the settling of the American West.
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I read this for a book club. Absolutely engrossed by it. Did not want it to end. Agee knows how to tell a great story. She creates memorable characters and complex plots. And she sets the stage with great visual detail.
I like historical fiction that is well researched and tells a tale within the confines of history. This book is the first I have read from this author, but I have reserved The River Wife at my local library. I hope I enjoy reading it as much as I liked reading The Bones of Paradise. A summary is available from other sources–my intent here is to say, “I liked it and recommend it.”
This book is beautifully written and captures a place that is rarely written about – the Sand Hills of western Nebraska. Since I’m from western Kansas and know the Sand Hills of that state (just south of Nebraska, for those whose geography is shaky), I know how well she described this place. The history of Wounded Knee and the aftermath stayed with me. In many ways the book is haunting and poetic; I started off thinking it was nearly perfect, until near the end where the story seemed a little rushed and stilted. Still, a very good read if you like history.
i REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK; SOME VERY INTERESTING CHARACTERS INFLUENCED BY THE PAST. SOME NEAT PLOT TWISTS.
I love great fiction about Nebraska, and Jonis Agee writes the best. She takes my breath away with her straightforward, deceptively simple storytelling. I found myself reading and rereading, in love with her use of language. Her characters achieve full dimensions and lodge themselves in my heart and mind, as she weaves together a murder mystery and the devastating history and recent experience of Native Americans in Nebraska. Generations of family drama unfold as strong women characters lead the way, as the Nebraska Sandhills come alive in vivid detail…I love, love, love this book!
She brings the characters to life with such description. There are no Dick and Jane Families and this surely isn’t one! A woman on her own in the wilds of Nebraska accomplishes outwitting (outliving?) the nasty father/controller in-law.
Beautiful expressive language. Imaginative telling of historical events
I struggled to keep it all straight…interesting story but too jumbled for my taste
A book with language that sweeps you away, stretching from homesteading in Kansas to Wounded Knee; a studtbof the human condition.
Could’nt put this book down. A writer whose books I will eagerly pursue until I’ve read them all !
Can’t believe a woman wrote it. Great character development
Very cleverly done, interesting and unpredictable. A can’t put it down read.
I was not expecting a mystery book. i usually don’t read them. The mystery is secondary to the characters in the novel: they grew up under different circumstances that either make or break them. It is a family saga, a retelling of a very important time in history, and the people whose lives are woven together and broken apart.
Had some continuity issues in that the flow of the story could get choppy at times. The ending could use work.
This is historical fiction that doesn’t spare any of the grim details about life before modern times we know it. Kept my interest, but out was a dark read. Not acuddle
I thoroughly loved this book. I never grasped the full horror and tragedy of the slaughter at Wounded Knee. Seen through the eyes of Black Hills rancher was very moving as they slowly understood what had taken place.
This book has also moved me to visit the Black Hills to try to find a piece of the magic that that is part of its fabric.
This definitely is a book to read, enjoy and think about long after the last page is turned.
Wonderful drama about an era and an area unknown to most of us.