In this Book
- Where Bones Dance: An English Girlhood, An African War
- Book
- 2007
- Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
summary
In this stunning debut novel, a child dissects the darkness at the heart of her British diplomatic family. Living in Nigeria on the brink of civil war, Anna—also known as Jake—becomes blood brothers with Dave, the Korean American daughter of a C.I.A. operative. They do push-ups, collect pornography, and plot lives of unmarried freedom while around them a country disintegrates. Luscious, terrifying, and raw, Nigeria itself becomes a lesson in endurance, suffering, love.
Stories are layered upon stories: Anna's grandmother tells stories about life as a white woman on the Gold Coast; the clairvoyant and closeted "Aunt" Elsie gives Anna a story of transformation to hold onto in the coming tumult of adolescence. Yet Where Bones Dance also spirals down to the stories that are not told—sexual abuse, the myth of benign colonialism, the chaos of postcolonial Africa. Sensual and fantastical by turns, this moving, funny, immensely readable book delivers an understanding of the interplay of sexuality, gender, race, and war that is sophisticated beyond the years of its intrepid narrator.
Stories are layered upon stories: Anna's grandmother tells stories about life as a white woman on the Gold Coast; the clairvoyant and closeted "Aunt" Elsie gives Anna a story of transformation to hold onto in the coming tumult of adolescence. Yet Where Bones Dance also spirals down to the stories that are not told—sexual abuse, the myth of benign colonialism, the chaos of postcolonial Africa. Sensual and fantastical by turns, this moving, funny, immensely readable book delivers an understanding of the interplay of sexuality, gender, race, and war that is sophisticated beyond the years of its intrepid narrator.
Winner, Georges Bugnet Award for Novel, Alberta Literary Awards, Writers Guild of Alberta
Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians and the Public Library Association
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xv-xvi
- Cycle I: Good Snake
- Moonflower
- pp. 25-29
- Sister Alice
- pp. 32-34
- Blood Brothers
- pp. 39-40
- City of Blood
- p. 44
- Cycle II: The English Ibeji
- Microscope
- pp. 119-122
- Cycle III: The Mosquito King
- Underwater
- pp. 172-174
- Isle of Man
- pp. 192-194
- White Man’s Grave
- pp. 195-197
- Magnifying Glass
- pp. 205-207
- Aunt Elsie
- pp. 208-212
- Cycle IV: Harvest of Ghosts
- Fancy Dress
- pp. 283-286
- The Sea, The Sea
- pp. 296-301
Additional Information
ISBN
9780299222635
Related ISBN(s)
9780299222604
MARC Record
OCLC
606095013
Pages
317
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2007