Language : English
Hardcover : 480 pages
ISBN-10 : 1035042150
ISBN-13 : 978-1035042159
Book Blurb
Olifantshoek, Southern Africa, 1688. When the violent Cape wind blows from the south-east, they say the voices of the unquiet dead can be heard whispering through the deserted valley. Suzanne Joubert, a Huguenot refugee from war-torn France, arrives in search of her cousin ― the notorious she-captain and pirate commander Louise Reydon-Joubert ― who landed at the Cape of Good Hope more than sixty years before, then disappeared without a trace . . .
Franschhoek, Southern Africa, 1862. Nearly one hundred and eighty years after Suzanne’s perilous journey, another intrepid and courageous woman of the Joubert family ― Isabelle Lepard ― has journeyed to the small frontier town once known as Oliftantshoek in search of her long-lost relations. Intent on putting the women of her family back into the history books, she quickly discovers that the crimes and tragedies still shadow the present. And now, Isabelle faces a race against time if she is to discover the truth, and escape with her life . . .
My Review
Its a bit of a double edged sword reading The Map of Bones, I went from being super excited to read the final book to despair that this is the end of this amazing series. So, this book follows three of the Joubert women; in 1688 Suzanne, cousin to Louise Reydon-Joubert, sails with her grandmother to South Africa to find out what happened to Louise, in doing so we learn more about Louise’s story. In 1862 another Joubert woman, Isabella, ventures to South Africa in search of her ancestors to record their stories for her family archives.
Kate Mosse is a tour de force in the literary world, especially about bringing women’s stories to the reader. Whilst these are not real historical figures, she uses them to show how women were treated in history, and the strength of these women. Suzanne and her grandmother Flora, are again being persuecuted as Huguenot’s in France, and after a brutal attack they get on a ship to South Africa. Like her ancestors, Suzanne has a determination about her, she will not let the attack define her, and is dogged in wanting to find out what happened to Louise, whose story was told in the previous book The Ghost Ship. Like Louise she goes on a perilous journey to search for answers, putting herself in danger in her search for the truth. In 1862, Isabelle does the same journey as her two ancestors, and even after nearly two hundred years there are still thost that see the Joubert women as a danger.
It is not just through the three Joubert women that we learn of women’s roles in the new colony of South Africa, there are plenty of other fascinating female characters. There were the orphans taken over to marry the dutch settlers, the native midwives and servants and those women coming to start a new life with their husbands. As always Kate Mosse’s research is impressive and detailed. From 1682 to 1862 she takes us on a journey throught the colonisation of South Africa, by the Dutch and the English, the good and the bad. In 1682 it is more primitive, especially away from the main colony of the Cape. This is an exapnsive landscape, the land is tough and hard to farm, their is always danger from the wild animals and from the indigenous citizens, whose land has been stolen. By 1862 the Cape is more westernised with buildings and towns influenced by the Dutch style. The difficult and shocking parts of colonisation is also delt with, the treatment of slaves who are beaten and raped, seen as just a commodity to be brought and sold. I really enjoyed her desciptive prose, painting a picture of the dramatic landscape, the wildness of the untouched land, the heat and the huge canyons, which must have been astonishing and shocking to those immigrants.
As you can probably tell, I absolutely adored reading The Map of Bones. I was pulled into the world of Suzanne, Louise and Isabelle, and became immersed in their lives. There is no doubt for me that this is a truely epic read, the plot covers over two hundred years in the Joubert families history, and taking us from France to Amsterdam to South Africa and finally to England. The Map of Bones is the perfect conclusion to the Joubert Family Chronicles, and I thing this series maybe Kate Mosse’s Magnus Opus, and a must read for all historical fiction fans.
I’d like to thank the wonderful people at Pan Macmillan for my advanced copy of this book.
