Hearts and Bones [Import] [Paperback]

Margaret Lawrence (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pan Books; New Ed edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330352326
• ISBN-13: 978-0330352321
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,729,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark, disturbing, and absolutely riveting., May 29, 2000

By 

Sharon Wylie (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hearts and Bones (Mass Market Paperback)

There are are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of historical mystery novels out there featuring women who are out of step with their time period (i.e., heroines who appeal to our modern feminist sensibilities). Hannah Trevor is one of the only protagonists I've ever read who is actually ostracized for this incongruity. Subsequently, she is also one of the most believable historical characters I've ever met.

This is a dark tale of post-revolutionary United States. Bad things happen to good people in this series, and although it's sometimes hard to read, it's also utterly realistic. Life is very, very hard for the inhabitants of this world, and for Hannah especially.

The plot is solid and interesting but necessarily takes a backseat to the time and setting. The main characters are relentlessly intense--I wish Hannah had been able to throw her head back and laugh once or twice, but this is not that kind of story.

This is a hard book to put down, and you will come away from it feeling as though you have traveled to another world. But you might want to take a break with some light-hearted reading before embarking on the sequel.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars compelling, if bleak, historical mystery, October 21, 2002

By 

audrey (white mtns) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hearts and Bones (Mass Market Paperback)

Ten years after the Revolutionary War, life is not a paradise of liberty and equality for the residents of Rufford, Maine. Many are dead, others are traumatized by the war, and still others are embittered by a poor economy and widening disparity between the haves and have-nots. Midwife and healer Hannah Trevor lives on the fringe of respectability here, and that's pretty much where she wants to be. This first in the series paints a bleak but realistic picture of the times and the people, and the reader will learn effortlessly about such things thanks to skillful writing and an intriguing story. Being the tale of a murder-rape in the aftermath of war, this novel is not for the squeamish; there's a fair bit of brutal violence, sex and situations, though if you can watch cable television you should be okay. A bit depressing but a worthwhile read and a good mystery. I will definitely read others in the series, though I'll probably read a comedy or two in between.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great historical mystery, March 4, 2001

By 

Paul Sadler "ThePolyBlog" (Ottawa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hearts and Bones (Mass Market Paperback)

THE PLOT OR PREMISE:
Hannah Trevor is a midwife in 1786 colonial America. She has 3 dead children and a dead husband, and a live daughter whose unacknowledged / unclaimed father is a neighbour. Hannah is present when the authorities discover the raped and mutilated body of another village resident, who has left behind a letter accusing some of the village elite of the crime, including Hannah's former lover.

WHAT I LIKED:
The plotting is well-done, if somewhat slow to get to the discovery of the body. So well-done in fact that this would be easily readable without the murder mystery (i.e. if it was just a historical novel about life in colonial America). And perhaps that is the highest compliment to be paid to this book -- that it works well on different levels: historical novel (the life of the midwife, the role of women), a mystery novel (who raped and killed the woman?), and, to some extent, a love story (the relationship between Hannah and Daniel, her child's father).

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
I figured out the murder mystery far too early, and I spotted other murders long before they actually happened. Fortunately, the great writing carried me to the end anyways.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
A great historical mystery, 4.00 lilypads out of 5.00.

Other:
- Source: New
- Original date of review: March 2001, updated 2011
- Tags: Amateur Detective, Crime, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Prose, Religion, Romance