The symbolic story at the heart of the narrative is lovely. I resisted, not wanting to mar the wonderful blend of fact and fantastic fiction. Every other page I wanted to go Google something to see what the 'real story' was behind a particular device, turn of phrase, place, or historical event. The extensive and meticulous historical research that had to go into this book absolutely blew me away. To put it in the context of the book's imagery, it's like a pre-Raphaelite painting with all the naughty bits in focus. One of the reasons I don't generally read historical fiction is because even the 'gritty' bits tend to be romanticized, but Cokal has this very interesting way of seesawing back and forth. This sort of realism hits you like a dash of cold water in the face, and I love it. She paints a pristine word-portrait of a sublimely beautiful woman posing for a painting - and then follows her to the chamber pot in the corner. Cokal excels at the juxtaposition of the divine and the morbid.

Now and then I would suddenly realize where a particular plot thread was heading, and by the end all of the themes and imagery came to a very satisfying, thought-provoking conclusion. Narrative that came together like clockwork.

Periodically, however, I would encounter a perfectly phrased gem that would make me stop to savor the Rightness of it before reading on. The kind that's not overly self-conscious, and disappears when you get sucked into the narrative. Much to my delight, I was wrong! I like to divide my reviews into pros and cons, so here we go: I don't read much historical fiction (I prefer straight-up biographies), so Breath and Bones was very much outside of my 'literary comfort zone.' I was expecting the flawless prose and carefully crafted narrative that this novel certainly delivers, but I wasn't really expecting to LIKE it much.

Mermaid moon susann cokal