The Bone Cay
A Novel
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From the critically acclaimed author of All That's Bright and Gone comes an atmospheric thriller that unearths a cache of age-old secrets--and a hidden danger--in the Florida Keys.
Magda Trudell is the present-day caretaker of Whimbrel Estate, the Key West home of the famous poet Isobel Reyes. Isobel's suicide at the residence in 1918 has nearly overshadowed her creative legacy--but Magda, a botanist and avid historian, is determined to protect it. Over the past decade, Magda has lovingly restored the house to the exact condition Isobel would have known. And even though a fierce October hurricane is headed straight for the Keys, she isn't about to abandon her life's work to evacuate.
As the mighty storm makes landfall, the dangers mount. First, a fire and flood threaten to destroy the house. Then the storm claims most of Magda's supplies. When part of the house collapses, she unearths an old steamer trunk in the rubble that contains a woman's remains. Is there more to Isobel's story than Magda knows?
The unexpected appearance of a teenage girl and her father seeking shelter from the storm poses unnerving new questions. Are they really who they seem? And could they have a connection to the house's shadowy past? As the storm rages, Magda desperately tries to solve the real mystery of Isobel's death--and keep the living in one piece.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Magda Trudell, the heroine of Nellums's passable sophomore effort (after 2019's All That's Bright and Gone), is the caretaker of the historic Whimbrel House, the Key West mansion where acclaimed poet Isobel Reyes was born in 1895 and died by suicide in 1918. Magda has devoted her life to studying Isobel's work and preserving her memory, so when a hurricane is about to hit the Keys, Magda chooses to stay and watch over the house. When the storm causes the gift shop to collapse, she discovers a cistern that houses a trunk containing a woman's skeleton. Meanwhile, the mansion's creepy handyman, Hank McGrath, arrives in a rundown motorboat with his injured 16-year-old daughter, Emily. Magda notices something is off in the way Hank and Emily behave, and tensions rise as the house continues to deteriorate during the storm. Readers will be immersed in what is primarily a survival thriller, though some will be disappointed that the mystery surrounding the skeleton lingers in the background. Nellums is a good storyteller, but this story just isn't that good.
