Product Description

Julia Hamill is gardening one afternoon in rural Massachusetts when her spade strikes something soft and unyielding - not a rock but a human skull. Medical examiner, Maura Isles quickly determines that the skeleton - that of a woman - dates back to the early 1800s. 'But too much time has passed,' Maura warns Julia. 'We may never know the whole story of how she died.' Boston in the 1830s is a place of disease and pestilence - and no one is more aware of this than Norris Marshall, a student at Harvard Medical School who is forced to support himself by performing the most secretive job of all. Norris is a resurrectionist - a body-snatcher - who procures cadavers from grave robbers in order to further his study of human anatomy. Soon he finds himself hunting the most notorious killer of his time, a shadowy figure who flits through graveyards and glittering ballrooms. What he does not realize is that the killer is far closer than he thinks ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95084 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

From the Publisher
This is a really special novel for Tess because it combines her detailed knowledge of the medical world (she was, of course, a doctor in her own right), her love of history and her gift for crime-writing.

It focuses on the single fact that in the 1840s women all over the world were dying in their millions of child-bed fever - and no one knew how or why the infection was being spread. The idea that surgeons - who were performing autopsies and then going into maternity wards without washing their hands - could be responsible was dismissed as scandalous - until a single doctor, Oliver Wendell Holmes, presented a paper on this subject in Boston in 1843. Holmes is one of the main characters in The Bone Garden, which also focuses on a terrifying serial killer who preys on medical students in particular. It is the novel Tess has always wanted to write.

From the Back Cover
Julia Hamill is gardening one afternoon in rural Massachusetts when her spade strikes something soft and unyielding – not a rock but a human skull.

Medical examiner Maura Isles quickly determines that the skeleton – that of a woman – dates back to the early 1800s.‘But too much time has passed,’ Maura warns Julia. ‘We may never know the whole story of how she died.’

Boston in the 1830s is a place of disease and pestilence – and no one is more aware of this than Norris Marshall, a student at Harvard Medical School who is forced to support himself by performing the most secretive job of all.

Norris is a resurrectionist - a body-snatcher - who procures cadavers from grave robbers in order to further his study of human anatomy. Soon he finds himself hunting the most notorious killer of his time, a shadowy figure who flits through graveyards and glittering ballrooms.

What he does not realize is that the killer is far closer than he thinks ...

About the Author
Bestselling author Tess Gerritsen is also a physician, and she brings to her novels her first-hand knowledge of emergency and autopsy rooms. But her interests span far more than medical topics. As an anthropology student at Stanford University, she catalogued centuries-old human remains, and she continues to travel the world driven by her fascination with ancient cultures and bizarre natural phenomena.

Customer Reviews

Very Good Historical Thriller!
The Bone Garden starts off in the present day. Julia Hammill is clearing the garden of her new house in the outskirts of Boston, when she uncovers some old bones. When the experts are called in, it is discovered that they date back to the 1830s. Through contact with a relative of the previous owner of the house, the story of how the bones got there is slowly revealed.

Set mainly in the year 1830, this novel gives a depressing and graphic look at the harshness of life back in that era, particularly in the area of childbirth, were the lack of decent hygiene, led to many, many unnecessary deaths. If that wasn't bad enough, in this story, a serial killer, is murdering nurses who have worked on the maternity ward, of the Boston hospital, were the novel is set.

I have to admit I have an interest in history, so it was the parts of the novel, that were set in 1830, that held my attention the most. The story has some very good and interesting characters, in particular, poor immigrant Rose Connolly, and struggling medical student Norris Marshall, whose lives are greatly affected by actions of the serial killer.

What I particularly enjoyed about this novel was that as it progressed, the story became more and more interesting, and the characters grew, so by the end, I did not want it to finish. Graphic, and very depressing in parts, but certainly worth a read.

Disappointing and repetitive
I scanned the reviews here looking for someone else who found the repetition of blood spots, stains, ragged hems, cracked leather shoes and above all that, oysters, but no one appears to have picked up on that. Oysters, heaven help us, you would think people in Boston at that time ate nothing else. Buffet evening, oysters, in the scrofulous inns, oysters, way too many of them being consumed. I doubt there was an oyster bed left at that time if we are to believe Ms Gerritson.
I found the 'padding' of information about Oliver Wendell Holmes to be out of sync with the story. OK so she wanted to tell us about medical practice, but really, it was done as lectures, not as part of the story and as such stood out as padding. I am sure the editor said 'Tess, you can make this book a third as long again if you throw in all your OWH research' so she did. The strict rule is, (I know this as an historical novelist) you do not allow the reader to know how much research you have done. That is your foundation, not the backbone of your story. The story was the buried skeleton. At times that is totally overlooked. The somewhat flamboyant and OTT descriptions of the West End Reaper were suspect, the interplay between Julia and Henry in modern times at the beginning were not believable - he asked her to go, she went, they snapped at each other, no, sorry, it doesn't work like that. So, overall, the feeling was 'I need to write another book, I have all this information, I know ...' and it didn't work. This is my first Gerritson book and accordingly, it will be my last. I got it on Smiths '2 for 1' offer so my hard earned money went on a book I really did enjoy, not this one. This will hit either ebay or the charity shop any time soon.

Entertaining
You can pretty much rely on Tess Gerritsen to weave a good tale (although I really didn't like 'The Mephisto Club) and this one is no exception. However, the theme, to my mind, is rather played out now. I had earlier read 'The Resurrectionist' and, for a while, I thought I was back into that book: student doctor finding cadavers on which to experiment back in the early 1800s, falling foul of a murky group of wealthy individuals. Then, we have the interweaving of current day events linking us to that period in 1832 by, surprise, surprise, somebody randomly digging up human remains.

Most of the story is set in the 19th. century and it's no worse for that. The characters were more sympathetic than those to be found in the other book I mentioned and it is, in its own way, an endearing story of strength and determination amidst terrible social odds. But all is not what it appears to be and it seems rather churlish for the author to kill off perhaps the most sympathetic of them all. But there we are. It's a good paperback read. I gather the next book is a return to safer ground with Dr. Maura Isles.