I’m delighted to be sharing my thoughts about The Bone Flower by Charles Lambert.
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- Publisher : Gallic Books (22 Sept. 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1913547272
- ISBN-13 : 978-1913547271
On a November evening in Victorian London, the moneyed but listless Edward Monteith stokes the fire at his local gentlemen’s club, listening to stories of supernatural experiences and theories of life after death. His curiosity leads him to a séance, where he falls under the spell of a beautiful flower seller. But Victorian society does not look kindly on love between a gentleman of means and a Romani girl, and when he faces being cut off by his family, Edward makes a decision with horrifying consequences.
Two years later Edward is married and anticipating the birth of his first child, in a beautiful house lined with orange blossom trees. But the wrongs of the past are not so easily forgotten, and the boundary between the living and the dead begins to thin…
A deliciously chilling Gothic novel, The Bone Flower is a deeply human story about guilt, betrayal and the cruelty of social expectations.
A dark, uncanny love story from the author of Polari prize-shortlisted Prodigal and The Children’s Home, The Bone Flower will delight fans of Edward Carey and Essie Fox.
Book Review
When we meet Edward, he’s the youngest of a group of six men discussing reincarnation at a gentleman’s club in Victorian England.
He has no purpose in life, is in a void, and when he meets Settie, he’s ready for a change.
Trying to evade societies expectations by isolating themselves in Kent doesn’t work out for Settie and when they return to London, Edward makes a decision (based on the best intentions) and that decision then has consequences moving forward with his life.
I thought The Bone Flower was very atmospheric. Charles Lambert’s writing style lends a heaviness and pace that is very apt for a Gothic ghost story. Also, it has such a Saturnine feel of duty and responsibility.
I surprised myself by feeling empathy towards Edward! In listening to his associate Bell, and doing what he thought was right for everyone else, he excluded his own and Settie’s desires and needs. I was curious how his marriage with Marisol would play out.
I felt drawn into what was happening and there are scenes that gave me goosebumps and had me watching for anything out of place in my own life … yes, that’s how absorbed I was in the story! It seeped into my every day. The suggestion and the inferences are just as spine tingling as physical manifestations (Marisol’s finger!).
Having read the description of Marisol taking Edward through the catacombs in Palermo, I just had to take a look (online) myself. And OMG, macabre! It’s the addition of scenes like this that give added depth.
As an aside, I have direct ancestors buried in Abney Park Cemetery and this unexpectedly gave me a personal link.
Even though Settie’s and Marisol’s cultures are different, the crossover of their beliefs about the afterlife and death are similar. Marisol’s nurse and her spells and potions could easily have been Settie’s mum doing the same thing.
The Bone Flower is tastefully written. It’s the perfect read on these dark nights leading up to the solstice.
Charles Lambert is the author of several novels, short stories, and the memoir With a Zero at its Heart, which was voted one of The Guardian readers’ Ten Best Books of the Year in 2014. In 2007, he won an O. Henry Award for his short story The Scent of Cinnamon. His first novel, Little Monsters, was longlisted for the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Born in England, Charles Lambert has lived in central Italy since 1980.
