Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne

“I can make it work here at home. I know what to do. I’ll bloom where I’m planted.”

Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne is a book that—on first glance— is outside the norm of what I normally find myself reading. Elizabeth Kilcoyne incorporates all the right elements for a story that had my attention from the first page: magic, darker elements, a small town, and a legacy that our main character is tied to.  I found myself easily swept away by the incredibly descriptive prose and the intriguing plot that has been injected with seemingly indescribable magic.

Laurel Early knows death. She’s been surrounded by it for her years, ever since her mother’s tragic death years earlier when Laurel was a small child on her family’s farm. She has a special affinity for the bones she finds on the family farm. As a taxidermist, Laurel takes the tragedy out of death and creates something beautiful from it instead.

Left to be raised by her uncle, Laurel has carved out an existence in a small Kentucky farming town called Dry Valley that feels as desperate as the seasonal need for a good summer crop yield. Her best friend, Isaac has been biding his time until he too can escape the monotony of their town permanently. Whereas brothers Garrett and Ricky are both equally drawn to the land and area where they were born—and Isaac and Laurel, respectively. While Isaac refuses to allow himself to think of a future with Garrett, Ricky seems perfectly content for Laurel to come to the realization that he’s been steadfastly by her side since they were children.

“Laurel played with death every day. She knew it’s calling cards. This creature defied every last one of them.”

Laurel’s small group of friends is both inclusive and secretive. Progressive relationships don’t fare well in small close-minded town and those fierce sparks of “other” also get easily squashed by the status quo. It’s no surprise that she and her closest friends all hold their own secrets close to their chests. That is until Laurel’s abrupt return from college brings everyone’s secrets to light. But all these secrets seem trivial when faced with death that walks on sun-bleached bones and rotting sinews.  It’s after a bone-chilling incident on the farm leads Laurel and her friends to town eccentric, Christine, who helps them discover there is more to the death of Laurel’s mother than anyone is aware.

I honestly had no idea what to expect while reading Wake the Bones, but I am not disappointed in the least. Equal parts horror, thriller, magical fantasy, and college-aged romance, Wake the Bones is dark and gritty but also hopeful. It embodies the ancient seasonal changes—death to rebirth— in a fresh and unique way. I’m reluctant to give any more details because I don’t want to spoil the riveting ending to the story.

“The stories were proof: Bodies were meant to survive, or no one would have settled in the South.”

I applaud author Elizabeth Kilcoyne for including trigger warnings as she absolutely does not shy away from hard themes surrounding death. Wake the Bones is a heavy story, filled with grief but it’s also filled with yearning for a better and brighter future. I am absolutely charmed and I believe that other readers will be as well. There is so much included in this debut novel that I loved that I guarantee that if you take a chance on this novel you’ll absolutely love it too.