The Bones of You by Debbie Howells - anyone read it? Possible spoilers...

[KathyBeale]

Just finished this. Thought it was okay. BUT I have read the ending twice now and I don't understand what was under the apple tree. Can anyone else who's read it help? It wasn't the body, because that was found. And it wasn't blood-stained clothes because they were in a hold-all and dumped. What was it?!

I read it as part of a MN giveaway of books, and I liked it.

I can't remember exactly, and I don't have the book to hand, but was it the murder weapon?

Is there a reason why the title is The Bones Of You and not Your Bones? I won't be reading it so don't worry about spoilers - I'm just curious about the odd phrasing of the book title.

I've heard people say "I love the bones of him" before, I think it's one of those turns of phrase that sounds more dramatic when you say it one way but not so much when you say it the other.

Isn't that "I love the bones off him"?

I was puzzled too but a review on Amazon said it was the foetus which the murderer had cut out of the girl's stomach - horrible. I did find the whole book grim and unpleasant. There is only a certain amount of child abuse storyline that I can bear, and this book went way beyond that.

Yes I took it to mean the foetus. She was pregnant when murdered.
I sort of enjoyed this but you really had to suspend belief at times.
Also I was amazed at how much time and effort one would expend on trying to help a neighbour.

"it was the foetus which the murderer had cut out of the girl's stomach"

The what?

It should still be "Your bones", unless special rules of grammar apply to murdered fetuses, right?

I quite like the title - it sounds a bit lyrical and dreamy. However I am horrified that it was the foetus that was buried! I didn't get that at all from the book. She was only a tiny but pregnant wasn't she? How stenchy would a tiny embryo be?!

I quite enjoyed the book to begin with but it annoyed me by the end - I was especially annoyed by the journalist friend who spent five months on one story. I was convinced she was going to be either the murderer or the bad dad's mistress. Disappointingly she turned out to be neither!

The phrase some people use is "I love the bones of you" not "the bones off you" so I presume that's where the title comes from,and I don't think it's linked to the buried foetus. Not much love anywhere in the book,though!