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2005: The conflict in Syria and its effects as seen through the eyes of a war reporter
My Sister’s Bones
What you need to know before your trail
Kate Rafter is a high-flying war reporter. She’s the strong one. The one who escaped their father. Her younger sister Sally didn’t. Instead, she drinks.
But when their mother dies, Kate is forced to return to the old family home. And on her very first night she is woken by a scream.
At first Kate tells herself it’s just a nightmare. But then terrifying things start to happen, things she can’t explain…
What secret is lurking in her mother’s garden? And what if the real danger is where you least expect it?
Travel Guide
Herne Bay
“Of all the terrifying situations I have found myself in over the years, none has made me feel as uncomfortable as this. Herne Bay. Where darkness comes early and life is as predictable as the tides”
Returning from Syria, X is aware that her time in Herne Bay is going to be difficult and not an easy place to return to for this seaside town seems to have more than one hidden danger and from the very first time she arrives there, the streets blur, the sense of claustrophobia is clear and the people in the street where her mother lives (Fictional Smythley Road) are described as ‘ cocooned in their beds, like the characters in the Edgar Allan Poe stories…” This silent world had been her childhood home.
Syria
The last place she was stationed in was Aleppo in Syria and it was a three week assignment. She stays with a family here. Something has happened to a boy here and something Kate struggles to come to terms with or ever talk about. The facts start to clear but this is a land where nothing is really clear – there is metnion of “Death Dust” which is the dust on the deserted streets, blood and rubble. Piles and piles of rubble with people buried underneath.
Booktrailer Review
Clare:@thebooktrailer
Disturbing in many places -but in a good gripping way. A chilling read. You often hear about how war can affect those at the heart of it, but a war reporter? I’d not really thought about these people in this way before and the role they do. It really gave an edge to the unreliable narrator as you’re never quite sure if Kate is suffering from PTSD to such extremes or if she really has discovered a crime at home. Ironic after all that she’s seen, the scene of the crime could be a small, seaside resort where she used to live. The chapters on Syria and what happened there though were heartbreaking and the overall novel is one that makes you think after you’ve finished.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: My Sister’s Bones
Author/ Guide: Nuala Ellwood Destination: Herne Bay, Syria Departure Time: 2005
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