All the Murmuring Bones

Shortlisted for The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award 2021

For fans of Naomic Novik and Katharine Arden, a dark gothic fairy tale from award-winning author Angela Slatter.

Orphaned as a young child, Mirin O'Malley has been brought up by her grandparents on their isolated, rambling estate Hob's Hallow.

Long ago her family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer, the terrifying creatures who live in the depths of the sea: safety for their merchant ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and their fortunes have suffered as a result.

When Mirin's grandfather dies, her grandmother puts in train a plan to restore their glory- but at the price of Mirin's freedom.

Finding amongst her grandfather's papers evidence that her parents may still be alive, Mirin is determined to escape and discover the truth about her origins. This takes her on a treacherous journey to Blackwater, the estate her parents built when they fled Hob's Hallow, but on arrival Mirin finds the estate in decline and her 'Uncle Edward' in charge: where are her parents, and who is this Edward Elliott really?

A story of mystery and magic and the strange creatures that lurk beneath the waves.

'Slatter's dark fantasies have a bright, burning core of understanding and insight.'- M.RCarey, author ofThe Girl with All the GiftsandThe Boy on the Bridge

'An intricately woven, hauntingly beautiful, gothic tale by one of the best storytellers in the business...A must-read.' - Scifiandscary.com

'Gorgeous and rich' - Undine Reads, 5 review
'A darkly atmospheric tale full of folklore' - Forever Lost in Literature, 5 review
'Wonderfully untraditional' A Bookish Type

Praise for Angela Slatter:

'Angela Slatter's stories are horrific, mysterious, whimsical, and mischievous. Beautifully written, full of humanity and intelligence, her stories are both timely and timeless in their concerns. This is an essential collection from one of our best.' - Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World.

“Praise for Angela Slatter: "Slatter's dark fantasies have a bright, burning core of understanding and insight." ~ M.R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge . "Angela Slatter's stories are horrific, mysterious, whimsical, and mischievous. Beautifully written, full of humanity and intelligence, her stories are both timely and timeless in their concerns. This is an essential collection from one of our best." ~ Paul Tremblay , author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World . "Marvellous stuff! Angela Slatter confronts the darker side of humanity in these bracing meditations on the nature of belief, betrayal, and wonder. Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales is a riveting read, and a fine addition to the canon of one of the genre's fastest-rising stars." ~ Helen Marshall , author of Hair Side, Flesh Side and Gifts for the One Who Comes After "Angela Slatter is a literary fabulist and an emotional realist. These are stories of men's cruelties and women's revenges, told with the ferocity, complexity and wit that ranks their author among the finest working in the field today." ~ Kim Newman, author of Anno Dracula "Angela Slatter writes some of the darkest, most beautiful stories in the world today." ~ Nathan Ballingrud , author of North American Lake Monsters "Like the sea at its heart, Slatter's haunting story is treacherous and lovely in all its dark depths." ~ Heather Kassner , author of The Bone Garden "Harrowing and beautiful, this is the grim, fairy-tale gothic you've been waiting for. All the Murmuring Bones is Slatter at her darkest--and finest. Don't miss it!" ~ Christopher Golden , New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and Red Hands 'A beautiful gothic monstrosity (monstrosity being a good thing), one of those rare books you don't just want to read but want to live inside of. ' Mike Mignola , creator of Hellboy 'Like J.R.R. Tolkien, Slatter's taken her personal invented mythos and crafted a world around it that is at once familiar and deeply strange. Lush and chilling, eerie and exquisite, brutal and elegant... I defy anyone to stop turning pages until they've come to the end.' Ellen Kushner , author of The Privilege of the Sword 'A. G. Slatter is a born storyteller. Her work is as beautiful and dangerous as the best fairy tales and All the Murmuring Bones is entirely enchanting. A magical read!' Alison Littlewood , author of A Cold Season "The [gothic] fantasy worlds of Angela Slatter are among the fullest, most vividly realised of our time. The primal ore of folk and fairytale runs glittering through the dark layers of their history and geology, and Slatter mines them for all they're worth. She brings them to the light cut and polished in ways that will make you gasp. In the furnace of her imagination what she produces is tantamount to a sword from out the stone. Her prose is molten metal. Hail the Once and Future Queen!" Neil Snowdon”

PRAISE FOR ALL THE MURMURING BONES

A rich and satisfying novel about a young woman, born to be the last hope of a once powerful family, who resists an arranged marriage and won’t stop at murder or magic to survive in a world of abusive men and dangerous, supernatural creatures. Shifting between scenes of wonder and horror, a complex plot is gradually revealed, as well paced and gripping as a thriller. - The Guardian

"Stunning gothic adventure...Anyone who likes gutsy heroines, beautiful language, and well-wrought worlds won’t want to miss this." - Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"This is a magnificently written, smashingly good read...Slatter’s prose is as lustrous as jet beads against black silk. Readers will savor every word."- Locus Magazine 

‘A. G. Slatter is a born storyteller. Her work is as beautiful and dangerous as the best fairy tales and All the Murmuring Bones is entirely enchanting. A magical read!’ Alison Littlewood, author of A Cold Season

 ‘A beautiful gothic monstrosity (monstrosity being a good thing), one of those rare books you don’t just want to read but want to live inside of.’ Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy

‘Like J.R.R. Tolkien, Slatter’s taken her personal invented mythos and crafted a world around it that is at once familiar and deeply strange. Lush and chilling, eerie and exquisite, brutal and elegant… I defy anyone to stop turning pages until they’ve come to the end.’ Ellen Kushner, author of The Privilege of the Sword

‘Harrowing and beautiful, this is the grim, fairy-tale gothic you’ve been waiting for. All the Murmuring Bones is Slatter at her darkest—and finest. Don’t miss it!' Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and Red Hands

‘All the Murmuring Bones is fairy-tale gothic at its finest and then some. Luscious, richly infused with Slatter’s gift for creating place; this is a world that invites travel along all of its dark roads and secret paths. Long after you’re done with the book, you’ll sit there drenched still in its magic, wondering how you might find your way back.’ Cassandra Khaw, author of Hammers on Bone

‘A story as gorgeously gothic as its title. This is a novel of blood and bones, of salt and silver, of an absolutely haunting richness. I was compelled from the very beginning and held rapt to the end.’ Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians

‘Like the sea at its heart, Slatter’s haunting story is treacherous and lovely in all its dark depths.’ Heather Kassner, author of The Bone Garden

‘Two uncanny houses, Hob’s Hallow and Blackwater, bookend Angela Slatter’s new novel like grim sentinels. Whether they are cursed or enchanted, majestic or moldering, refuge or prison, only reading to the end will tell. Meanwhile, the landscape stretching between these gothic structures abounds with corpsewights, kelpies, ghosts, rusalki, werewolves, clockwork mechanicals, and—most alarmingly—actors. And across this treacherous terrain walks Miren O’Malley, scarred, furious, and growing in power. All the Murmuring Bones is brutal and beautiful throughout, with moments of tenderness hard-won and harder-kept, and, pervading all, an atmosphere of inescapable threat like the taste of salt wind and the sound of silver bells ringing in the deep.’ C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Bone Swans: Stories

"The [gothic] fantasy worlds of Angela Slatter are among the fullest, most vividly realised of our time. The primal ore of folk and fairytale runs glittering through the dark layers of their history and geology, and Slatter mines them for all they're worth. She brings them to the light cut and polished in ways that will make you gasp. In the furnace of her imagination what she produces is tantamount to a sword from out the stone. Her prose is molten metal. Hail the Once and Future Queen!" Neil Snowdon

‘Gorgeous, atmospheric gothic fantasy’ - Buzzfeed 

‘Twists and turns and weaves Grimm-like fairytales into a dark tale that gets darker the further you read’ 5* - She Reeds By The Sea

A.G. SlatterAngela has won a Shirley Jackson Award, a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, three Australian Shadows Awards and eight Aurealis Awards. Most recently, All the Murmuring Bones was shortlisted for the 2021 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards Book of the Year and the 2021 Shirley Jackson Award; The Path of Thorns won the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel and the 2022 Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. Angela’s short stories have appeared in many Best Of anthologies, and her work has been translated into many languages. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.

For fans of Naomic Novik and Katharine Arden, a dark gothic fairy tale from award-winning author Angela Slatter. Orphaned as a young child, Mirin O'Malley has been brought up by her grandparents on their isolated, rambling estate Hob's Hallow. Long ago her family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer, the terrifying creatures who live in the depths of the sea: safety for their merchant ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and their fortunes have suffered as a result. When Mirin's grandfather dies, her grandmother puts in train a plan to restore their glory -- but at the price of Mirin's freedom. Finding amongst her grandfather's papers evidence that her parents may still be alive, Mirin is determined to escape and discover the truth about her origins. This takes her on a treacherous journey to Blackwater, the estate her parents built when they fled Hob's Hallow, but on arrival Mirin finds the estate in decline and her 'Uncle Edward' in charge: where are her parents, and who is this Edward Elliott really? A story of mystery and magic and the strange creatures that lurk beneath the waves. 'Slatter's dark fantasies have a bright, burning core of understanding and insight.' -- M.R Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge Praise for Angela Slatter: 'Angela Slatter's stories are horrific, mysterious, whimsical, and mischievous. Beautifully written, full of humanity and intelligence, her stories are both timely and timeless in their concerns. This is an essential collection from one of our best.' -- Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World.

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