- Unbound
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books (Feb 2001)
- ISBN-10: 0743213769
- ISBN-13: 978-0743213769
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Product Description
The Times
'Betsy Tobin mesmerizes...a fine gothic novel which burrows under the skin.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The New York Times
'Betsy Tobin has created a gripping narrative...a tale shimmering with psychological depth.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Really compulsive reading. This is not a 'historical novel' yet it powerfully evokes village life in the seventeenth century - you can even smell it and taste it. The narrative draws us slowly under the skin of the characters and into an original and fascinating plot. I couldn't put this book down and really recommend it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Set in rural England sometime around the seventeenth century, this tightly controlled first novel is told by a young woman who works as a maid in the Great House and returns often to visit her mother, who is a mid-wife in the village. When Dora, a huge woman from the village, with apparently equally huge appetites, is found dead, the village is not long in deciding that this may be murder, rather than the accident it appears to be.
Skillfully incorporating a vast amount of period detail when establishing the setting and atmosphere, Tobin also incorporates medical treatments, dreams thought to be inspired by the devil, and graphic accounts of childbirth, burials, and bewitchment. Itinerant elixir-salesmen, domestic workers in the Great House, local pub patrons, and magistrates provide color and supplement the main characters--the cruel master of the Great House and his sadly deformed son, the sickly and deluded mistress of the house, the narrator's stern and private mother, Dora's simple 11-year-old son with the body of a man and a hidden cache of gold, and Dora herself, who arrived in the village suddenly from afar and whose past is mysterious. The narrative is very smooth and conversational in tone, flowing quickly and apparently effortlessly. The story is uncomplicated, with a grand finale of an ending. Lovers of romances will find it especially appealing. Mary Whipple
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ms. Betsy Tobin has delivered a subtle, elegant, and sometimes startling view of 17th Century Elizabethan England. From the portrait by Godfried Schalken (1643-1706) that ornaments the book's jacket, the writer has crafted her tale with authenticity and historical detail that raises the book above just another historically set novel. Ms. Tobin does not give her readers headlines from History to quickly establish for all; the time period she sets her story in. Rather she brings the small details of daily life and language that establishes her as a writer who is meticulous with her research, and who respects her readers. She demonstrates that fiction need not be bereft of educational detail.
It would be interesting to know the story behind the painting on the cover. For any who enjoyed Ms. Tracy Chevalier's, "The Girl With The Pearl Earring", the woman on the cover gazing over her left shoulder with a tear shaped pearl earring will appear remarkably familiar. While not the same girl, or the same artist, the picture is appropriate once the story is engaged.
I want to qualify the use of the word startling. One of the primary characters is a mid-wife, who during the tale, delivers children and relates stories of other births. The birth of a child is many things, that anyone would find the descriptions in this book distasteful is absurd and infantile. To expect that a difficult delivery of a child in the 17th Century would be any more pleasant than today, is also an expression of ignorance. To be fair, if detailed descriptions of surgery bother you, there are passages in the book they may make you wince. There are not in any manner inappropriate, nor are they some slovenly device to shock, or appeal to the prurient.
The only reason for the lack of a fifth star is that I would imagine, that as a writer, this author will write even more engaging books. However, if she stopped at one, she has still made a worthy addition to good literature.
It would be interesting to know the story behind the painting on the cover. For any who enjoyed Ms. Tracy Chevalier's, "The Girl With The Pearl Earring", the woman on the cover gazing over her left shoulder with a tear shaped pearl earring will appear remarkably familiar. While not the same girl, or the same artist, the picture is appropriate once the story is engaged.
I want to qualify the use of the word startling. One of the primary characters is a mid-wife, who during the tale, delivers children and relates stories of other births. The birth of a child is many things, that anyone would find the descriptions in this book distasteful is absurd and infantile. To expect that a difficult delivery of a child in the 17th Century would be any more pleasant than today, is also an expression of ignorance. To be fair, if detailed descriptions of surgery bother you, there are passages in the book they may make you wince. There are not in any manner inappropriate, nor are they some slovenly device to shock, or appeal to the prurient.
The only reason for the lack of a fifth star is that I would imagine, that as a writer, this author will write even more engaging books. However, if she stopped at one, she has still made a worthy addition to good literature.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Highly recommended author.
I absolutley adore Betsy Tobin's work, the reader is hooked from the beginning.
As this book has been well reviewed by other readers, I will not reiterate what has been said... Read more
As this book has been well reviewed by other readers, I will not reiterate what has been said... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Anne Latham
Boring
After having read 'The Bounce' which had its moments but proved ultimately unsatisfactory, I thought I would give the author another chance with this, her first book. Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by Helena
A really amazing novel ... I couldn't put it down
Bone House is an amazing debut. It's so exciting to find a new writer who's novels you can cherish. Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2000
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