- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (7 Jun 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0753811391
- ISBN-13: 978-0753811399
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 559,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Claire, the charming, amoral heroine of Leslie Forbes's second novel Fish, Blood and Bone wants to be left alone to help cultivate the large East End garden left to her by a distant relative. Her new best friend, gardener Sally, is suddenly murdered and Claire's interest in why has little to do with the man who actually did the job, more to do with complicated family pasts, the exploration of the Himalayas and rare medicinal plants. Aware that singling out a young thug in an identity parade puts her at risk, Claire traipses off on an expedition to remote Tibetan valleys with her disreputable cousin James and the beautiful one-handed Nick. Her journey takes her at the same time back into the Victorian past, into the journals of a woman ancestor whose steps she is retracing... Leslie Forbes is as fond of mystification as she is of mysteries, yet everything makes a sort of sense in the end. This is an intelligent thriller that stretches the formulae of psychological study, family romance and adventure thriller about as far as any of them can go and leaves us with a sense of its heroine as someone we know better than she might like. --Roz Kaveney
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
When Claire Fleetwood, a young American forensic photographer, inherits a large house and garden in London's East End from relatives she never knew she had, she imagines it will be a slice of the English dream. But after the brutal murder of her best friend Sally Rivers, Claire learns that her inheritance involves more than she wanted or bargained for. Claire joins a scientific expedition led by her cousin Jack Ironstone, one of the men she suspects of being responsible for Sally's murder. Her journey leads from Jack the Ripper's Whitechapel to the Fleetwoods' murky roots in India's opium trade and the wild 'paradise' valleys of Tibet. It parallels a route taken during Britain's great 19th-century triangulation of the Himalayas by Claire's distant relative Magda Ironstone and a mysterious Indian botanist. As Claire reconstructs a triangular love affair she imagines took place, the contemporary story is overtaken to deadly effect by Magda's.
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First Sentence
It is that time of evening when the setting sun seems to rise again and saturate every colour in one final luminous shower. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
It is that time of evening when the setting sun seems to rise again and saturate every colour in one final luminous shower. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This tells the interlinked story of Claire Fleetwood (an American) and Magda Ironstone, the ancestor she was unaware of until she received a house in London as an inheritance. Claire's story begins in the house in the East End of London with the murder of Sally Rivers, her neighbour and friend. It takes her to India and Tibet with her cousin, Jack Ironstone, seeking the truth about the murder of Sally and an understanding about the links between her family and that of the Ironstones. Here the parallels with Magda's story begin, as Claire undertakes a dangerous journey in search of the 'green poppy', reading Magda's journals as she travels. The interlinking of Claire and Magda's stories work well. The descriptions of Calcutta and the journey into Tibet, and the botanical detail, bring both stories to life and I could not put this down. It's not your classic page turner, but there is tension, excitement and the desire to find out if your own guesses at how the story will end will be correct. I loved this book and am sure it will be one that I will read and re-read, taking something more from it each time.
Format:Paperback
I enjoy lots of different types of novel and to say the least this one is... 'novel'. The story is intriguing and you continually wonder where it's going. It is a book you have to pay attention too but it is worth it as it is facinating. My only complaint is the lack of resolve in one part of the story however it is a good read if you are interested in flora and fauna, drugs in their early stages and lastly the Victorian era (especially if India at that time is of interest).
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
More like three and a half stars
24 Oct 2001
Format:Hardcover
"Fish, Blood and Bone" by Leslie Forbes is one of the more creative books I have encountered this year, and it proves that her first effort "Bombay Ice" wasn't just a flash in the pan. That said, this novel labors under what can only be described as a pretension of being literature. That's not to say that Forbes isn't a talented writer Quite the contrary; in fact, she has an excellent grip on the English language and her characterizations are superb. Unfortunately, these gifts are shrouded by frequent changes in voice, confusing use of fonts, and poorly delineated flashbacks. It is almost as if Forbes is trying too hard to write something "important" rather than just telling the story to the best of her obvious ability.
That said, there is an excellent story at the heart of this novel, and in spite of the flaws outlined above I did enjoy it. The reader follows the rootless Claire Fleetwood to London, and then the Indian Sub-Continent, as she searches for a personal history shrouded in the mysteries of an earlier age. Part Michael Crichton, part travelogue; Forbes weaves a remarkable trail of murder, adultery, botany, etc. while delving into the nature of "self", and how our past (and our forebears' past) determines our future.
I have enjoyed both of Forbes' books, and I look forward to her future endeavors. However, I think that she will make great strides as a writer when she abandons her tendency of trying to write "literature" and gives free reign to her creativity. In the end, "Fish, Blood and Bone" is a flawed, but nonetheless enjoyable work by a writer whom I firmly believe is on the cusp of greatness.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Ambitious adventure
8 Jun 2001
Format:Hardcover
"Fish, Blood and Bone" takes off rapidly enough with a murder soon after photographer Claire Fleetwood moves into her unexpected legacy. She inherits Eden Dwellings from a great-aunt of whom she wasn't aware. However, the house has a few problems -- a basement full of macabre artifacts and an intimidating tennant with friends who are bad news. The tennant's daughter, Sally, befriends Claire, but is soon murdered, for reasons unknown, right before Claire's eyes.
Claire meets long-lost cousin, Jack Ironstone, who briefly -- very briefly -- explains the family's heritage in botany -- specifically, opium in India. Offered a chance to accompany a team of scientists, cousin Jack included, on a hunt in India for a mysterious green poppy, which may provide a cure for cancer, Claire accepts. Thus begins a personal journey into her past. The girl whose roots were once non-existant, suddenly has her hands full of relatives and skeletons.
The plot is vast and takes off quickly at the start, and everything ties up interestingly at the end. However, the in-between is sometimes tedious. There is so much sprawl, you're worn out trying to follow it. And too, the scientific lingo bogged me down (i.e., teratology, cinchona.) This novel obviously required a tremendous amount of research on the author's part. It was good, but I wish I had enjoyed it more.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
What's going on here?
16 Dec 2002
Format:Paperback
This is a somewhat interesting book that I feel lost its way somewhere along the way to the conclusion. The plot was murky, although the writing is generally excellent, and the characters finely drawn. The reader tends to lose the sense of the book, and there's many times when you have no idea where the plot is heading. I had the feeling that the author was as confused at times herself, which is what made the book so unusually odd. There are too many strands of plot lying around, and they really don't tie up neatly, or even close to neatly, at the end, which is not so much a termination as a petering-out of the storyline. You get to the point where you don't really care about the characters and what happens to them, and that's deadly in any work.
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