As Simon’s other relatives are also unavailable, the operator suggests Kerewin call the police if she wants to be rid of the child right away: “They know what to do….” Despite her professed desire for isolation, Kerewin lets the child stay. … If he gets home, that is” (the suggestion being that he’s out drinking). The local telephone operator tells Kerewin that Simon’s father is “a nice bloke” but “won’t be home till late. Inclined at first to throw him out, a sudden storm softens Kerewin’s heart, and she ends up allowing him to stay while she attempts to reach his family. A mute child of indeterminate age (Kerewin guesses somewhere between five and seven), Simon wears a pendant stamped with his name and address, and is able to communicate via hand gestures and writing. The three are first brought together when Simon, after injuring his foot while playing truant, sneaks into Kerewin’s house-tower. Set in a rural town along the coast of the North Island of New Zealand, The Bone People follows three main characters-Joe, a Maori man Kerewin, a part-Maori woman and Simon, a child of European heritage. Despite its relative obscurity, Keri Hulme’s novel is as timely today as it was in 1985, addressing pressing questions for our post-colonial and increasingly globalized world: How much of a “traditional” culture is worth holding on to? Must “outsider” forces always have a negative influence? When and how can we blend cultures to achieve something better than the originals? What does the “health” of a culture really mean, anyway?

Despite this accolade, I had never heard of it, and likely would not have if not for my new book club, who chose it as this July’s “light” summer reading (jk, it’s not light at all I love my new book club). Ublished in 1985, The Bone People won the Booker McConnell Prize (now known as the Man Booker) the same year.

The bone people book review