Two sisters, each with their own problems, come together to accept a large inheritance from an unknown aunt. However, they get much more than wealth. The Bone sisters’ mother ran away from her wealthy family at a young age to the hard-scrabble life that was all the family memories that the two sisters had. Learning their history is the real gift from their dead aunt. But it is not as straightforward as the women expected. There are dark forces at work here. Will The Witches of Bone Hill be able to accept their family burdens? Will they survive long enough to appreciate their family’s unusual legacy?
Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere! The overstuffed, maybe even overwrought, prose sets the creepy scene. The adjectives outnumber the verbs by ten to one. The entire plot reminds me of the Victorian era Mary Roberts Rinehart “had-she-but-known” gothic novels of my youth. Think Rebecca or Wuthering Heights if you are more familiar with old movies. This style is not necessarily bad, but it does slow down the book’s pacing to a crawl.
Whether you like the book’s writing style and pacing or not, the conclusion is definitely not to be missed. I loved the surprising end of The Witches of Bone Hill, which brings my rating up to 4 stars.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.