Bone Necklace by Julie Sullivan
What's It About?
“Sympathetic characters and riveting story … a fascinating look into a forgotten chapter of US history whose lessons are today more relevant than ever.” —Indie Reader“Sympathetic characters and riveting story … a fascinating look into a forgotten chapter of US history whose lessons are today more relevant than ever.” —Indie Reader
“Sometimes when you read a novel, it’s so well-imagined that it just takes over and happens to you. Indeed, it’s a rare read that delivers on this level but that’s exactly what Sullivan’s Bone Necklace does.” —Book Viral Reviews
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“Native American history is too often portrayed as a tragedy — as if some fatal flaw in the character of the Indians doomed them to a terrible fate. It’s a narrative that places the moral blame squarely on the victim. Bone Necklace confronts that lie.”
What is historical fiction all about anyway? The very best of the genre introduces us to a slice of history we may or may not be aware of, creates authentic fictional characters to play out the drama, and teaches us a historical, philosophical or moral lesson or two, often expressed by the author’s distinctive approach and point of view.
The quote above is from the website of Julia Sullivan, author of the eloquently written, meticulously researched and historically based novel Bone Necklace (Brandylane Publishers), which recounts the 1877 last stand against all odds of the Nez Perce Tribe in the American West, told through a host of marvelous characters.
But as much as a tribute to the outcome of the actual battle, this book is a study in coming to terms with the effects of war (in any time period), examining relationships between loved ones, and having the characters develop an understanding for the enemies they spend most waking hours hoping to outwit, outmaneuver and bring to their knees.
ENEMIES, ALLIES, AND INNOCENT BYSTANDERS
The history is about the land. Apparently, a government-appointed chief was bribed into relinquishing millions of acres in the Camas prairie where the tribe had lived for more than 10,000 years and always claimed as its own. While President Grant corrected the matter, terms called for the Nez Perce to move to and remain on the reservation, which they failed to do, thus creating conflict.
The story is brilliantly told through three primary characters. Jack Peniel, the troubled and often-drunken son of a tough-nosed U.S. sheriff and military volunteer, sees his father’s house burned to ashes by the Nez Perce while his father’s wife Sally is caught within.
Running Bird, a Nez Perce warrior responsible for the destruction, seeks revenge on the people who murdered his father in cold blood. Jack, who in a drunken state failed to remove Sally to safety as he was instructed, volunteers to join the military to seek his own revenge and drive the tribe back to the reservation.
As the U.S. military forces the Nez Perce through Yellowstone National Park, we are introduced to a vacationing English painter Nicole Lowsley, who had made acquaintance with U.S. General William Sherman while he and his family also were on vacation, and who eventually finds herself face to face with Running Bird.
A WARRIOR COMES OF AGE
While the historical narrative plays out in dramatic fashion, we get revealing insights into the characters and their feelings.
Author Sullivan writes: “The war hadn’t broken Running Bird, but the scars ran deep. The nightmares. The numbness. The continuous replaying and second guessing of every split-second battlefield decision. The naked fear that gripped him every time he let Prairie Dove [his wife] out of his sight…The time spent wondering, pointlessly, endlessly, what he might have done differently. How he could have stopped it all.”
Running Bird finds that war isn’t all about glorious vengeance. “War wasn’t the adventure he’d expected. It wasn’t a journey and a return. It was a closed circle of grief and suffering. It poisoned the soul.”
As Running Bird reflects on war, the author offers some of her most poignant insights into his character: “Violence had entered his heart like a chilling rain, drip by drop, washing away what was good in him. He was disconcerted by what he’s become, and yet he could be nothing else now … Life wasn’t hammers and nails. It was people who took care of each other and people who didn’t. It was looking into your brother’s bowl to make sure he had enough, not to see if he had something you could take.”
ALL SIDES OF THE STORY
Sullivan does equal justice in helping us understand Jack: “Jack was a loner, an alcoholic, a mercenary. The Nez Perce represented everything his life lacked. Community. The will to live. The capacity to hope.”
The author effectively intertwines the journeys of Jack, Running Bird and Nicole, and offers a few surprises to help bring it all together.
Bone Necklace has everything one could hope for in a historical novel, overlaid atop beautiful descriptions of the terrain from Idaho to Montana and through Yellowstone, and some masterful writing that tells the incredible story through characters you totally can understand and believe in.
Perhaps Virginia (“Ginny”) Sloan, Former Counsel, Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, says it best when she describes Bone Necklace as “a real and well-researched history lesson, as well as a love story — not only the love (platonic and otherwise) of the Native Americans for each other, but also for the country that was theirs and that we stole.”
