Published in 2002
272 pages
Anna Burns was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is the author of two novels, No Bones and Little Constructions, and of the novella, Mostly Hero. No Bones won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She lives in East Sussex, England.
What is this book about?
The shattering and darkly funny debut novel from the author of Milkman, winner of the Man Booker Prize.
No Bones is a book about feelings, family, sex, and Ireland―but don’t tell Amelia that. She’s the one growing up in the mad family, in the mad society, who doesn’t want to know what’s going on. But things are going on: eight-year-olds collecting very peculiar treasure; babies who might be, or might not be, bombs; schoolgirls bringing guns into schoolyards; and, of course, lots of food and bad, bad sex.
If Amelia is to live she needs to change. Can she, though, in a place where people don’t know how to look after themselves, and so wouldn’t know how to look after one another?
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
