Author: Emily Lloyd-Jones
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: Hardback, 335
ISBN: 978-0-316-41841-6
Opening Lines: "The gravedigger's children were troublemakers. They chased chickens through the neighbors' yards, brandishing sticks like swords, claiming that the fowl were monsters in disguise."
Rating
"Seventeen-year-old Ryn cares about only two things: her family and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scaping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the food of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead.
"The risen corpses are known as bone houses, and legend says that they're the result of an old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with a new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good?
"Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the deeply buried truths about themselves. Equal parts classic horror novel and original fairy tale, The Bone Houses will have you spellbound from the very first page."
~ Jacket copy
Bānhūs is a kenning in Anglo-Saxon literature meaning "body". It is one of the many kennings made famous by Beowulf. When the title of this novel caught my attention while I was teaching Beowulf to sophomores. (It was not actually during the middle of class. Rather, Viking and I were wandering through Barnes & Noble, and I squealed with excitement while repeating "bānhūs" over and over again . . .)
