In many ways this was a difficult novel to read. Having just returned from a trip to New Zealand (which took place in the middle of my reading the novel) I appreciated the impact of Hulme's settings upon the emotions and actions of its characters in a way which I might not otherwise have done. Perhaps this is why a New Zealand chain of booksellers had `The Bone People' at No.5 in its Top 100 books of the 20th Century. The writing style is idiosyncratic, but gets easier to follow with time. However, the most confronting thing about this novel is its topic. It deals with domestic violence against children, and does so in a direct and challenging way. Perhaps as a consequence, it was only the child (Simon, Haimona, Clare) that I felt any real sympathy towards, and it was the sections which featured his narrative voice which were the most engaging. I don't know whether it is possible to say I enjoyed reading a novel with this theme. Perhaps the major letdown was the happy ending, which felt forced. While the desire of the characters to be together fitted with my limited knowledge of domestic violence, the implication that everything would work out almost belittled the brutal realism that we had seen earlier. I hope, as others have suggested, that the ending might have been some sort of dream.