From Publishers Weekly
A macabre setup makes for a surprisingly moving read in Canadian writer Itani's second novel to be published in the U.S. (after
Deafening). Ottawa born and bred octogenarian Georgie Danforth Whitley has always noted similarities—including their birth dates—between herself and Queen Elizabeth, whom she privately imagines as Lilibet, a kind of parallel life-mate. A serendipitous invitation to enjoy a birthday lunch with the queen in London gives Georgie a rare opportunity to experience independence from her 103-year-old mother and her 50-something daughter. However, a momentary distraction on the drive to the airport ends with Georgie's car falling to the bottom of a ravine—with no one, except maybe Lilibet, knowing she is missing. Minutes turn into days with a wounded Georgie flashing back to pivotal (and not-so-pivotal) moments in her past as she attempts to crawl to her car. The narrative gathers momentum as Georgie's plight becomes increasingly dire and she searches through her catalogue of memories for a measure of her life's worth. The ending, with its potential for melodrama, is expertly played; throughout, Itani handles her tension-fraught material with a precise, light touch.
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Pressestimmen
'Itani writes in plain, simple, controlled prose, of family and the domestic world, and infuses it with significance, drama, pathos and passion that belie the apparent ordinariness of the lives she depicts.' -- Guardian 'Absorbing and thought-provoking, REMEMBERING THE BONES recalls similarly elegiac works, such as The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields and holds the reader's attention to the end.' -- The Times 'Itanis prose is lucid and engaging' -- Independent on Sunday 'Frances Itani doles out lucidity, empathy and poetry in crackling equal measures.' -- The Observer 'No small accomplishment in an age of loud and discordant voices' -- Anita Brookner 'The novel's ending - both inevitable and surprising - is as subtle as it is wrenching. With this book Itani joins a group of novelists who have chronicled quiet lives from start to finish, uncovering treasure in their dark corners: Carol Shields with The Stone Diaries, Marilynne Robinson with Gilead' -- The New York Times 'Who will remember the quiet lives, the ones unamplified by fame or glamour? ... This unsentimental narrator creates an effective feminine counterpoint to the aged male protagonist in Philip Roth's Everyman' -- Washington Post 'In unpretentious, quietly penetrating prose, Itani exposes the richness and depth beneath the surface of one ordinary life.' -- New Yorker 'The life story is moving, and the novel is skilfully written' -- Telegraph
