In Review

21 November 2008 20:52 BST

Crossed Bones by Jane Johnson

Published by Viking, out April 3rd, hardback, 368 pages, £12.99.

In a nutshell…

Historical adventure meets modern chick-lit.

What's it all about?

Professional embroiderer Julia Lovat receives an antique sewing book as a goodbye present by her duplicitous lover. She soon finds the valuable Needlewoman's Glorie contains another, hidden text written in the margins of the antique pages; the diary of a 17th century Cornish girl captured by Berber pirates and sold into slavery in Morocco.

Determined to learn the fate of the fiery Catherine Treganna, Julia follows her centuries-old trail to Rabat in Morocco and is immediately entranced by the exotic city. As Julia delves deeper into the mysteries of the past, the past and present begin to intertwine and she discovers the bridges linking centuries and cultures.

Who's it by?

Crossed Bones is Jane Johnson's first adult novel written under her own name, though she has previously published work under the names of Gabriel King and Jude Fisher.

The novel is inspired in part by the author's family legend of a Cornish girl sold into slavery after capture by Berber raiders. She met her husband in Morocco while researching this legend, and now divides her time between the UK and a Berber village in the Atlas mountains.

As an example…

"With his long straight nose and his keen black eyes he looked like a bird of prey: capable, controlled and ruthless, Cat thought, and a chill ran through her." The spirited Catherine Treganna and her fellow villagers are captured from a cliff top church during a Sunday morning service.

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

With the public appetite for all things connected to pirates showing no sign of abating, it's possible. Certainly the novel's historical detail is richly textured and atmospheric enough to lend itself to screen adaptation, even if the characterisation sometimes seems a little thin.

What the others say

"Atmospheric and hugely romantic adventure." - Marie Claire
"Johnson imbues her historical story line with a captivating energy and momentum, but the humdrum contemporary quasi-romance doesn't pull its share of the weight." - Publishers Weekly

So is it any good?

While the colourful locations lift this novel above many others of its genre, ultimately Johnson falls a little short of her mark. The publisher has marketed the novel so as to play up the pirate angle, but in reality the shipboard section of the book is over all too quickly.

Neither Julia nor Catherine are sympathetic enough characters to hold the reader's emotional attention, and it's left to the supporting cast to elicit any emotional response.

The novel often falls prey to the cliches of romantic historical fiction, with Catherine Treganna, or Cat as she's also known, emerging as just another sub-Du Maurier fiery, vain and gratuitously red-headed heroine.

Although Johnson acquits herself well in her meticulous historical research and her portrayal of life in Morocco in both modern and Jacobean times, ultimately the reader is left feeling somewhat marooned. It's not bad enough to make you want to walk the plank, but certainly not a novel with which you'll want to sail away into the sunset.

6/10

Rebecca Malings

"I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was sorry that it ended. Hoping she writes a sequel or another as good." - Toni Waldron

"Fantastic book, great story, beautifully-written, loved every minute of it. Could not put the book down." - David Pleasant