A review by rdebner
The Bones of Paradise by Jonis Agee

4.0

I had put this on my list, since I really liked The River Wife, and I was delighted to receive a copy of this book as a publisher giveaway. Set in the Sand Hills of Nebraska at the end of the 19th century, the novel focuses on the Bennetts, a ranching family, and those who are tied to them through the events that happen at the beginning of the story. It is also a story of life in the Plains states in the wake of the massacre at Wounded Knee, the nascent conflict between ranchers and settlers wanting to hold onto their way of life and their land, in the face of those who would despoil that land for greater profit (oil and gas), and an acknowledgement that the ranchers are tenants on land that does not truly belong to them.