Dancing On Bones

by Frances Kay

We first met nomadic puppeteer Billie in Dollywagglers. Now, in a lawless, post-pandemic world, Billie is learning to be human again – a task easily as challenging as scrounging for food and fighting off suburban savages. In Dancing on Bones, Billie’s band of three unlikely friends heads to Wales to find some semblance of civilisation, but just when they begin to settle, terrible news from London forces Billie back among the grim survivors of the capital. What happens there blows apart the seemingly invincible fortress of the dangerous elite in charge and plunges the nation into chaos once more – chaos that is mirrored by the erupting volcano that is Billie’s personal life. Though at first the fledgling democracy of Wales appears to be the haven the friends hoped to find, now it seems like their world may just end in a hail of bullets after all. Bonus short story Strange Creation is the extraordinary diary of Dr. Dorothy Broadhurst, an evolutionary biologist working in central Africa in 1950 when her academic life is violently disrupted by a local rebellion. Abandoned and isolated in her compound, surrounded only by the apes whose lives and habits she has been studying, she tries to maintain her ordered, scientific routine. But, she doesn’t know the apes as well as she thought. Soon, she becomes like a hunted animal desperately clinging on to survival and sanity.

Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2018

About the author

Frances Kay is a children’s playwright who was born in London and now lives in Ireland. She has worked with gypsies, prisoners and children in the U.K. and Ireland. She is married to musician Nico Brown. They have two daughters.

Reviews

[Fran Macilvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Dancing on Bones" by Frances Kay

Despite the supposedly grim subject of this follow-up tale, this is a beautifully written novel, touching, humorous and brimming with poignant moments.

I doubt I've read better writing anywhere, capable of conveying pathos and humour in a single sentence, instantly compelling so that I can't stop reading. Even as events unfold that wrench the heart, this novel offers a deeply thoughtful portrait of human weakness.

One of my books of 2020.

Fran Macilvey, author, "Happiness Matters"