The Coral Bones

by E.J. Swift

This is what it looks like when coral dies.

Present day. Marine biologist Hana Ishikawa is racing against time to save the coral of the Great Barrier Reef, but struggles to fight for a future in a world where so much has already been lost.

1839. Seventeen-year-old Judith Holliman escapes the monotony of Sydney Town when her naval captain father lets her accompany him on a voyage, unaware of the wonders and dangers she will soon encounter.

The sun-scorched 22nd century. Telma Velasco is hunting for a miracle: a leafy seadragon, long believed extinct, has been sighted. But as Telma investigates, she finds hope in unexpected places.

Three women: divided by time, connected by the ocean. Past, present and future collide in E. J. Swift’s The Coral Bones, a powerful elegy to a disappearing world – and a vision of a more hopeful future.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Climate Change Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical

403 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2022

About the author

E. J. Swift is the author of The Osiris Project trilogy, a speculative fiction series set in a world radically altered by climate change, comprising Osiris, Cataveiro and Tamaruq. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies from Salt Publishing, NewCon Press and Jurassic London, including The Best British Fantasy (Salt Publishing, 2013 and 2014).

Swift was shortlisted for a 2013 BSFA Award in the Short Fiction category for her story “Saga’s Children” (The Lowest Heaven, Jurassic) and was longlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award for “The Spiders of Stockholm” (Irregularity, Jurassic).

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent piece of climate fiction that manages to be depressingly realistic while also, somehow, being hopeful. Even after finishing the book I’m not entirely sure how the author pulled that off.

This book follows three different women in three different time periods: the 19th century English colonial daughter of a ship captain, accompanying her father on an exploratory voyage charting the Great Barrier Reef; a present-day marine biologist, studying the effects of climate change on the reef; and from the 22nd century, post-climate collapse, a women whose job is to investigate reported sightings of presumed-extinct animals for conservation/restoration purposes as humanity belatedly cleans up its act.

It’s a clever way to approach climate fiction. Each of these women is a scientist of some sort. The Great Barrier Reef is the common touchstone for all three; one when the Reef is thriving pre-Industrial Revolution, one when the Reef is struggling and the coming consequences of human activity are clear, and one when the Reef has failed and the goal is to save what can be saved. They follow in each other’s footsteps, visiting the same places (though not deliberately), and as a reader there was a definite thrill when one came across a trace of one of the earlier women. It made the stories feel tightly bound despite being separated by centuries.

The 19th century story takes the form of a diary as the woman records her observations on her father’s exploratory journey north from Sydney Town. Gender roles are a big thing here - despite her interest in, and obvious aptitude for, the natural sciences, she is regrettably female. Colonialism is also a theme here, as they encounter First Nations people along the way. This is the most optimistic of the three stories, with a definite sense of the awe of discovery.

The 21st century story follows a marine biologist who studies corals, and in particular their response to rising water temperatures. Her despair over what she sees as the inevitable death of the Great Barrier Reef has driven her both into deep depression and an obsessive focus on her research, which leads to her partner leaving her.

In the 22nd century, the climate has collapsed and humanity has endured disaster after disaster. The survivors are living in sheltered, sustainable cities, as the countryside is now hot enough that survival is very difficult. Hard work has brought the carbon levels in the atmosphere down almost to pre-industrial levels, but it will be a long time before the planet reaches a sustainable equilibrium again. The woman in this timeline is dispatched to the Reef to investigate reports of a seadragon (the fish, not a literal dragon), which has been presumed extinct.

I was hooked by the 19th and 22nd century women straight away; the 21st century one took me longer to really get into. This might have been because it was the most bleak of the three POVs. Things might have gone to hell in the 22nd century POV, but at least people are pulling together to fix it. The 21st century POV doesn’t have that optimism, and she’s in a pretty bad place personally. There wasn’t anything bad about those chapters, it just took me longer to really get invested in her.

Excellent book from a small-time author who deserves more attention.

My blog

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Coral Bones is a novel about the Great Barrier Reef and climate change. A disproportionate amount of great anglophone climate fiction (not cli-fi) is set in Australia, I've noticed. Here the narrative includes three threads, each narrated by a woman in Australia, each in a different century. One follows a girl on a sea voyage in the mid-19th century, another a marine biologist in the present day, and the third a representative of an ecological Restoration Committee two centuries in the future. Perhaps inevitably, the present day sections are less obviously exciting, as they are grounded in the mundane details of normal daily life and centre upon a marine biologist experiencing a depressive episode. Yet these parts are all the more powerful for their grounding in unpalatable facts. Hana's reaction to the destruction of a reef is conveyed vividly:

Imagine a place you know intimately. A home, beloved, each brick and pane and furnishing and dirt or grease mark on the wall, every inch of the architecture infused with memory. Imagine one day you return and find nothing remains but the foundations. The ceiling is gone, the windows have vanished. What was a house is hollow. Even the air feels different. It is not a haunting, there are no ghosts here; the memories have been wiped. There is only absence. You stand, turning on the spot, looking about you. After a while, the doubt creeps in. You begin to disbelieve that this is the place you knew. That you were ever here at all. Such is the transformation, you cannot truly take it in. There must be some mistake.

Gone were the vivid reds and oranges, the yellows and pinks, the umbers and siennas, the gentle sepias, all the infinite hues of coral that make a healthy reef. These colonies were long past bleaching; algae had grown over their bodies, a relentless carpet masking the great mazes of brain corals, the delicacy of fans, smothering anything that might have survived the broiling. Limbs of staghorn stuck up in bleak, endless forests. Crown-of-thorns starfish had moved in, feasting on the weakened survivors. Many of the corals had already begun to disintegrate. When I touched them, their flesh came apart in ragged clumps that dissolved between my fingers. Entire colonies were reduced to rubble.

Floating over the destruction, my first thought was of ossuaries, but those were places of reverence. This scene looked like a war zone.

The Victorian expedition and future ecological rehabilitation are rather more fun than the horrors of the present day. Judith, a keen amateur naturalist on a voyage captained by her father, is enchanted to discover the reefs. Her dynamics with the official scientists on the expedition and the companion she dragged along are amusing and her joy infectious. Telma, who narrates the sections set in the future, is a much more solemn narrator. She is nonetheless hopeful, as her job is to track down the remnants of species thought to be extinct. The world in which she lives is building back sustainably after the ravages of climate chaos. Her hunt for the marvelous creature shown on the cover of the paperback edition I read is very compelling. I really enjoyed The Coral Bones, even though the theme of motherhood was a bit lost on me. It was lovely to see the Great Barrier Reef at three points in time through the eyes of people who love it. Moreover, I am always impressed by climate change fiction that manages to end on a satisfying note which balances the individual characters and their wider environment.

[Elentarri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best general fiction/ speculative fiction novels I've read in years!  The beautiful cover is a bonus as well.  E.J. Swift has produced a beautifully written and evocative ode to corals and their ecosystems.   The novel revolves around the lives of three women and their love of the ocean.  The theme tying these women's stories together is the Great Barrier Reef.  Swift didn't write a fast paced thriller - she wrote a story that needs to be savored, that takes you on a tour of the world inhabited by these women.  Another reviewer wrote that the novel was "depressingly realistic while also, somehow, being hopeful".  I cannot agree more.  I was pleasantly surprised by the hopefulness of the story (despite the depressing bits), which is generally not something one finds in climate fiction.

The reader is first introduced to present day Hana Ishikawa, a marine biologist working on the assisted evolution of coral (yes, it's a real thing!) and introduces the reader to the current, struggling state of the Reef.  Hana is not in a good spot mentally, as she sees little hope for the future.  The past is represented by a lively, intelligent and inquisitive 17 year-old budding naturalist, Judith Holliman, who has convinced her naval captain father to allow her to join him on his next voyage of exploration.  Judith's sections are told in the form of a journal and describe her excitement at each new discovery of a thriving ocean ecosystem.  The future 22nd century that E.J. Swift envisions, involves interesting ideas about the modification of human civilization in an attempt to clean up their mess and conserve what is left.  In this century, Telma Velasco has the unenviable (or perhaps enviable?) job to investigate the reported sightings of animals presumed extinct and then collect such animals for conservation or restoration projects.  One of those reported, but dubious, sightings happens to be of a leafy seadragon on a Reef that has been decimated.  I loved that each woman has her own, distinct voice and character.

E.J. Swift has written a story in which I could get on board with all the characters, feel for them and enjoy spending time in their company.  A memorable book and a joy to read.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest pieces of science fiction I have ever read that explores climate change, our ever changing relationship with nature and discovery yet manages to stay hopeful too - a beautiful novel

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, we follow three women in Australia across the centuries--Hana, in contemporary or near-contemporary times; Judith, in 1839; and Telma, in the late 22nd century. All three women have a deep connection with the ecology of Australia, especially the reefs. And all three are in difficult relationships as mothers, wives, or daughters. Thematically, it's great, and while it's quite depressing in many parts, there is hope in each of these women's lives. It's a great call to action, though I only wish I could be confident of a "Restoration Committee" in the future with the way things are going now. In any case, it's a good book to ponder the fate of the world we live in.

[Borja · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 / 5 ⭐

Llevaba un tiempo sin leer una novela con el cambio climático y nuestra relación con el planeta como hilo principal. Si a eso le añadimos las múltiples líneas temporales conectadas por documentos, legados y acciones, me encuentro con una novela que no podía dejar pasar.

Vaya por delante que no es The Coral Bones una historia de acción desmedida o de tensión narrativa, sino que centra los esfuerzos en una composición cuidada, fluida y preciosista.

La narración nos lleva a tres momentos muy alejados los unos de los otros, todos ellos situados en Australia. Tres protagonistas, Hana, Judith y Telma, cada uno con un estilo propio. La primera, en la actualidad, lucha por que la gran barrera de coral de Australia no desaparezca. En su lucha por un futuro mejor se encuentra con el aislamiento y la lucha en solitario por cambiar la espiral capitalista con consecuencias directas en la naturaleza. Con Judith viajamos a comienzos del siglo XIX para ver cómo se enrola con su padre para explorar las costas de la isla y cómo su condición de mujer afecta a este viaje y cómo el resto de los tripulantes y científicos la ven. Finalmente, en un futuro no determinado vemos como Telma se echa a la mar para ver qué hay de cierto en los rumores que hablan de la existencia de un dragón de mar (como el de la portada) en la zona donde se ubica una ya agotada barrera de coral.

Tres tramas conectadas que también tienen consistencia por sí mismas. Cada una con su parte de sentido de maravilla adaptada al tiempo que les corresponde. Al final el mensaje no solo ecologista, tecnológico y social, sino también feminista, se cierra en un círculo de acciones y consecuencias que encaja perfectamente. Y todo ello sin ningún altibajo, lo que hace su lectura un disfrute continuo.

Como único punto negativo encuentro que las tres protagonistas hablan, a pesar de la distancia temporal entre ellas, de manera muy similar.

Una novela que he disfrutado mucho y os recomiendo si os interesa la mezcla de ecologismo y especulación sobre el futuro de nuestros mares, unida a la evolución de la tecnología que nos rodea.

[Preeti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure I can do this book justice in a review. At first, I was mixed on the various perspectives, enjoying one over the others, and that kept shifting until about halfway, when I really started enjoying all three. The writing was so evocative, and the author captured the feeling of eco-grief so so well. I've highlighted so many passages throughout.

I put this into the same category as books like Migrations, Venomous Lumpsucker, maybe even The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, despite that last one being nonfiction.

I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

[Jonathan McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Coral Bones is exactly what I want from a climate fiction narrative. This novel follows three women in three different eras as they explore the same area of the Great Barrier Reef. Splitting the novel into past, present, and future means we get glimpses of the wonder of discovery, the horror of climate destruction, and finally the hope of speculative recovery efforts. This structure means the book is written in the style of three genres at once (historical fiction, contemporary mystery, and science fiction), all of which work well together and feed into each other at the end. The science fiction storyline was particularly compelling because without it we'd be left feeling hopeless about humanities future. Too much ecological fiction offers stark warnings about our impending doom but little else. This novel functions both as a warning and as a vision of the future where humanity changes and adapts to live in balance with the natural world. I especially loved the descriptions of future rituals honoring the earth and its creatures. I appreciated little language details too, like how in this future the word "pet" is considered offensive. Domesticated animals are instead referred to as "companions" and their caretakers as "custodians." Lastly, I was impressed by how this book consistently pointed out the enormous damage western colonialism has done to the earth and to humanity. The only downside is that this novel is published by a small UK press and it's very hard to find in the United States. If you can find a copy, I highly recommend this book.

[Noémie J. Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up as a 5 because I'm nice like that
This book is the perfect example for objectivity VS subjectivity of art.

Objectively ?
This book is not the most well written. It goes between very dry and unecessarily flowery (the journal pages from the contemporary MC make no sense and are so over the top I just could not read them without cringing). The crossing destinies are not very original and have been done better before.
I ackowledge that.

But ?
Subjectively, I got completely swept into the ocean of this story (get it ?).
I had to legit pause and put the book down at the news of the baby. The parts aboard the Kittiwake were better than all of Hobb's Ships of Destiny books combined at showing a woman learning how to be fierless on a boat in a man's world. It made me go and research and learn about corals and leafy seahorses and cry about it. It made a lot of sense to me in that way. The future parts were very niely done, my favourite parts of the book, not surprisingly.
I loved it. I know it's not great. The prose is not great. But it got me. Isn't it the purpose of fiction after all ?
Incredible book in that aspect.

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about humans and pollution and the effects on the world from the early 19th century through to the near future as seen through the coral reefs of an island near Australia, and as seen through the eyes of three scientific minded females. Hard to describe, but very good.

[Ζωή Τσούρα · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and layered story about loss, grief and hope, in the time before, during and after climate change, told through three women scientists of different eras. Deep, moving, raw and honest, it will stay with me for a long time.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

“…we are not living for ourselves but borrowing from the future. Our borrowing has long exceeded a safe limit. We are shitting in our own house, shovelling the shit to the next room when the stink grows too great – and running out of rooms.”

[Thijs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful. So beautiful that it took me a while to think of why it stuck so deeply and immediately.

And I think I figured it out. The book talks about a love for nature from three different perspectives, from different timelines. The author expresses a love for the ocean and the reef so deep and so whole that it revertebrates through me on a deep level. The characters are vivid and beautifully introspective and their stories come together in an oddly meaningful way, which came highly surprising to me.

But most importantly, the author understands. The author understands what it means to grow up in a world in which the climate crisis continues unabated. Where our natural world declines rapidly and to see species disappear into the dark, maybe forever. It makes you question your place in the world and whether you are indeed "doing enough". The book is deeply emotional and most of those emotions are melancholy and depressing.

But it is also about hope, about light in the darkness. About chances and about the resilience that natural systems and humans have. So all in all, read this book. One of the best pieces of climate fiction I have read to-date.

[Genevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The opening scene of this book had me gripped.

Hana, a marine biologist in Australia studying coral bleaching, has everything thrown at her. She's 8 days into grieving a breakup, has just witnessed a major coral bleaching event and is now sitting in a clinging, tight wetsuit on a hot beach in the beaming midday sun with 2 American tourists and a dead body. Every sentence in this scene has the dizzying effect of an impending panic attack.
Swift's rich prose constantly layers the inner state and physical environment of her characters to create an immersive reading experience.

We also follow Judith, who bristles against 1830s' gender roles with youthful optimism & determination as she sets sail on a voyage around Australia's uncharted & pristine coastline.
And Telma, hundreds of years in the future, consumed by a barely bottled rage as fires & storms ravage the ruined ecosystem.

Each character has a very distinct voice and they all feel like genuine products of their times & environments. The weather, the reefs, the ecosystem all feel like distinct characters too.

The thematic bond between Hana & Telma's stories was extremely strong, each major theme (isolation, grief, hope, responsibility to future generations) almost directly mirrored from a before & after perspective.
However I thought Judith's themes at times felt a little too disconnected from the remainder of the narrative, dealing instead mostly with themes of freedom, colonialism, innocence & discovery.

I found it a slow-paced book, with the primary focus more on the emotional journeys of each character than outer conflict. In particular due to the structure of each chapter being evenly split between each character, I found the first half dragged as each of three stories were successively introduced then set up. By the halfway point either the pace picked up or my expectations about what sort of story it was had adjusted & I found it much more absorbing.

Ultimately the most moving part for me was Swift's portrayal of the future. It did not shy from the possibility & human tragedy of climate catastrophe, but still maintained a deep optimism about humanity's ability to adapt, progress and find hope in times of hardship.

My Verdict: Overall it was worth a read if you've experienced feelings of climate anxiety & want those feelings acknowledged, without being overwhelmed by them. However, avoid if a slow-paced book & sometimes densely poetic prose sound unappealing.

Paired Reading: I read Who shot the last huia? an essay by Kathryn van Beek days before reading this book & found myself constantly reflecting on it during Hana & Judith's stories.

[Ian Woody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book anchored in past, present and future. Evocative portraits of the climate world inhabited by the three protagonists in their respective time zones. Touching and real which creates a trigger to reflect and resolve in past and future actions. The character studies are equally strong thus harnessing the personal and individual with the external threats of climate change, prejudice and politics.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, so beautiful. Made me feel equally hopeful and devastated.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary tale linking past, present and future around climate change and its impact on nature and people dealing with its consequences. The action pretty much centres on a certain set of islands and coral reefs in Australia . There’s almost a sense of Deja vu as the three eras collide and the links unfold and unite.

[Shishir Kedlaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

EJ Swift’s The Coral Bones is simply beautiful climate fiction.

It tells the story of 3 individuals in different time periods - but all connected by the Great Barrier Reef.

Hana is based in 21st century Qld, Judith lived around the early 19th century settling of Australia while Telma lives in a post apocalyptic 24th century Australia reminiscent of Mad Max.

The 3 lead ladies and their stories - their hopes, dreams, ambitions, struggles, travails, challenges and victories are poignantly explored. Swift’s character work is immaculate. Each character has her own voice and it never bleeds into the next.

Similarly immaculate is Swift’s world building! There is a definite time and place for each story and the switch between the time periods never gets overwhelming or confusing. Its is done masterfully.

While Hana’s story - both professionally and personally - is a bit depressing, Judith and Telma’s stories have a streak of optimism in them that is heartfelt.

There is a lot to love about this book, such an important message not withstanding and I would definitely love to explore more stories in their respective worlds.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book!

[Steph Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this would be a great book club book (if I were in a book club). It’s thought provoking and made me feel smart reading it. But it was a little slow to start, and wordy and philosophical at times. Which isn’t a problem per se, just makes it a read that requires effort 😂
I reallly liked one of the storylines of the 3, kinda wish I could read more of just that one!

[Neveah · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. This was because I had to switch to read something for a GOH interview and couldn’t summon the energy to speed read this through to the end.

This tells the tale of climate change through three different perspectives, by three women who visit the same island in past, present, future. All three are trapped by various aspects of their lives - patriarchal attitudes towards scientific discovery, onrushing climate change and pregnancy/infertility, and the death of a child. So, happy reading for a summer’s day this is not, and everyone is rather understandably miserable about these things as a result.

There’s some strong worldbuilding in the present and future sections (although the murder ‘mystery’ clogs the present a bit), but I’m going to disagree with Nicholas Whyte’s review here and say that the look at past scientific research (specifically, botany and early biology/Darwinism), is a bit clumsy. I think possibly because this is a VERY common topic for authors like Marie Brennan and more recently, the Emily Wilde series, that it’s hard to carve out anything particularly new here. Also I’ve probably been over-saturated by the multiple episodes of Sawbones and the Secret Life of Plants, which have covered this particular area multiple times. So, my bad for knowing the period rather too well, I suspect.

[D.J. Cockburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an extraordinary novel. It combines three protagonists who are all obsessed with the Great Barrier Reef, one in the Victorian age of exploration, one in today’s era of climate crisis and one in a future that’s picking up the pieces after the climate crisis. The timeslipping element makes it the story of the reef as much as the protagonists as it ties the three stories into a single narrative.

There are also fish. Lots of fish. And fish are fun.

[Alan Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a strange novel. It doesn’t so much tell a story as it tells three, but they don’t really intertwine. Rather it tells of three women, separated in time and connected only by their choice of profession and the fact that each, at some point, visits Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef. The two later in time become aware vaguely of their predecessors towards the end, but this doesn’t drive the story.

In the present day we have Hana, arguably the central character, a marine biologist whose professional life, trying to protect the reef’s coral and feeling helpless as it dies around her, mirrors her personal life as she reels from a relationship break up that she instigated for all the wrong reasons.

Two hundred years earlier, Judith is a budding naturalist desperate to follow in the footsteps of her hero Mr Darwin, but expected to conform to society’s idea of a woman’s place. She persuades her ship’s captain father to take her along on a voyage of exploration, and finds herself drawn more and more to cataloguing the diversity of life beneath the sea’s surface, and finds help in the most unexpected of places.

Two hundred years into the future we have Telma, living in a highly regulated world where global warming has wiped out huge swathes of the world’s biodiversity. She works for an agency that tries to locate and regulate extant specimens of suspected extinct creatures. Sent to the reef after the possible sighting of a leafy seadragon, she stumbles across something that might give hope for the world’s recovery.

And that’s it really. This isn’t an exciting thrill ride, rather it is mostly a character study, or rather three of them, and yet it does hold the attention from beginning to end. Judith’s story in particular is engrossing, and I could happily have read a book entirely dedicated to telling it. Although we are provided with vague details of her life after the book ends, I would have been delighted to have shared the adventure with her in more detail.

The other two stories are arguably the more important if you take the theme of the book as being the eco-disaster we are all currently living through. Hana’s story is one of angry despair, Telma’s of hope rising out of desperation. All three stories keep you turning the pages, and Swift has a writing style which provides enough of the science behind the story to keep you interested without it becoming overwhelming.

It is also a book where, despite being quite lengthy, because of the three story format it doesn’t feel like it outstays its welcome. Also, despite that format, each story is given room to breathe and to play out at its own pace. Although classed as science fiction, it’s a novel that is more fiction that contains science, but it is definitely worth delving into.

[Jacqie · Rating 3 out of 5]

SFF Cleanup: 9 to 5 (about work)


This is a multiple timeline book. I liked one timeline story okay, really liked the second, and didn't attach to the third.

First timeline has an attention-getting start! A scientist working with coral die-off on the Great Barrier Reef near Lizard Island comes across a dead body in a life raft painted white with the words "This is what it looks like when coral dies" painted in black on it. Most of this woman's story, though, is her being sad about her former girlfriend. Our marine biologist is so upset about the plight of the reefs that she can't believe in making a future with her girlfriend, who wants to have a child. This biologist is given an old trunk, which contains journals...

That lead to the next timeline, my favorite. I'm always up for a plucky lady naturalist, and the young girl born to a sea captain in Sydney has determined that she will go with him on his next exploration survey voyage of the islands near Australia (dragging along her poor maid in the process). Maybe I am too firmly embedded in the colonialist mindset or something. I did love her love for the natural world and her wonder and discovering in reality what she had only read about.

Third timeline, my least favorite, is set in the future. A woman does her job of making sure that no one is producing illegal artificial creatures for exploitation. She also tracks the hints of any extinct animals that might actually have been found again. The sea dragon on the cover of this book is what takes this character to the Outer Great Barrier Reef. I never could really attach to this character.

The author does do a great job of giving each main character a separate voice. Each timeline feels quite different. Tying all of them together turns out to be a bit of a stretch. I think this author can write, but it could be that I've been reading too much climate science fiction lately and need a bit of a break. It's not easy to read or think about and I'm glad that authors are turning their attention to this topic. It's still hard to read.

[Lucinda Bain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This morning I finished reading The Coral Bones by E.J. Swift. This book was a slow burn for me - I find books that change between characters take a little longer to get to know - but once I had circled through the three women taking charge of the narration in this book, I felt more invested. Hana Ishikawa is a present day marine biologist working on the Great Barrier Reef from her hometown of Townsville on Bindal and Wulgurukaba Land. Her narrative is braided with that of 17 year old Judith Holliman, a budding colonial naturalist aboard her father’s voyage ship which is charting the reef in 1839, and Telma Velasco in the 22nd century, who spends her days seeking out a (previously assumed extinct) leafy seadragon sighting on the reef. What appear to be disparate characters at first soon become woven together across time, each storyline connecting with the other in both theme and landscape.

Hana’s story paints an bleak picture of our present climate situation. Her experience of climate grief and depression seemed apt to be reading at this moment in time, during which my real-life newsfeed was peppered with articles about widespread bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, and elsewhere globally. The book, however, somehow manages to end with a thread of hope for a future where humans work to overcome some of the atrocities we have created, and, in a drastically changed landscape, tend to regeneration. It is an immersive and tactile book filled with colour and texture and emotion: I’m glad to have read it.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Character driven book traversing three time periods, concering a 19th young girl aboard her father's ship, a 21st century ecologist whose concern for the environment has become so all consuming its ruined her relationship, and a 22nd century ravaged by humanity's lack of care, doing the best they can with reparations.

This was a great read, with all three segments intriguing, despite only loosely connecting. It's another science fiction book warning us about the perils of global warming and climate change, really well written with each character given a distinctive voice. Towards the end, I feared it was going to leave too much hanging or unexplained, but it climaxed perfectly, and led me to realise I'd just become so invested in these people that I didn't want to leave them behind.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-coral-bones-by-e-j-swift/

A gem. It’s set in three timelines, the past, the present and the future, in and around Australia. (Apparently the author has not actually been to Australia, but I couldn’t tell.) The unifying theme is environmental apocalypse, as observed by women scientists; the three plots are each engaging on their own terms, and then the linkage at the end is very satisfying. A real warning about what we are doing to our world and ourselves. It is very much in keeping with the spirit of other recent Clarke winners, and Sir Arthur himself would have appreciated the diving scenes; personally I was especially grabbed by the nineteenth century science.

[Mildred · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm starting to judge how good books are by how emotional I am when I finish reading them, and I'm currently wiping away tears while trying to conjur the words to justify how good this book is. I want people to read it.

Three hugely compelling stories of women, scientists, lovers of the sea, separated by centuries, brought together in their search for coral and all the life it contains.

A devastatingly realistic imagining of a post-climate change future, which somehow retains hope, and even though I started to falter with one of the narrators towards the end (you'll know who, and why, if you read it), I now understand and recognise the signs of climate anxiety and the devastating effects it can have on our mental health.

Just... a spectacular book. Read it.

[Carolyn Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three narrative strands connect through the ages around the coral reefs off the coast of Australia in a past, present, and speculative future look at climate change. Each section, seen from three women's different persepectives: a current day marine biologist watching eco-disaster happening in real time; a young, would-be naturalist on a sea voyage with her father, confined and frustrated by the restrictive 19th Century society; and an investigator sent to verify a sighting of a rare seadragon in a future world drastically changed by climate disaster. The book has an satisfying ecosystem of its own, in the way the three stories connect and hear eachother's echoes.

[James Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any enjoyable book which examines the impact of the human race on the planet through the eyes of three women - one, Judith, living in the 19th century, one, Hana, living in the 21st century, and one, Thelma, living in the future. The planet is largely undamaged by the human race in Judith’s time; by Hana’s time, it teeters on the edge of ecological Armageddon; and be Thelma’s time, there is planetary desolation. Each woman has an individual chapter, with clever and subtle allusions to each other being sprinkled through the book.

The book ends with Hana choosing the path of hope, and in doing so delivers the message that there remains hope for the planet.