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Fish, Blood and Bone: A Novel
Three families across two centuries. A shared history of love and murder.And one woman’s passion for life and obsession with death. . .
Expatriate Claire Fleetwood is a forensic photographer adept at turning the bones of the dead into silvery, telling shadows. When she inherits an estate situated in London’s East End, Claire finally feels rooted. Then one morning a friend is murdered beyond the walls of her garden--a crime that unnerves her, intrigues her, and compels her to unravel not only the mysteries of the victim’s past but her own past as well. It’s a journey that takes Claire to the India of her forebears, to a hidden paradise between Bhutan and Tibet, and to a secret history that reverberates through time, through blood, through a lineage of forbidden pleasures and harrowing implications.
A sensuous and revealing thriller like no other, Fish, Blood and Bone is an intoxicating reflection on the consequences of the past, of unearthed skeletons and family sins, played out against the most exotic landscapes on earth—and the most unsettling corners of the imagination.
Expatriate Claire Fleetwood is a forensic photographer adept at turning the bones of the dead into silvery, telling shadows. When she inherits an estate situated in London’s East End, Claire finally feels rooted. Then one morning a friend is murdered beyond the walls of her garden--a crime that unnerves her, intrigues her, and compels her to unravel not only the mysteries of the victim’s past but her own past as well. It’s a journey that takes Claire to the India of her forebears, to a hidden paradise between Bhutan and Tibet, and to a secret history that reverberates through time, through blood, through a lineage of forbidden pleasures and harrowing implications.
A sensuous and revealing thriller like no other, Fish, Blood and Bone is an intoxicating reflection on the consequences of the past, of unearthed skeletons and family sins, played out against the most exotic landscapes on earth—and the most unsettling corners of the imagination.
448 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2000
8 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Forbes
21 books14 followers"After dropping out of England's Royal College of Art without the Masters in Film and Design she had dropped out of studying physics and politics in Canada to get, Forbes won a talent contest at Vogue, where she worked as a designer until she couldn't stand fashion any more. She then became a designer for BBC-TV (once constructing a life-size working robot out of pasta) and the author of award-winning food/travel books including Table in Tuscany. A regular presenter/writer of BBC radio documentaries, since 1990 Forbes turned to fiction in 1995, when she wrote the internationally acclaimed thriller Bombay Ice, which wove Chaos Theory into a Bollywood remake of Shakespeare's Tempest. Her equally-acclaimed second and third novels, Fish, Blood & Bone and Waking Raphael (which 2003 Booker Prize chairman John Carey called "pretty well perfect"), also engage the ways in which science and art speak to each other. She is as involved with political and free-speech issues as she is with the relationship between art and science, and her writing is deeply inspired by her work as a volunteer "mentor" with refugee writers at the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture."
http://www.scienceandliterature.org/s...
http://www.scienceandliterature.org/s...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 23, 2017
I bought this book at a secondhand store in Salt Lake City, where I was visiting a friend. At the time, I was taking art classes and was super obsessed with painting fish. Blood and bones are always interesting, so it was the title that drew me out of all the others on the shelves (I also bought a really bad gothic horror, but that has long since been donated).
This book wowed me the first time I read it. It doesn't have quite the same effect on me now, but it does combine several things that interest me: death, photography, death photography, bones, and morally ambiguous characters to name a few. The book is divided into parts. In the first part, told in first person, Claire is an interesting, likeable character. However, in the third part, when the narrative switches to third person, she becomes the dumbest person ever. She and the other characters are in India about to embark on a quest for an elusive poppy, and in the meantime she's trying to solve mysteries of her family's past. But she comes off as a dumb foreigner, not listening to anyone who knows better than her about sensitive matters, and getting herself into one dangerous situation after the next. Then when they're in the mountains on their quest, she's obsessed with apprehending orchid smugglers. Like, HOW do you expect to do that when you're deep in the mountains with limited resources? It's not like police will magically appear. Pick your battles!
So yeah. Claire was super annoying.
It pains me to lower the rating of one of my favorite books, but I'm dropping this to four stars. I still like the writing and the death stuff.
PREVIOUSLY:
Dude. This book.
You know how when you're utterly absorbed in a story but you have to stop reading for some reason (like going to work), and you lift your head from the book and you're like "Where the hell am I?" Yeah, that's what this book does.
I adored everything about this. There's murder, and fertilizer, and cool flowers, and a dangerous backpacking trip in India, and a couple of hot guys (one of them of dubious character), and a decades old love story. The way the story is structured is rather unusual, but it's awesome.
I would like to write a proper review of this at some point, but I lent my copy to a friend and haven't gotten it back yet. Classic mistake. *sobs*
This book wowed me the first time I read it. It doesn't have quite the same effect on me now, but it does combine several things that interest me: death, photography, death photography, bones, and morally ambiguous characters to name a few. The book is divided into parts. In the first part, told in first person, Claire is an interesting, likeable character. However, in the third part, when the narrative switches to third person, she becomes the dumbest person ever. She and the other characters are in India about to embark on a quest for an elusive poppy, and in the meantime she's trying to solve mysteries of her family's past. But she comes off as a dumb foreigner, not listening to anyone who knows better than her about sensitive matters, and getting herself into one dangerous situation after the next. Then when they're in the mountains on their quest, she's obsessed with apprehending orchid smugglers. Like, HOW do you expect to do that when you're deep in the mountains with limited resources? It's not like police will magically appear. Pick your battles!
So yeah. Claire was super annoying.
It pains me to lower the rating of one of my favorite books, but I'm dropping this to four stars. I still like the writing and the death stuff.
PREVIOUSLY:
Dude. This book.
You know how when you're utterly absorbed in a story but you have to stop reading for some reason (like going to work), and you lift your head from the book and you're like "Where the hell am I?" Yeah, that's what this book does.
I adored everything about this. There's murder, and fertilizer, and cool flowers, and a dangerous backpacking trip in India, and a couple of hot guys (one of them of dubious character), and a decades old love story. The way the story is structured is rather unusual, but it's awesome.
I would like to write a proper review of this at some point, but I lent my copy to a friend and haven't gotten it back yet. Classic mistake. *sobs*
November 16, 2016
Dit boek bevat een hoop interessante informatie over et nut van beenderen voor de tuin, forensische fotografie, papavers, Indië en Tibet, de Britse koloniale periode, onwettige medische experimenten. Wat het niet heeft is een duidelijke plot. Er is het verhaal van het hoofdpersonage op zoek naar haar familieroots, er is het verhaal van de grootmoeder, er is de zoektocht naar de mythische papaver en om onduidelijke redenen wordt ook Jack the Ripper er nog bijgesleurd. Het is echt een zootje. Maar toch, boeiende lectuur
April 10, 2012
Reading this book was like being in a dream. The characters would be doing something, like witnessing a murder, and then all of a sudden they would be doing something very different, like searching for a mythical green poppy that might cure cancer, with very little explanation of the change. It was police procedural meets gothic horror meets historical fiction meets adventure. Forbes managed to tie up most of the loose ends by the end, but it was a very odd book.
August 18, 2019
One of my all time favorite books and it’s rather difficult for me to even explain why. The first time I read this I was 15 and enchanted by it. I have read it a few times since then. It is very poetic and dreamy, which some criticize it for, but for me it is what I love about it. There are some quotes in this book that I have always loved and reference from time to time. The story is adventurous and intriguing the whole way through. I love following the complicated family mystery Claire unfolds, and I have always been interested in Jack the Ripper. I love the botany and the trek through India. I love all of the mentions of green. I will probably read his book again multiple times throughout my life.
March 19, 2016
I simply loved this book. So well written, beautiful prose, great plot that hooks you early on in the book, and just keeps building the suspense. A mix of suspense thriller, philsoophy, and whodunit. What a great combination! A thumping good read.
Completely different than her previous "Bombay Ice", but just as mesmerizing
Completely different than her previous "Bombay Ice", but just as mesmerizing
February 26, 2007
I was thoroughly bored by this book.
May 25, 2008
No where near as good as I hoped it would be. It had such potential but I really had a hard time getting through this one.
August 19, 2015
I'm still not sure what happened...
July 16, 2022
At first, I did not like book. It was like listening to the thoughts in my head… every blurb that enters the mind written down, like what the weather is & “look at that cloud” then, a memory of an old beau to walking in the woods. Thoughts all jumbled but together & related so badly that when someone asks “what are you thinking?” The answer must be “nothing” because it is easier & you don’t want to hurt feelings that you weren’t thinking about them & any conversation you might be having. Anyway, that is what beginning of book did to me. Just a bunch of thoughts from main character that was the basis of a story, a drama, a depiction of a life. Why did I continue? It is just me. Once I start a book, I must finish.
Sallie, the murdered girl, did not have enough presence. She could have been a treasure (which may have been the point of ending her…the fruitlessness/futility of life). Now, I am reminded of English Lit classes through high school , “what was theme of any given book/novel” Does no one ever write a story? Does everything have underlying reasons/explanations?
The final third of book did become more interesting. The mystery of Claire’s family somewhat solved. I enjoyed the final trek through Tibet(or wherever they were),once Jack left.
To sum up: it was confusing (probably THE POINT) but too much in Claire’s head with memories & imaginings of events from past as though they were events she lived through.
Sallie, the murdered girl, did not have enough presence. She could have been a treasure (which may have been the point of ending her…the fruitlessness/futility of life). Now, I am reminded of English Lit classes through high school , “what was theme of any given book/novel” Does no one ever write a story? Does everything have underlying reasons/explanations?
The final third of book did become more interesting. The mystery of Claire’s family somewhat solved. I enjoyed the final trek through Tibet(or wherever they were),once Jack left.
To sum up: it was confusing (probably THE POINT) but too much in Claire’s head with memories & imaginings of events from past as though they were events she lived through.
July 6, 2019
I gave up on this. Maybe I'll try again. The problem for me: the writing, though skilled in many ways, is dense and thickety and not what I want now. I wonder if the p.o.v. choice contributes to that density and losing track of any clarity. Reading this is like reading Dickens without the scope and distancing voice that does lend clarity. Sara Waters did wonderfully with that in A Fingersmith, so it's not a matter of contemporary vs. period fiction . . . FB&B, narrated in the first person, doesn't give me the immediacy and intimacy and clarity that I enjoy in a first person narration, even when the narrator is not reliable. (My impression and thoughts here come from switching to a Shirley Hazzard novel and the great relief and pleasure I felt being immediately drawn into the narrator's world.)
April 18, 2022
I have mixed feelings about this novel. It is strange, to say the least. I found the protagonist, Claire, sympathetic. Up to a point, I was rooting for her to solve the mysteries of her father’s British ancestors, which originated in India during the empire. But as she became obsessed with the romance and mystery of her great-grandmother’s life, the plot grew more byzantine and Claire followed dangerous leads. The story lost credibility with too many coincidences and too many pieces of evidence turning up in unlikely places.
April 18, 2018
I’m going to be serious here; after the sluggish battle through the first part, I got so fed up with all the inconsistencies that I decided to jump to the end. The prose was interesting but the depth was there enough that I was pulled into the story. Rather I pushed myself through what I had read and couldn’t bare not having some idea as to where all the rubbish lead.
October 31, 2017
Well, I finally finished this. There were times I thought I’d just walk away from it. But it was there, by the bed, and good put-me-to-sleep fodder. I admit that I skipped some. And skimmed even more.
April 15, 2022
Ik moest mijn hoofd er wel bijhouden. Dat nam niet weg dat ik deze dikke pil over liefde, afkomst, duistere familiegeheimen en dood en verderf, met zijn botanische weetjes, ingewikkelde plot en vele personages, toch vlot uitlas.
Lees binnenkort meer op stukgelezen.nl
Lees binnenkort meer op stukgelezen.nl
November 13, 2025
Heather dread mushrooms wrote what I was thinking. I really wanted to like this book, but it got tedious and I had to give it a rest for a while because the main character all of a sudden got dumb. She was kinder, though, and gave it three stars.
December 8, 2016
This book should have been a good story but was difficult to follow and somewhat disorganized.I even had to place the main character a few times
April 16, 2018
Second read for me. I liked it as much this time as the first time.
January 7, 2026
My grandma loved it because it focused so much on botany. I have less positive feelings and more confusion. Feels like many a wandering river reaching a fever dream conflux.
December 18, 2007
I started this years ago and got bogged down, and while I made it through this time I had the same problems. The book starts off strong and incorporates a number of fascinating elements (Jack the Ripper, lost waterfalls in Tibet, illicit romance in British Calcutta, a fabled poppy with curative powers) and has some great characters, but the author goes way overboard with scientific and historical detail, and it's hard to keep everything straight. It doesn't help that she switches up POVs and timelines somewhat indiscriminately, and that in the third section of the book the characterization and plot suddenly twist 90 degrees, but there's a lot of promise here. Because it's a suspense/mystery novel, I skimmed the last 100 pages or so to find out what happened, and the resolution of the last couple of chapters was fairly satisfying (there are some loose ends, but that suits the style of the narrative). It's just too bad that the novel as a whole doesn't live up to the promise of the beginning.
November 12, 2010
This book has great breadth and I think it could be read on many levels.
For one it is a mystery of a murder and an exploration of a complex family history. For another it is a testimony on man's abuse to the earth whether in the name of science or personal gain.
Clair Fleetwood is a forensic photographer, who inherits an old house in London's East End. Because of her almost nomadic childhood she yearns to put down roots and relishes the exploration of her family connection to Magda Ironstone (born Fleetwood) who founded the house and had very close connection to the family business in India.
She starts up a garden in the backyard of the old house with the help of her friend Sally, but Sally is murdered in the same backyard under mysterious circumstances.
Driven by grief and curiosity Claire ends up on an expedition in the remote parts of Tibet, looking for a green poppy that was described at length in some of Magda's papers and was coveted for its miraculous medicinal properties.
On this journey Claire discovers much more than she had bargained for.
For one it is a mystery of a murder and an exploration of a complex family history. For another it is a testimony on man's abuse to the earth whether in the name of science or personal gain.
Clair Fleetwood is a forensic photographer, who inherits an old house in London's East End. Because of her almost nomadic childhood she yearns to put down roots and relishes the exploration of her family connection to Magda Ironstone (born Fleetwood) who founded the house and had very close connection to the family business in India.
She starts up a garden in the backyard of the old house with the help of her friend Sally, but Sally is murdered in the same backyard under mysterious circumstances.
Driven by grief and curiosity Claire ends up on an expedition in the remote parts of Tibet, looking for a green poppy that was described at length in some of Magda's papers and was coveted for its miraculous medicinal properties.
On this journey Claire discovers much more than she had bargained for.
Read
April 8, 2011This really hooked me. The characters and settings are unexpected and intriguing, and I loved all the horticultural and scientific forays. The thriller aspect of it was of less interest. That is, I enjoy mysteries and some thrillers, but while I enjoyed that side of this book most of the way through, I began to weary of it once things began to go wrong in the Himalayas. I'm normally not good at guessing what will be a clue in a mystery, and it didn't bother me that I kept guessing what various things were going to mean (because they were unusual and interesting), but once we hit the standard mountain-adventure-story tensions, I felt let down at such lapses into the conventional. Still, overall I found it really wove a spell. Consequently I might go back and reread the author's earlier novel Bombay Ice one of these days--my recollection of that is more mixed but it was also one of the few novels read during my PhD research, so my mind wasn't very fiction-oriented just then.
November 8, 2013
I really enjoyed this book because it was intelligent and took place in London and India in 1988 and 1888 dealing with gardening, art, and science. I found it interesting that so much family history had been lost in one hundred years. I guess most of us know very little about those family members that lived just a few generations ago. I think I would have given it a fifth star if it hadn't integrated Jack the Ripper, though I can see why she found it fit well into the story I just didn't like that twist. In retrospect it wasn't to cheery, but I did want to know what was going to happen and really cared about the main character.
June 10, 2011
I'm glad I finished this one. It was interesting but took a bit of time to really suck me in. I'm still not sure I know who did what - and maybe that is the point. Good v. evil isn't always a cut and dry thing. The descriptions of the locations were excellent - and the characters were well developed. I enjoyed the parallels between Claire and Magda's journeys.
March 1, 2013
There is a really good story buried in the words of this book. While I think the language is symbolic of the muck and meyer of the title and story, it was oppressive and difficult to want to wade through. Plus I figured out the central plot point halfway in and felt like it was a trial reading the last half the book only to have my suspicions confirmed With no surprising element in the end.
May 30, 2007
tragic and unsettling, not that that's bad....
May 31, 2008
Oddly haunting but suffers from a lack of imagination in the denouement. Still worthwhile for the detail on the landscape of northern India, though.
July 3, 2008
One of my favorite books of all time. Forbes imagery is thick and gooey, in a good way.
February 22, 2010
good book
August 15, 2010
The story was rather disjointed, but interesting. There were so many story arcs to follow and a lot of questions went unanswered. I read this one for a book group.
September 1, 2015
Interesting story but not such an easy read
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews