Contents Cover All The Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter Title Page Leave us a review Copyright Dedication Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Author’s Note and Acknowledgements About the Author ALL THE MURMURING BONES by A.G. SLATTER ‘My mother was a witch and she left me behind…’ Miren O’Malley was orphaned as a young child and brought up by her grandparents on their isolated, rambling estate, Hob’s Hallow. Long ago her family prospered due to a deal struck with the mer: safety for their merchant ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and their fortunes have suffered as a result. When Miren’s grandfather dies, her grandmother plans to restore their glory – but at the price of Miren’s freedom. Finding evidence that her parents may still be alive, Miren embarks on a treacherous journey to Blackwater, the estate her parents built when they fled Hob’s Hallow. But on arrival Miren finds the estate in decline and her ‘Uncle Edward’ in charge: where are her parents, and who is this Edward Elliott really? All the Murmuring Bones is an irresistible tale of family secrets, dark mysteries, magic and witches, and creatures of myth and the sea. A spellbinding story about strong women and the men who seek to control them. For readers of Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden “Slatter’s dark fantasies have a bright, burning core of understanding and insight.” M.R. CAREY, author of The Girl with All the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge. “Angela Slatter’s stories are horrific, mysterious, whimsical, and mischievous. Beautifully written, full of humanity and intelligence, her stories are both timely and timeless in their concerns. This is an essential collection from one of our best.” PAUL TREMBLAY, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World. 9781789094343 | 9th March 2020 | Paperback & eBook £8.99, $15.95, CAN $21.95 | 368pp Press & Publicity: Sarah Mather | [email protected] Uncorrected advance proof for review purposes only. All cover art, trim sizes, page counts, months of publication and prices should be considered tentative and subject to change without notice. Please check publication information and any quotations against the bound copy of the book. We urge this for the sake of editorial accuracy as well as your legal protection and ours. Not for resale. LEAVE US A REVIEW We hope you enjoy this book – if you did we would really appreciate it if you can write a short review. Your ratings really make a difference for the authors, helping the books you love reach more people. You can rate this book, or leave a short review here: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, or your preferred retailer. Print edition ISBN: 9781789094343 E-book edition ISBN: 9781789094350 Published by Titan Books A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd 144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP www.titanbooks.com First edition: March 2021 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2021 A.G. Slatter. All Rights Reserved. A.G. Slatter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. “Skin” originally published in The Lifted Brow, #3, February 2008 To Betty and Peter, my parents and patrons of the arts – or my art at least. 1 See this house perched not so far from the granite cliffs of Hob’s Head? Not so far from the promontory where once a church was built? It’s very fine, the house. It’s been here a long time (far longer than the church, both before and after), and it’s less a house really than a sort of castle now. Perhaps “fortified mansion” describes it best, an agglomeration of buildings of various vintages: the oldest is a square tower from when the family first made enough money to better their circumstances. Four storeys, an attic and a cellar in the middle of which is a deep, broad well. You might think it to supply the house in times of siege, but the liquid is salty and part way down, below the water level, you can see (if you squint hard by the light of a lantern) the silver crisscross of a grid to keep things out or in. It’s always been off-limits to the children of the house, no matter that its wall is high, far higher than a child could accidentally tip over. The tower’s stone – sometimes grey, sometimes gold, sometimes white, depending on the time of year, time of day and how much sun is about – is covered by ivy of a strangely bright green, winter and summer. To the left and right are wings added later, suites and bedrooms to accommodate the increasingly large family. The birth date of the stables is anyone’s guess, but they’re a tumbledown affair, their state perhaps a nod to lately decaying fortunes. Embedded in the walls are swathes of glass both clear and coloured from when the O’Malleys could afford the best of everything. It lets the light in, but cannot keep the cold out, so the hearths throughout are enormous, big enough for a man to stand upright or an ox to roast in. Mostly
