Bone by Bone by Bone

The quality of this outstanding novel is evident from the first page, for this is an author who writes rather than word-processes. Drawing on painful autobiographical memories of her own American childhood, Tony Johnston vividly recreates a small town in Tennessee in the 1950s. Her main character David Church starts out at ten years old and has reached 13 by the story’s end. He is surrounded by outsize but believable characters who reveal themselves in their own rich dialect, none less so than David’s loving but tyrannical father. The town doctor, he is also a vicious racist, so when David makes a best friend of Malcolm, a black contemporary, tragedy is never far away. This should be a sad novel, but David and Malcolm still manage to have some very good times together, despite threats from the Klan as well as elsewhere. It is also exhilarating to read prose packed with local colour and idiom and always so beautifully crafted. Author of over 100 books in her own country, Tony Johnston is comparatively unknown over here. This excellent novel should put this right.