The Bone People

The book opens with a short Prologue. The same scene of walking down an asphalt street during the summer is told from three points of view, presumably the three protagonists’. The fourth paragraph declares that “they would have been nothing more than people by themselves,” but “all together, they are the instruments of change” (4).

The Prologue continues to offer brief glimpses into each of the protagonist’s past. We first encounter Simon when the adults around him plan how to escape a sinking boat. This passage is the first to suggest physical abuse, as the boy is familiar with the “haunting terrible voice, that seemed to murmur endearments all the while the hands skillfully and cruelly hurt him” (5).

The next passage retells the deaths of a woman named Hana and her baby and her demand that Joe take care of Simon. The final passage follows Kerewin’s plans for and efforts building her tower and its function as both a hermitage and a prison.

The story begins with hermit artist Kerewin Holmes having drinks at a local pub but remaining distant and isolated from the locals. In the next scene, she goes fishing at dawn. As a storm rolls in, she heads home and finds a discarded sandal on the way. In her tower, she finds a young mute boy, Simon, standing on the windowsill in her library. Kerewin dislikes company, especially when uninvited, and wants to chase the child away, but she changes her mind after seeing his foot is injured. The sandal she found was discarded by him after he stepped on something sharp. Kerewin takes care of his wound and invites him to stay until someone can come and pick him up.

She phones the number on a pendant around Simon’s throat, but the telephone operator tells her that the boy’s father is not available and his other relatives are currently away. Talking partially to herself, Kerewin explains that she used to work hard jobs but quit to follow her passion for painting. After struggling with money, she won the lottery, but with her newfound money came family problems and struggles with her art. She lets Simon stay the night and sleep in her bed.

The operator calls Kerewin back in the evening and tells her that someone will pick up Simon the following day. He also tells her the boy is known for petty theft and vandalism.

The following morning, after eating breakfast, Kerewin begins teaching Simon how to play chess. His uncle, Piri Tainui, arrives to pick him up, apologizing for any trouble the boy might have caused. After the two are gone, Kerewin realizes that one of her chess pieces is missing.

Simon’s adopted father, Joe Gillayley, sends a letter to Kerewin thanking her for taking care of Simon and asking for a chance to meet with her in person. He shows up that evening with Simon, and Kerewin is surprised to realize that Joe is Maori and cannot be the boy’s biological father. She also recognizes Joe from the pub, where she saw him recently and was unimpressed with his profuse drunken swearing. However, when sober, Joe is a pleasant interlocutor, and they end up having dinner and playing chess until late into the night. The two adults bond over their shared Maori heritage and love of Maori language and culture.

The following day, Simon shows up with a note from Joe asking Kerewin to look after him, if possible. The artist lets the boy stay, and they spend the day in her studio. Simon gives her one of his precious possessions, an expensive-looking rosary that has a ring rather than a crucifix. She is reluctant to accept something that looks like a family heirloom, but the boy is insistent. Kerewin becomes absorbed by her art and is finally able to create a painting she is happy with, even though it is not a happy work.

When Joe comes to pick up Simon, they invite Kerewin for dinner. After the meal at Joe’s nice but austere house, the artist asks about Simon’s story.

Joe recounts that several years earlier there was a terrible storm. A boat is caught in it off the coast. When the locals try to help the stranded people, they see a man, a woman, and a child jump off the boat. One of the locals is also certain there were some other people jumping off from the other side. However, the rescue party is unable to reach the boat in time. They start searching along the beach and eventually find the man and woman’s bodies. On his way back to his pregnant wife, Hana, Joe finds Simon washed out, half dead. The boy displays signs of mistreatment and abuse, possibly sexual, as his hips and pelvis display extensive injuries. He has no trouble making sounds, but talking causes him to vomit. They have been unable to identify him or the dead adults, who, as it turns out, were not related to the boy. The rosary is the only thing they recover, found in the dead woman’s clothes. Joe and Hana decide to keep Simon. However, a year later, Hana and their infant son die from the flu, and Joe is left alone to take care of Simon, who is turning out to be a difficult child. Because of his muteness, the boy is bullied at school and treated as if mentally deficient, which provokes his violent outbursts.

Kerewin feels sympathy for the two Gillayleys. Joe works long hours at a factory but is unwilling to take time off as he and Simon do not get along well when together all day long. The artist offers them the use of her family’s fishing grounds as a potential place for a holiday. When talking about her relatives, she calls them her “ex-family,” indicating they have “rowed irreparably.”

This chapter opens up with a fragment from a conversation between Simon and Kerewin, Simon communicating though gestures. The boy confides that at night he sees lights on people. Kerewin identifies them as auras and tells him that she knows of only one other person who can see them without the help of technology.

The artist becomes progressively more intrigued by the boy and decides to attempt to help him recover and work through his traumatic past. She is also disturbed by Joe’s parenting style. He seems very relaxed about certain things, such as drinking and smoking, but exceedingly strict about stealing and lying, going as far as hitting the boy.

In her search for Simon’s identity, Kerewin discovers that the ring on his rosary belongs to the Irish Earl of Conderry. Since none of the other leads goes anywhere, she writes a letter to the earl, and she eventually received a reply in the mail. The ring belongs to the earl’s younger grandson, who was disinherited for “disgraceful propensities four years ago” (99).

Kerewin tries to understand Simon’s life and pretends to be mute for a day. It is an appalling experience as people assume that she is also unintelligent and begin talking slowly and loudly at her.

Joe phones to ask about Simon, who seems to have disappeared. He sounds slightly drunk and invites Kerewin out to the pub to meet his friends. She agrees but decides to check on the Tainui farm for Simon. Not finding him there, she goes to their house in town, but that, too, is deserted, with remnants of broken dishes on the kitchen floor.

Kerewin meets Joe and his friends in the bar. She feels like an imposter because of her European, or pakeha, appearance. The artist is also uneasy about Joe’s lack of concern for Simon’s disappearance. After a while, they go to Joe’s house to have dinner. However, they seem to have lost their ability to communicate. After getting home, the artist discovers Simon, who is badly beaten up, in front of her fireplace. She phones Joe, thinking that he has done it, but it seems that he only spanked Simon in the morning and someone else has beaten him up.

The Tainuis show up. Initially, they treat Kerewin rudely, and she is somewhat offended. However, they insist she come over the following day to talk about Joe and Simon. Joe reveals that he had a row with his relatives after Hana’s death. The Tainuis want to take Simon and believe Joe is doing a poor job of bringing him up.

A passage from Joe’s point of view follows. He attempts to convince himself that something he is doing is not “bad wrong,” presumably his parenting of Simon. He wants to confide in Kerewin but is afraid to do so as he has not known her long enough.

Kerewin’s visit with the Tainuis goes really well, and she warms up to them. However, they do not divulge any new information about Joe and the boy. It turns out later that they are waiting for Joe to confess himself, but the man refuses to do so, fearing his friendship with Kerewin will be destroyed.

While out with the artist one day, Joe is approached by another relative, Luce, who tells him he has seen Simon at Binny Daniels’ place. Joe is angry as everyone knows the old man to be a pedophile. Simon has stolen money from the school, and Daniels gives him a coin in exchange for a kiss. After confronting Simon about his visit with Daniels and learning what has happened, Joe beats up the boy with a belt wrapped around his fist. It turns out that he was the one who beat him up the previous time as well, as Simon reminds him of the promise not to hit him on the face. The next morning Joe is gentle with Simon and tells him that he does not mean to beat him, but that if he did not, Simon would be hurt worse. Simon also confesses that he has not told Kerewin of the abuse because if he did, she would know the boy is bad.

Simon is sent to Kerewin with the excuse that he has the flu. The artist leaves for a while, and in her absence the boy gets drunk and destroys her things. While attempting to revive him, the artist discovers the extent of Joe’s abuse. The child’s entire body is covered in marks and bruises, and a big patch is infected and leaking. Kerewin is appalled and deeply hurt as she is starting to like Joe and count him as a friend. Confronted with the knowledge of abuse, she is unsure what to do. She does not want to involve the authorities but is also reluctant to become more involved and act as Simon’s protector. Eventually, when Joe comes to pick up Simon, they agree to go away together to her family’s beach property in Moerangi.