Book Review – That Bonesetter Woman by Frances Quinn

Pages: 429
Published: 21st July 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Content warnings: Sexism

Meet Endurance Proudfoot – England’s strongest woman, boldest adventurer and first female bonesetter.

Endurance Proudfoot only wants one thing in life – to follow her father and grandfather into the family business of bone setting. It’s a physically demanding job, requiring strength, nerves of steel and discretion – and not the job for a woman.

But Durie isn’t like other women. She’s strong and stubborn and determined to get her own way. And she finds that she has a talent at bone setting – her big hands and lack of grace have finally found their natural calling.

At its heart, this is a book full of simple yet powerful themes, which are spun together beautifully to create something that is both extremely absorbing and rather moving. With a main character who is impossible not to root for, plus deeply emotive storytelling, it totally draws you in and allows you to build an instant connection which remains intact all the way to the end.

Similar to Frances Quinn’s first historical novel The Smallest Man, this story follows a protagonist who overcomes prejudice and societal constructs to succeed against the odds. The focus here is on the wonderfully named Endurance Proudfoot, who is seen as clumsy and aloof compared to most other women, but she finds that her calling is to treat other people’s muscle pains and correct dislocated joints. She wants to follow in the footsteps of her father and continue the family business, but this is seen as a job for a man and so her brother Robbie is trained in her place.

What makes this story so uplifting is Durie’s steadfast, unbreakable determination to be the person she wants to be. Her journey is far from plain sailing in so many respects, but she shows amazing resolve and comes back stronger from every setback, defying anyone who tries to bring her down. Even better, she does this with grace and integrity.

The spotlight on the obscure profession of bone setting gives this book a sense of uniqueness, but there are many other layers to the plot too. All of these are pitched perfectly and complement each other so well, but the most intriguing is the sibling relationship between Durie and Lucinda. They are portrayed as opposites, with Lucinda exuding elegance and allure while Durie does not possess the same degree of self-assuredness.

They might be markedly different and have opposing outlooks on life, but their dynamic is subtly profound. As you read on, it is clear that Lucinda is not the somewhat ignorant, frivolous character that she first appears – even if she does have a selfish streak. As for Durie, she lives up to her name in a lot of ways, and one of those is her unflinching loyalty to the people she loves. One of the most beautiful touches is the letters she sends to her nephew as he grows up in the Foundling Hospital, which sum her up very well.

The relationships with the rest of her family are also interesting. There is the conflict between her father and society’s expectations of women that plays an underlying role in everything during the first half of the story, with the added complexity of Durie’s stepmother Margie and her views on the matter. But when Durie goes to stay with her aunt, she becomes the maternal figure. Ellen is an entertaining character to read; caring and shrewd, but she does not always realise what is best for Durie.

In terms of Durie’s love interests, her connection to George is so heartrendingly pure that it easily melts your heart. It is a well developed relationship as they begin to naturally understand each other on a cellular level, which makes it even more sad when you know they cannot be together. Meanwhile, her time with Malachi has none of the same things going for it and is clearly suspicious from the start, but it harks at the very normal desire to be loved.

Told completely in the third person, the structure at first is slightly unusual as the story opens in the present before going back in time to Durie’s childhood and establishing how she came to be such a skilled bonesetter. Once we are brought up to date and the two sisters arrive in London to stay with Ellen, there is a clear trajectory to the plot as Durie undergoes significant character progression. And all the time, the pacing remains perfect.

This structure really delivers the goods and on the whole, the storytelling here is impeccable. It feels so effortless, the way the author writes so engagingly and weaves a narrative around characters who are perhaps not the most complicated in the world, but nonetheless are full of depth and clarity. You get to know them so well, to the extent that it is hard not to have tears in your eyes by the end.

There is an obvious contrast made between the main London setting and that of Lewes, the place Durie grew up and where her family still live. London is of course where everything happens as it buzzes with life – ideal for an ambitious budding socialite like Lucinda. However, this is also shown effectively when it comes to bone setting, with Durie enhancing her professional interests and gaining more exposure – welcome or unwelcome – than she would have managed in her hometown.

Overall, this book was a joy to read, extremely relatable in several aspects and not without a strong emotional punch. Durie is a character you immediately connect with and her story is a difficult but ultimately uplifting one, all magnificently relayed by an author who is so articulate and writes with a sense of care. Not a single bone to pick with this one.

Frances Quinn is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. She writes wonderful, uplifting historical stories about characters who you can just so easily take into your heart. I loved this one.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐