"Riveting." —Library Journal

 

"Hilarious, bawdy, and deliciously fun reading." —Barbara Hoagland, The King's English, Salt Lake City, Utah

 

"A big, passionate fun book full of twists and myths and a great heart. Escapism has never been so intelligent, inventive, or (s)heroic!!" —Sandra Scofield

 

"It's almost impossible not to be amused, then intrigued and finally impressed with the heroine of Susann Cokal’s new novel, Breath and Bones….Cokal has a special gift for starting many of her chapters with lines that zing. Actually, each begins with some sort of quoted matter, but it is Cokal's own prose that arrests….At various points in its narrative, Breath and Bones elicits laughter, empathy, shock. But Cokal pulls our strings while maintaining a consistent, authoritative voice; she is sure of herself without being arrogant or chilly. Essentially, this is a book about art, flesh and spirit—and Cokal delves into all three areas of her inquiry with wit but also heart." —John Mark Eberhart, The Kansas City Star

 

"Cokal's rich language and ability to craft an intriguing tale and heroine will pull readers along as they hope for the heroine's happiness." —The Rocky Mountain News

 

"A poetic, comic, tragic, and surreal story of art, love, and searching." —Richmond Magazine

 

"[W]ithin it lies a historical richness that is Cokal's greatest strength, and which she used just as well in her first novel, Mirabilis." —Megan Milks, PopMatters

 

"Since her birth, Famke bewitches all those around her with her unique beauty. Sister Birgit favors Famke in the Danish orphanage; childhood friend Viggo saves Famke from scalding her hands in a pot of soap; lover Albert immortalizes Famke in a painting of Merlin's temptress Nimue. Albert soon abandons his muse, taking his masterpiece to London in search of recognition, leaving Famke to rely on her charms for help in finding him. She swiftly converts to Mormonism, convinces the leader to pay her passage, then promises him marriage. Her quest will take her to nineteenth-century American brothels, the Mormon utopia of Prophet City, and an experimental hospital for consumptives… Give to insatiable fans of historical fiction..." —Booklist

 

"It's quite a trick, lassoing the literary bounty of historical fiction, the sheer oddness of what people did and the words they used, and lashing it tight to a clever, irreverent, a la page voice. Susann Cokal has pulled that off in her second novel, Breath and Bones. Her language is fresh. It's bawdy. It's laugh-out-loud funny in parts. And if it's historically astute, do we care? This is fiction for fun." —The Durango Herald

 

"Another offbeat adventure from Cokal (Mirabilis, 2001), who sends a consumptive but dauntless Danish teenager across 1880s America in search of her lover…fun—in a kinky sort of way. An intriguing sophomore effort from a writer who definitely has her own unique voice." —Kirkus Reviews

 

"This steamy historical novel (Cokal's second, after Mirabilis) chronicles the adventures—sexual and otherwise—of its consumptive, red-haired heroine, Famke, from her childhood in a late 19th-century Copenhagen orphanage to her fate in the American Wild West. [A] …literary bodice-ripper…" —Publishers Weekly

 

"As a story, Breath and Bones is definitely unique. As wordsmith, Ms. Cokal is a standout. I literally devoured this book, enticed by her skill to keep reading from first page to last…Throughout, Ms. Cokal blends fascinating characters and locations, humor and history into a splendid tale of an amazing woman and her travels. And she accomplishes the telling of her story in grand style." —The Midwest Book Review