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Title: The Translation of the Bones

Author: Francesca Kay

Narrator: Fiona Shaw

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-16-12

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Limited

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In a church in Battersea, Mary-Margaret O'Reilly sees blood on her hands and believes she has witnessed a miracle. The consequences are both profound and devastating - not just for her but for others, too: Father Diamond, the parish priest, struggling with his own faith. Stella, adrift in her marriage and aching for her ten-year old son, away at boarding school. Alice, counting the days until her soldier son comes home. And Mary-Margaret's mother, imprisoned in a tower block with nothing but her thoughts for company.

Read by Fiona Shaw. Fiona Shaw is an Irish actress and theatre director. She is best known for her aclaimed theatre roles, but to International audiences she is probably most familiar for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films and in 2011 for her role as Marnie Stonebrook in the True Blood series. Fiona was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001 for her services to drama and she has of course read numerous audiobooks including Dr. Johnson's London by Liza Picard, for Orion.

Members Reviews:

"Nothing human was foreign to God.."

In only a little over 200 pages, author Francesca Kay manages to create what is easily one of the best books of the year...although it may pass under the radar. It shouldn't. The woman at the center of the book, Mary-Margaret O'Reilly, is seen as a simpleton by many who think they know her. But she is far from simple and those who seem to understand her are about to be shocked.

Mary-Margaret is a woman who is difficult to sum up. Her actions are fueled by one hope, that her world will be changed forever and she will find love. But first she has to succeed at an elaborate plan. Will her actions bring her the love she so desperately wants? And how were her own views on love affected by her mother's search for love, a woman who seems to feel lovemaking only in dreams? And Father Diamond, a man who worries that he has been too busy "gazing at his own soul to see into the souls of others"?

Mary-Margaret's yearning for love and the fulfillment of her faith is nearly palpable. She is not alone in her yearning. Love and grief are at the heart of this book, along with a wealth of surprises (even without the climactic event that shakes everyone to the core). There is also loneliness, the ultimate pain of "being human and alone" and yet for all the sadness it encompasses the book is not bleak. It is poignant and touching. The search for love balances out the pain - or it did for me.

Early on, Mary-Margaret is cleaning a statue of Christ in a Roman Catholic church when she witnesses a red color coming from "His wounds." At this point, I believed the book would focus on that event and everyone would exclaim over the possible miracle witnessed by Mary-Margaret. It seemed inevitable. Surprisingly, it was not, which says something about the originality of this book.

Instead, the action shifts to the lives of those living near the London church. These people make up their own small world (but not a shallow one). Each person, from the priest to church members to Mary-Margaret's mother are shown to share their own unique burdens, all different, but all focused on variations of love and loss..and of course, faith. Each is affected by Mary-Margaret's actions but also by their own backgrounds.