Details

Publisher:iUniverse
Date:January 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5320-3544-9 Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-1-5320-3545-6 E-Book

Pages: 244
Price: $13.99/$3.99

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and other local and on-line booksellers.

 

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Grounded in the grandeur of the sub-Saharan wilderness, The Story of Bones traces a remarkable boy’s journey from a hardscrabble cassava farm to the rarified world of a premier African safari camp.

Bones comes of age facing heartache, deprivation, and formidable human adversaries—the most dangerous creatures of all. His path to manhood awakens a passion for imperiled animals while forging loyalties that force him to make a wrenching decision.

Provocative and moving, the novel builds to a powerful conclusion that underscores the devastating impact of wildlife poaching on animals—and humans.

Editor’s Choice
Rising Star
iUniverse

Shortlisted for the 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.

2018 INDIES Book of the Year Winner
Honorable Mention
General Adult Fiction

2018 INDIES Book of the Year Finalist
Multicultural Adult Fiction

“I have been on safari, but by Cousins’ deft hand I have seen, heard, and smelled the bush more acutely while sitting in my easy chair.”

Peter C. Brown, author of The Fugitive Wife

From The Story of Bones

I was ten years old the day Skinner taught me a person could be the most dangerous creature in Africa. It was a valuable lesson for a boy raised with a deep respect for living things. I was learning to coexist with the natural world, yet I remained ignorant of the many ways human beings can inflict misery. Fortunately, I didn’t know Skinner’s life and mine would become as interlocked and tangled as an old osprey nest, because all I hoped for then was to be rid of him.

On that awful day, the cobra that lived in the ditch beside our house decided to coil itself in the grass next to my bicycle. I didn’t see it until I had tied my books onto the rebar welded over the back wheel and undone the chain. By then I was standing in the narrow space between the bike and the splintered boards that held up our front porch. Through the rusted metal frame I saw the pointy reptilian head rise and sway, hood flared to full effect, and I found myself staring into the blunt-eyed gaze of one of the world’s deadliest snakes.