The Bones Of Paradise

“From the opening image of a ‘windmill slowly clanking in a wobbly circle’ to the sublime final sentence, Jonis Agee’s The Bones of Paradise is a beautifully written epic that seamlessly intertwines a family’s history with a region’s, and, ultimately, with a nation’s. This is an ambitious novel.” – Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Above the Waterfall

“A deceptively leisurely, intensely heart-rending historical about greed and love gone wrong … Rose and Dulcinea are women strong enough to cow John Wayne… .[in] this sexy, violent, intricate Western.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Deadwood has nothing on Nebraska’s Sand Hills. Jonis Agee serves up a gritty, bloody romance set a decade after Wounded Knee. Half murder mystery and half family saga, The Bones of Paradise is a spirited reweaving of history.” – Stewart O’Nan, bestselling author of A Prayer for the Dying

“The finest western novel since Lonesome Dove, Jonis Agee’s The Bones of Paradise is an epic saga with elements of a Greek tragedy.” – New York Journal of Books

“A beautiful writer, [Agee is] back with a multigenerational saga set in the Nebraska Sand Hills–this is Cormac McCarthy country–in the years after the massacre at Wounded Knee. Agee has created indelible characters and a story that will stay with you for a long time.” – San Antonio Express-News

“The Bones of Paradise is about the way those we love can bring us a new language and help us make it ours, and in so doing teach us how to ride in concert with the world.” – Jim Shepard, award-winning author of The Book of Aron

“Agee’s fast-paced narrative resembles the expansive prose of Larry McMurtry. Her lyrical writing and attention to detail evoke comparisons to Annie Proulx… . A captivating tale of life–and death–in the old American West.” – BookPage

“A haunting tale … Agee brilliantly interweaves two stories of loss, guilt, and vengeance, which play out against the vivid backdrop of the [Nebraska] Sand Hills … Beautifully rendered and thought-provoking.” – Booklist (starred review)

“The Bones of Paradise is part noir, part Western, and all kinds of good … a remarkable tale of greed and violence … Jonis Agee is a master novelist.” – Dallas Morning News

Jonis Agee has been praised by the New York Times Book Review as “a gifted poet of that dark lushness in the heart of the American landscape.” She is the award-winning author of twelve books, including the New York Times Notable Books of the Year Sweet Eyes and Strange Angels. Her awards include the John Gardner Fiction Award, the George Garrett Award, a National Endowment for the Arts grant in fiction, a Loft-McKnight Award, a Loft-McKnight Award of Distinction, and two Nebraska Book Awards. A native of Nebraska, Agee teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.