The Map of Bones (The Joubert Family Chronicles, 4)
The Map of Bones is the concluding novel of Kate Mosse’s series The Joubert Family Chronicles, which follows the fortunes of a displaced Huguenot family living at various times in France and Amsterdam. This final volume is set mostly in the 17th century, in the newly settled Cape Colony of South Africa, and seeks to draw together the final threads of the saga.
Following a violent attack, Suzanne Joubert is forced to flee France for Amsterdam but she soon leaves again, compelled by an urge to uncover more of her family’s history and to discover exactly what had happened to her cousin Louise Reydon-Joubert (a female pirate captain and family legend, and the protagonist of the earlier book The Ghost Ship). Suzanne and her grandmother set sail for the Cape, and she embarks on a series of sometimes dangerous (and some might say reckless) adventures in her quest to discover the truth. But it is left to a later researcher – another family member in the 19th century – to bring the whole tale to a conclusion.
In the preface, the author states her belief that “unless women’s stories and testimonies are included alongside those of men in the historical records, it cannot really be called history at all”. Through the character of Suzanne, she shows how elusive those stories may be, but she also demonstrates how the facts may be uncovered by those who are sufficiently determined.
You might need to have read the earlier books in the series fully to appreciate The Map of Bones. However, even as a standalone novel it is a page-turning read, with lots of nail-biting tension and atmospheric detail about the early days of the Cape Colony.
