The Bones of Paradise

"A beautifully written epic that seamlessly intertwines a family's history with a region's, and, ultimately, with a nation's. An ambitious novel." —Ron Rash, New York Times–bestselling author of Above the Waterfall

Ten years after the massacre of more than two hundred Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, J.B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J.B.'s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J.B.'s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future.


At the center of The Bones of Paradise are two remarkable women. Dulcinea yearns for redemption and the courage to mend her broken family and reclaim the land that is rightfully hers. Rose, scarred by the terrible slaughters that have decimated and dislocated her people, struggles to accept the death of her sister, Star, and refuses to rest until she is avenged.


Jonis Agee's bold novel is a panorama of America at the dawn of a new century and the durable men and women who dared to tame it.


"Deceptively leisurely, intensely heart-rending . . . Rose and Dulcinea are women strong enough to cow John Wayne." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review


"Deadwood has nothing on Nebraska's Sand Hills. Jonis Agee serves up a gritty, bloody romance." —Stewart O'Nan, bestselling author of A Prayer for the Dying

"The finest western novel since Lonesome Dove . . . an epic saga with elements of a Greek tragedy." —New York Journal of Books