Bone of My Bone Since her 2024 debut, My Darling Dreadful Thing, Dutch author Johanna van Veen has been making a name for herself as an up and coming queer historical horror author. Her third offering, Bone of My Bone, is her best so far. Set during the Thirty Years’ War in early 1600s Germany, it depicts a time of extreme division and violence between Protestants and Catholics. As van Veen writes in the book’s foreword, there was a generation that grew up knowing little but unending violence all around them. It would be easy to sink into that and let the story be about nothing but that violence, gore, and filth. Others have done so, but van Veen isn’t afraid to show that, even in the middle of all that, people can still be decent and fall in love. In Bone of My Bone, three disparate characters converge: Sister Ursula, a pious and rather naive young woman who fled her convent when it was under threat; Elsebeth, a young Protestant woman with nowhere to go and no one to return to who is questioning everything thanks to the violence she has been subjected to; and Otto, a mercenary who learns too late that he is a horrendous sinner who would rather have lived a quiet life with his wife if he had the chance to do it all over again. None of them would have met if not for the war that made their paths converge. Sister Ursula and Elsebeth are our primary duo, though, and are the book’s primary focus. They meet when Elsebeth saves Sister Ursula from a soldier who would have killed her, and they stay together despite their religious differences because it’s marginally safer for two people to travel together. Though they stay off the road and away from mercenaries the woods are full of other dangers, for creatures of nightmarish legend wander the forest, too. When they encounter a dying man it seems their fortunes will change. He has the beautifully decorated skull of a saint who can speak to people in their dreams and promises to fulfill their greatest wish if they will reunite her skull with the rest of her body. Because Sister Ursula and Elsebeth both have dark secrets in their past, they cling to that hope, take the skull, and set off deeper into the forest. Little do they know that a necromancer is on their trail, and that he will do anything to reclaim the skull for himself. One of the many things I appreciate about van Veen’s books is the way she weaves history and folklore or literature into her stories. The references to The Turn of the Screw were maybe a little on the nose in My Darling Dreadful Thing, but that can be forgiven in a debut when an author is starting to get their feet under themselves. 2025’s Blood on Her Tongue dove into folklore and did it well, meshing revenge fantasies with vampire lore. Both of these stories dealt with lesbian relationships in the midst of a horror story, but as much as I liked those books they didn’t quite have everything stitched up. My Darling Dreadful Thing‘s ending was a little deflating, while Blood on Her Tongue was a bit too didactic when it came to the ‘men are awful’ parts of the revenge plot. Bone of My Bone corrects these issues and, thanks to the love story between Sister Ursula and Elsebeth, brings a brilliant ray of light to an otherwise horrendously dark story. Though they are on opposite sides of the Protestant/Catholic divide and should be enemies, they’re able to see past their differences and find the beauty in each other and they help each other to begin to heal the traumas of their pasts. Ultimately, they are willing to sacrifice everything for each other, risking damnation to be the other’s salvation. I’ve read historical horror novels that focus almost entirely on the mud, blood, and gore of the past and forget that people have always been people and that even in the worst circumstances, there are good people who will help other people despite the risks of doing so. The light that Sister Ursula and Elsebeth’s love brings to an otherwise bleak novel helps Bone of My Bone vault to the top of my list for 2026’s horror releases. I also appreciate the content warnings that van Veen provides, as well as the historical context for the story. With every new book, Johanna van Veen shows that she has staying power as an author and she keeps improving year after year. With Bone of My Bone being as solid as it is, I’m excited to see where she goes next. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advance copy for review. Traveling in Books is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Traveling in Books that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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