To the Bone

To the Bone is a historical fiction novel based on real events in U.S. history. Ellis views her move to James Fort in America with Henry Collins and his wife as a new start. In England, she was an orphan and could no longer hold her sister back; in America, she is an indentured servant with nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain. Even with the uncertainties of moving to a new place, life overall seems to be looking up. Ellis makes friends with Jane and Rowan. She learns how to garden and try to keep crops alive in a drought. She helps take care of Mistress Collins and her pregnancy. 

But something dark seems to lurk beyond the adventure and hard work of this new beginning, and Ellis isn't sure if that darkness comes from herself, her Master, or something beyond the walls. Life in Colonial America hides horrifying truths — until starvation forces those truths out into the open. Ellis is left to reckon with class differences, control over every aspect of her life (including who she can love), what the people who were there first think of the colonists and what the colonists believe they're owed, and how far humanity can stretch before a person breaks.

Content Warnings:  cannibalism, domestic abuse, indentured servitude, colonialism, murder, animal death, adult/minor relationship, animal cruelity, child death