Near the Bone by Christina Henry (the mitten read aloud txt) 📕

PRAISE FOR

THE GHOST TREE

“A complex, interesting story that maintains suspense and intrigue page after page after page. . . . Scandalously entertaining.”

—Sadie Hartmann, Cemetery Dance

“Henry writes with a keen eye for detail, drawing readers into the disturbing world with pitch-perfect ’80s nostalgia and plenty of eerie atmospherics.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A vividly visceral visit to small-town horror.”

—Booklist

“Thrills, terrifies and sends chills up the reader’s spine from start to finish.”

—Paperback Paris

PRAISE FOR

LOOKING GLASS

“Mesmerizing. . . . These somber, occasionally disturbing novellas offer a mature take on the children’s story but balance the horrors of the City with hope.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Fans will delight in discovering the unknown family backgrounds and future fate of Alice and her wild and bloody Hatcher.”

—Booklist (starred review)

PRAISE FOR

THE GIRL IN RED

“An engrossing page-turner that will delight anyone who loves running through thought experiments about the apocalypse.”

—Paste

“With The Girl in Red, Christina Henry once again proves that retellings don’t necessarily lack originality.”

—Kirkus Reviews

PRAISE FOR

THE MERMAID

“Beautifully written and daringly conceived, The Mermaid is a fabulous story. . . . Henry’s spare, muscular prose is a delight.”

—Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches

“There is a current of longing that runs through The Mermaid: longing for the sea, for truth, for love. It is irresistible and will sweep you away.”

—Ellen Herrick, author of The Sparrow Sisters

“A captivating tale of an intriguing young woman who finds herself in the world of the greatest showman, P. T. Barnum. Original and magical, this is a novel to dive into and savor.”

—Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Cottingley Secret

PRAISE FOR

LOST BOY

“Christina Henry shakes the fairy dust off a legend; this Peter Pan will give you chills.”

—Genevieve Valentine, author of Persona

“Turns Neverland into a claustrophobic world where time is disturbingly nebulous and identity is chillingly manipulated. . . . A deeply impactful, imaginative and haunting story of loyalty, disillusionment and self-discovery.”

—RT Book Reviews (top pick)

“Henry keeps the story fresh and energetic with diabolical twists and turns to keep us guessing. Dynamic characterization and narration bring the story to life. . . . Once again, Henry takes readers on an adventure of epic and horrific proportions as she reinvents a childhood classic using our own fears and desires. Her smooth prose and firm writing hooked me up instantly and held me hostage to the very end.”

—Smexy Books

“An absolutely addicting read. . . . Psychological, gripping and entertaining, painting a picture of Peter Pan before we came to know him in the film: the darker side of his history. The writing is fabulous, the plot incredibly compelling and the characters entirely enthralling.”

—Utopia State of Mind

PRAISE FOR

ALICE

“I loved falling down the rabbit hole with this dark, gritty tale. A unique spin on a classic and one wild ride!”

—Gena Showalter, New York Times bestselling author of The Darkest Promise

“Alice takes the darker elements of Lewis Carroll’s original, amplifies Tim Burton’s cinematic reimagining of the story and adds a layer of grotesquery from [Henry’s] own alarmingly fecund imagination to produce a novel that reads like a Jacobean revenge drama crossed with a slasher movie.”

—The Guardian (UK)

“A psychotic journey through the bowels of magic and madness. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the ride.”

—Brom, author of The Child Thief

“A horrifying fantasy that will have you reexamining your love for this childhood favorite.”

—RT Book Reviews (top pick)

PRAISE FOR

RED QUEEN

“Henry takes the best elements from Carroll’s iconic world and mixes them with dark fantasy elements. . . . [Her] writing is so seamless you won’t be able to stop reading.”

—Pop Culture Uncovered

“Alice’s ongoing struggle is to distinguish reality from illusion, and Henry excels in mingling the two for the reader as well as her characters. The darkness in this book is that of fairy tales, owing more to Grimm’s matter-of-fact violence than to the underworld of the first book.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

TITLES BY CHRISTINA HENRY

Near the Bone

The Ghost Tree

The Girl in Red

The Mermaid

Lost Boy

THE CHRONICLES OF ALICE

Alice

Red Queen

Looking Glass

(novellas)

THE BLACK WINGS NOVELS

Black Wings

Black Night

Black Howl

Black Lament

Black City

Black Heart

Black Spring

BERKLEY

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

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Copyright © 2021 by Tina Raffaele

Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Henry, Christina, 1974– author.

Title: Near the bone / Christina Henry.

Description: First Edition. | New York, NY: Berkley, 2021.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020032331 | ISBN 9780593199763 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593199770 (ebook)

Subjects: GSAFD: Horror fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3608.E568 N43 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020032331

First Edition: April 2021

Photo of mountain by Sophia Juliette / Stocksy

Photo of house by Nambi Tang / Stocksy

Cover design by Spencer Fuller / Faceout Studio

Title page art: Ladakh Mountains © SIHASAKPRACHUM/Shutterstock.com; abstract grunge texture © Nejron Photo / Shutterstock.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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CONTENTS

Cover

Praise for Christina Henry

Titles by Christina Henry

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

There was a dead fox in her path.

At first Mattie only saw it as a streak of scarlet across the fresh snowfall. Her initial thought was that some predator had gotten a rabbit from the traps she’d come to check.

Then she saw the orange fur matted with blood, and the place where something sharp had torn through the fox’s middle. Viscera were strewn over the snow, the scent fresh and strong despite the cold air.

There weren’t many creatures that would eat a fox—a bear would, of course, a bear