This is a photo of Montezuma’s Castle in Camp Verde, Arizona. My family and I visited there a few years ago and these ruins became the inspiration for Bone Deep. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the castle is actually about 90 feet off the ground and set into a sheer limestone cliff. Imagine having to navigate a series of ladders and make that climb multiple times every day! But that’s what the Sinagua Indians did. These prehistoric Native Americans lived in these ruins about 900 years ago and over the course of about 400 years learned how to farm the desert and survive in a pretty hostile environment. The Sinagua people were very intoned with nature and had no fear of ghosts (infants were buried in the floor of their parents’ house). However, evidence of prayer sticks and carefully placed quartz crystals suggest that priests worked to keep harmony between the “real” world and world of the supernatural. While writing Bone Deep, I became especially interested in exploring these worlds through the mythology of ancient civilizations like the Hopi. Their creation story of Spider Woman and legends of the Corn Maidens are so gorgeous and fascinating, I knew I wanted them to incorporate them into my story.
Ultimately the Sinagua Indians disappeared. To this day, archaeologists aren’t completely sure what caused them to leave. Some think that resource depletion, drought, clashes with other local tribes, or even a high infant mortality rate caused them to vanish.
Several years ago, as I stood on the ground, craning my head for a glimpse into the world of the Sinagua, I needed to know the truth about what happened to them. Not just theories, but the rest of their story. But the castle wouldn’t give up its secrets. Not then. Not now. The ruins sit in their niche and look out over a harsh and unforgiving landscape – a place where time has no meaning – where people still can vanish.
Author: Kim O'Brien
Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary
Publishing Date: May 19, 2015
When Paige Patterson travels to Arizona to spend the summer with her archaeologist father, she expects answers. Why did her parents divorce? Why did her father choose his career over family? She doesn’t expect to be reunited with her best friend Emily Linton, a girl she has always admired and secretly wanted to emulate, or to find herself falling for the project manager’s son, Jalen Yazzi.
But the summer takes a terrible turn when Emily vanishes. As the police struggle for answers, Paige sets out to find the truth.
The search takes Paige from the Cliffside ruins of prehistoric Native Americans to the Navajo Nation to the horrifying possibility that the answer is much closer to home. Emily, it turns out, was not the only one good at hiding things.
Her father has no alibi for the night Emily disappeared. An intern with the motive insists he’s innocent. And Jalen has some secrets of his own.
Old bones might not be the only things buried in the ruins. As Paige digs deeper into Emily’s disappearance, she realizes that uncovering the truth may cost her everything—even her life.
Kim O’Brien grew up in an old Victorian house in Bronxville, NY. Her mother loved telling her bedtime stories, especially ones about the ghost in their attic. Kim not only believed the house was haunted but also fell in love with books and the art of storytelling. At Emory University in Atlanta, Kim earned a B.A. in psychology. She then attained a M.F.A in writing from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. She worked for many years as a writer, editor, and speechwriter for IBM before becoming a full time fiction writer. She lives in Texas with her husband, daughters, and four-legged friend Daisy.
Kim is the author of eight inspirational romances and seven non-fiction children’s books. She loves to hear from her readers.
I want to read Bone deep because I don't think I've read a book involving archeology. Thanks KIm & Rachel for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI want to read Bone Deep as well! Just two years ago my hubby and I visited Montezuma's Castle in AZ and I was fascinated. (A little disappointed that you can't go in it, but fascinated nonetheless.)
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