A Sherlock Holmes Locked Room mystery – with a difference, set near CORFU
Literary fiction set in the ENGLISH FENLANDS
25th November 2025
Our Numbered Bones by Katya Balen, literary fiction set in the English Fenland.
Our Numbered Bones by Katya Belen is a moving examination of the feelings of a woman dealing with grief. The main character, Anna Mendelson, is an author who isn’t writing. As another deadline passes, Anna’s editor sends her to a remote fenland cottage with no WIFI or phone signal. The plan is that there will be no distractions from her writing, but Anna has brought along her own internal distraction: the terrible grief that she has yet to deal with.
The book is beautifully written work of literary fiction, featuring a strong narrative voice interspersed with poetic musings and conversations. The story is involving and memorable. It’s easy to read it in a couple of sittings but will remain with you long after you finish it. The author gradually reveals details of Anna’s life and the trauma she has endured and still lives with. I don’t plan to say more about the cause of Anna’s grief: no spoilers here! You could anticipate a mystery to be solved, as well as some incisive insights into family relationships and the problems to be negotiated at times of stress.
Balen says that she finds inspiration in landscapes and that is often the starting place for her work, which makes sense in this context. Suffice to say that the author’s wonderfully dark descriptions of the setting and its remoteness reflect the character’s own raw emotions. Although the location isn’t precisely named, I imagine it might be one of the eastern counties of England (maybe Suffolk, Norfolk or even Essex?). At any rate, it’s within striking distance of London, where Anna and her husband JP live. The bogland surrounding Anna’s cottage-retreat is initially a barrier – a hostile environment – but later an integral part of her story, as she leaves her new sanctuary and reaches out to discover more about her surroundings. In doing so, she uncovers a mystery and begins to address the sorrow from her own past.
I was going to say this might not be a book for someone feeling low or grief-stricken themselves but there is so much beauty and redemption within its pages that almost anyone could enjoy it. Katya Balen has previously won awards for her children’s books, and this is her first adult novel. I hope that Our Numbered Bones does well and that more of her books will cross my desk in future.
Sue for the TripFiction Team
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