Critical Praise

"As a story, Breath and Bones is definitely unique. As wordsmith, Ms. Cokal is a standout. I literally devoured this book, enticed by her skill to keep reading from first page to last.... Throughout, Ms. Cokal blends fascinating characters and locations, humor and history into a splendid tale of an amazing woman and her travels. And she accomplishes the telling of her story in grand style."

——The Midwest Book Review

"A poetic, comic, tragic, and surreal story of art, love, and searching."

——Richmond Magazine

"It's almost impossible not to be amused, then intrigued and finally impressed with the heroine of Susann Cokal's new novel, Breath and Bones.... Cokal has a special gift for starting many of her chapters with lines that zing. Actually, each begins with some sort of quoted matter, but it is Cokal's own prose that arrests.... At various points in its narrative, Breath and Bones elicits laughter, empathy, shock. But Cokal pulls our strings while maintaining a consistent, authoritative voice; she is sure of herself without being arrogant or chilly. Essentially, this is a book about art, flesh and spirit --- and Cokal delves into all three areas of her inquiry with wit but also heart."

——John Mark Eberhart, The Kansas City Star

"Hilarious, bawdy, and deliciously fun reading."

——Barbara Hoagland, The King's English, Salt Lake City, Utah

"Another offbeat adventure from Cokal (Mirabilis, 2001), who sends a consumptive but dauntless Danish teenager across 1880s America in search of her lover...fun --- in a kinky sort of way. An intriguing...effort from a writer who definitely has her own unique voice."

——Kirkus Reviews

"Riveting."

——Library Journal

"This steamy historical novel (Cokal's second, after Mirabilis) chronicles the adventures --- sexual and otherwise --- of its consumptive, red-haired heroine, Famke, from her childhood in a late 19th-century Copenhagen orphanage to her fate in the American Wild West. (A)...literary bodice-ripper...."

——Publishers Weekly

"A big, passionate, fun book full of twists and myths and a great heart. Escapism has never been so intelligent, inventive or (s)heroic!"

——Sandra Scofield