To the Bone
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
To the Bone
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Ell Potter
-
Alena Bruzas
-
By:
-
Alena Bruzas
About this listen
This gripping, shocking, and exquisitely crafted survival story reveals the truth of America's colonial history in a powerful new way—visceral and breathtaking.
After the long journey from England, Ellis arrives in America full of hope. James Fort is where a better life will begin for her: where she will work as an indentured servant to Henry Collins and his pregnant wife, gain financial security, and fall deeply in love with bold, glorious Jane Eddowes.
But as summer turns to fall, Ellis begins to notice the cracks in this new life—the viciousness of the colonists toward the Indigenous people and the terrifying anger Henry uses to control his wife and Ellis—leaving her to wonder if she has sentenced herself to a prison rather than a new home.
Then winter arrives and hunger grips the Fort. Ellis is about to learn that people will do whatever it takes to survive.
To the Bone is a riveting story of survival and horror that forcefully overturns the mythos of the American settler. It will stay with you, forever.
©2024 Alena Bruzas (P)2024 Listening LibraryCritic reviews
“A tale of graceful devastation. Alena Bruzas’s flawless prose embroiders one of the most brutal periods of our country’s early history with a pure and glinting thread of humanity. A chilling, unforgettable story.”—Gillian French, author of Sugaring Off and The Lies They Tell
“Tragic, harrowing, and raw, To the Bone is fraught with tension, longing, and an increasing sense of dread that makes it difficult to look away.”—Erin Bowman, author of Vengeance Road
“Alena Bruzas has spun a tale that will crawl under your skin and refuse to leave. To the Bone is a unique and unforgettable read.”—June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace
“Via first-rate prose, Bruzas seeds pockets of tenderness, warmth, and romance throughout, lending emotional weight to the unfolding horrors.”—Publishers Weekly
“Alena Bruzas pulls no punches with her lean, lyrical prose. Ellis’ voice is entirely convincing, her quiet observations of people and situations around her perfectly embedded in her own experiences even as they elucidate for a contemporary audience the brutal harm done by her settlement. Ruthless and tender by turns: a triumph of historical fiction."—Kirkus, starred review
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Old Wounds
- By: Logan-Ashley Kisner
- Narrated by: Theo Germaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Erin and Max are two transgender teens trying to get to California. Max is desperate to finally transition, and Erin is longing to understand why she’s on this trip to begin with. The last she spoke to Max was when he suddenly broke up with her two years ago. But when they find themselves stranded in the middle of the woods in a small Kentucky town, they realize they have much bigger problems.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
terrifying, amazing, and very queer
- By AnotherChris on 10-16-24
-
Gita Desai Is Not Here to Shut Up
- By: Sonia Patel
- Narrated by: Rukhmani K. Desai
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
It’s eighteen-year-old Gita Desai’s first year at Stanford, and the fact that she’s here and not already married off by her traditional Gujarati parents is a miracle. She’s determined to death-grip her good-girl, model student rep all the way to med school. Should be easy: If there’s one thing she’s learned from her family, it’s how to chup-re—to “shut up,” fade into the background. But when childhood memories of her aunt’s desertion and her then-uncle’s best friend resurface, Gita ends up ditching the books night after night in favor of partying and hooking up with strangers.
By: Sonia Patel
-
A Darker Mischief
- By: Derek Milman
- Narrated by: Charles Linshaw
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
When Cal Ware wins a scholarship to an elite New England boarding school, he's thrilled to leave his past behind. Back home in Mississippi, he was the poor queer kid who never fit in. But at Essex Academy, he'll be able to reinvent himself. Or so he hopes… But at Essex, Cal's classmates only see his cheap clothes and old iPhone. They mock his accent and can't believe he's never left the country or heard of The Hamptons. Cal, at his breaking point, is about to give up and return to Mississippi when he learns about a secret society on campus—the key to becoming Essex royalty.
By: Derek Milman
-
Desert Echoes
- By: Abdi Nazemian
- Narrated by: Arya Shahi
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Fifteen-year-old Kam is head over heels for Ash, the boy who swept him off his feet. But his family and best friend, Bodie, are worried. Something seems off about Ash. He also has a habit of disappearing, at times for days. When Ash asks Kam to join him on a trip to Joshua Tree, the two of them walk off into the sunset . . . but only Kam returns. Two years later, Kam is still left with a hole in his heart and too many unanswered questions. So it feels like fate when a school trip takes him back to Joshua Tree.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving characters
- By Bettie Likes Books on 10-06-24
By: Abdi Nazemian
-
Ida, in Love and in Trouble
- By: Veronica Chambers
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Before she became a warrior, Ida B. Wells was an incomparable flirt with a quick wit and a dream of becoming a renowned writer. The first child of newly freed parents who thrived in a community that pulsated with hope and possibility after the Civil War, Ida had a big heart, big ambitions, and even bigger questions: How to be a good big sister when her beloved parents perish in a yellow fever epidemic?
-
Till the Last Beat of My Heart
- By: Louangie Bou-Montes
- Narrated by: Malik Rashad
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
When you grow up in a funeral home, death is just another part of life. But for sixteen-year-old Jaxon Santiago-Noble, it’s also part of his family’s legacy. Most dead bodies in the town of Jacob’s Barrow wind up at Jaxon’s house; his mom is the local mortician, after all. He doesn’t usually pay them much mind, but when Christian Reyes is brought in after a car accident, Jaxon’s world is turned upside down. There are a lot of things Jaxon wishes he could have said to his once best friend and first crush. When he accidentally resurrects Christian, Jaxon might finally have that chance
-
Old Wounds
- By: Logan-Ashley Kisner
- Narrated by: Theo Germaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Erin and Max are two transgender teens trying to get to California. Max is desperate to finally transition, and Erin is longing to understand why she’s on this trip to begin with. The last she spoke to Max was when he suddenly broke up with her two years ago. But when they find themselves stranded in the middle of the woods in a small Kentucky town, they realize they have much bigger problems.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
terrifying, amazing, and very queer
- By AnotherChris on 10-16-24
-
Gita Desai Is Not Here to Shut Up
- By: Sonia Patel
- Narrated by: Rukhmani K. Desai
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
It’s eighteen-year-old Gita Desai’s first year at Stanford, and the fact that she’s here and not already married off by her traditional Gujarati parents is a miracle. She’s determined to death-grip her good-girl, model student rep all the way to med school. Should be easy: If there’s one thing she’s learned from her family, it’s how to chup-re—to “shut up,” fade into the background. But when childhood memories of her aunt’s desertion and her then-uncle’s best friend resurface, Gita ends up ditching the books night after night in favor of partying and hooking up with strangers.
By: Sonia Patel
-
A Darker Mischief
- By: Derek Milman
- Narrated by: Charles Linshaw
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
When Cal Ware wins a scholarship to an elite New England boarding school, he's thrilled to leave his past behind. Back home in Mississippi, he was the poor queer kid who never fit in. But at Essex Academy, he'll be able to reinvent himself. Or so he hopes… But at Essex, Cal's classmates only see his cheap clothes and old iPhone. They mock his accent and can't believe he's never left the country or heard of The Hamptons. Cal, at his breaking point, is about to give up and return to Mississippi when he learns about a secret society on campus—the key to becoming Essex royalty.
By: Derek Milman
-
Desert Echoes
- By: Abdi Nazemian
- Narrated by: Arya Shahi
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Fifteen-year-old Kam is head over heels for Ash, the boy who swept him off his feet. But his family and best friend, Bodie, are worried. Something seems off about Ash. He also has a habit of disappearing, at times for days. When Ash asks Kam to join him on a trip to Joshua Tree, the two of them walk off into the sunset . . . but only Kam returns. Two years later, Kam is still left with a hole in his heart and too many unanswered questions. So it feels like fate when a school trip takes him back to Joshua Tree.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving characters
- By Bettie Likes Books on 10-06-24
By: Abdi Nazemian
-
Ida, in Love and in Trouble
- By: Veronica Chambers
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Before she became a warrior, Ida B. Wells was an incomparable flirt with a quick wit and a dream of becoming a renowned writer. The first child of newly freed parents who thrived in a community that pulsated with hope and possibility after the Civil War, Ida had a big heart, big ambitions, and even bigger questions: How to be a good big sister when her beloved parents perish in a yellow fever epidemic?
-
Till the Last Beat of My Heart
- By: Louangie Bou-Montes
- Narrated by: Malik Rashad
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
When you grow up in a funeral home, death is just another part of life. But for sixteen-year-old Jaxon Santiago-Noble, it’s also part of his family’s legacy. Most dead bodies in the town of Jacob’s Barrow wind up at Jaxon’s house; his mom is the local mortician, after all. He doesn’t usually pay them much mind, but when Christian Reyes is brought in after a car accident, Jaxon’s world is turned upside down. There are a lot of things Jaxon wishes he could have said to his once best friend and first crush. When he accidentally resurrects Christian, Jaxon might finally have that chance
-
Exposure
- A Novel
- By: Ava Dellaira
- Narrated by: Erin Ruth Walker
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
In 2004, Juliette Marker, a white college freshman, and Noah King, a Black high school senior, are two lonely souls who enter each other’s orbit, forge a connection, and, after a chance meeting, go home together. Twelve years later, Noah has done the impossible and made it in Hollywood. His first film is about to be released, and he and his beloved wife Jesse, a successful writer herself, have just had a baby. Meanwhile, Juliette’s best friend Annie is back in LA for the first time in more than a decade.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not good
- By Linda S Moore on 09-14-24
By: Ava Dellaira
-
This Fatal Kiss
- By: Alicia Jasinska
- Narrated by: Kristyna Ruth Zaharek
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Cursed to haunt the river running through the magical spa town where she drowned, Gisela is a water nymph who dreams of returning to the living world and the family she left behind. All it takes to regain her humanity is a kiss from a mortal...but everyone sees her as a monster. And then there’s Kazik, the brooding, interfering, spirit-hunting grandson of a local witch. He's determined to rid the world of unholy creatures like Gisela. After Kazik botches Gisela’s exorcism, she strikes up a deal.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
ahhhh oh the butterflies 🩷
- By Amazon Customer on 10-07-24
By: Alicia Jasinska
-
Murder on a Summer Break
- By: Kate Weston
- Narrated by: Claire Storey
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
After catching the menstrual murderer red-handed, Annie and Kerry are now the Tampon Two, Barbourough’s most famous—well, only—detective duo. So Annie (and decidedly not Kerry) is enjoying her five minutes of fame. Except life in the spotlight seems to be a magnet for death these days. After a famous prankster is found dead with a condom stretched over his entire head, the Tampon Two are on the scene at their small village’s Festival of Fame to catch another killer.
By: Kate Weston
-
The Lies We Conjure
- By: Sarah Henning
- Narrated by: Barrett Leddy, Kristen DiMercurio
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4
Ruby and her sister, Wren, are normal, middle-class Colorado high school students working a summer job at the local Renaissance Fest to supplement their meager college savings. So when an eccentric old lady asks them to impersonate her long-absent grandchildren at a fancy dinner party at the jaw-dropping rate of two grand—each—for a single night… Wren insists it’s a no-brainer. Make some cash, have some fun, do a good deed. But less than an hour into the evening at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, Ruby is sure she must have lost her mind to have agreed to this.
By: Sarah Henning
-
The Witch of Colchis
- Medea's Story
- By: Rosie Hewlett
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 14
Medea, daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, longs for a different life. Since childhood, she has been separated from her sister, shunned by her mother, and beaten and tormented by her brother and father. All because Medea was born with a unique and seemingly dangerous talent: witchcraft. But when a dashing young hero, Jason, arrives to claim the famed Golden Fleece that her father fiercely protects, Medea sees her opportunity for escape.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful though painful at times
- By Jamie Carcaterra on 11-06-24
By: Rosie Hewlett
-
Stand Alone
- By: P.D. Workman
- Narrated by: JoAnna Johnston
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Is Justine crazy? Everyone thinks so… Her mother. The kids at school, and the teachers and administrators too. Even the police who pick her up from her night rambles. Maybe them most of all. Justine’s therapist says she is ‘troubled’, but it means the same thing. He thinks that her vivid, reoccurring nightmares and atrocious behavior point to some trauma in her past; but Em, Justine’s mother, can’t explain it. Justine used to have Christian, her best friend and skateboard partner. He was the only one who accepted her.
By: P.D. Workman
-
The Burning Tree
- By: Helen Dent
- Narrated by: Ellen Quay
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 1
In Ellie Caster’s town of Bishop’s Gap, the Casters and the powerful Levy family have been feuding for generations. The families share just one thing in common—they both dread the mark, a scorch that appears at random on their doors, bringing a curse from the Burning Tree. When the mark hits Ellie’s door, her sister Jean falls into a coma. Ellie knows the Burning Tree is to blame, and desperate to save her sister, she braves the forbidden woods to confront it. But this choice ignites a chain of unintended consequences, forcing her to work with her nemesis, Charlotte Levy.
By: Helen Dent
-
Everything Glittered
- By: Robin Talley
- Narrated by: Lindsey Dorcus
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
It’s 1927 and the strict laws of prohibition have done little to temper the roaring 20s nightlife, even in the nation’s capitol. Everyone knows the booze has never stopped flowing, especially amongst the rich and powerful, and seventeen-year-old Gertrude and her best friends Clara and Milly are determined to get a taste of freedom and liquor, propriety be damned. But after sneaking out of the Washington Female Seminary to visit a speakeasy, they return to discover that their controversial young headmistress, Mrs. Rose, has been murdered.
By: Robin Talley
-
The Monstrous Kind
- By: Lydia Gregovic
- Narrated by: Fran Burgoyne
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Merrick Darling’s life as daughter of the Manor Lord of Sussex is better than most. Unlike the commoners, she is immune to the toxic fog that encroached on England generations earlier. She will never become a Phantom—one of the monstrous creatures that stalk her province’s borders—and as long as the fires burn to hold them back, her safety is ensured. She wants for nothing, yet she will never inherit her family’s Manor. She must marry smartly or live at the kindness of her elder sister, Essie. Everything is turned on its head, though, when Merrick’s father dies suddenly.
By: Lydia Gregovic
-
Asunder
- By: Kerstin Hall
- Narrated by: Alyssa Appleton
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Asunder
- By G Family on 10-16-24
By: Kerstin Hall
-
Bright I Burn
- A Novel
- By: Molly Aitken
- Narrated by: Avena Mansergh-Wallace
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Alice, the daughter of a wealthy innkeeper in Kilkenny, grows up watching her mother wither under the constraints of family responsibilities—and she vows that she will never suffer the same fate. In time, she discovers she has a flair for making money, and takes her father's flourishing business to new heights. But as her riches and stature grow, so too do rumors about her private life. By the time she marries her fourth husband—the three earlier are dead—a storm of local gossip and resentment culminates in a life-threatening accusation.
By: Molly Aitken
-
Pick the Lock
- By: A.S. King
- Narrated by: Max Meyers, Jorjeana Marie, A.S. King
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
Jane Vandermaker-Cook would like her mother back. As Jane's mother tours the world to support the family, Jane lives and goes to school in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their mendacious father who confines Jane’s mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she’s at home. And then there's weirdly ever-present Aunt Finch, Milorad the gardener, and his rat, Brutus. For Jane, this all seems normal until she suddenly gains access to the files for a lifetime of security-camera videos—her lifetime.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Positively Outstanding Punk Opera
- By Kindle Customer on 10-11-24
By: A.S. King