The Bone People (Booker Prize winner)

The Bone People is a 1984 novel by New Zealand author Keri Hulme (1947- ) published in 1984 and won the 1984 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction, the Booker Prize (The Man Booker Prize for Fiction) in 1985, and The Pegasus Prize for Literature in 1985.

The folowing plot summary is quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bone_People:

The book is divided into two major sections, the first involving the characters interacting, and the second half involving their individual travels. In the first half, 8-year-old Simon shows up at the hermit Kerewin’s tower on a dark and stormy night. Simon is mute and thus is unable to explain his motives. When Simon’s adoptive father Joe comes to thank Kerewin, she learns their unusual story. Simon was found washed up on the beach years earlier with no memory and very few clues as to his identity. Joe and his wife Hana take in Simon, despite his apparently dark background, and attempt to raise him. However, both Hana and their infant son die soon after, leaving Joe alone to raise the wild boy Simon.

Kerewin finds herself developing a relationship with both the boy and the father, becoming more involved in their lives and stories. However, it gradually becomes clear that Simon is a severely traumatised boy, whose behaviours Joe is unable to cope with. Kerewin eventually finds that, despite a constant and intense love between them, Joe is physically abusing Simon. There are hints that Joe was also abused as a child.

Following a catalyst event, the three are driven violently apart. Simon witnesses a violent death and goes to Kerewin, but she is angry with him for stealing some of her possessions and will not listen. He reacts by kicking in the side of her guitar, a much prized gift from her estranged family, whereupon she throws him out. He then goes to the town and breaks a series of public property windows. When he is returned home by the police, Joe beats him severely, fracturing his skull and breaking his jaw. Simon however has concealed a piece of glass and stabs his father with it, resulting in the hospitalization of both.

In the second half of the novel, Simon is in the hospital, Joe is being sent to jail for assault, and Kerewin has developed stomach cancer. Simon's wardship is being taken from Joe, a move strongly resisted by all three of the trio, despite their violent relationship. Simon is sent to a children's home, Joe to jail, and Kerewin deconstructs her tower and leaves, expecting to be dead within the year.

All three experience life-changing events, strongly interlaced with Maori mythology and legend, eventually leading to their healing and return. Kerewin is miraculously healed and adopts Simon, to keep him both near to and protected from Joe, while Joe is able to contact Kerewin's family and bring them back for a reunion of forgiveness. In the final segment of the book, Kerewin adopts a blind cat known as Li, or balance, seemingly representing the path they have travelled.