A few small bits I wish were more fleshed out/developed (and even explained) but this was a delightful surprise in that I picked it up without knowing or expecting anything and the tone and writing really drew me in and kept me hooked. The audiobook really felt like I was sitting fireside listening to a gothic folk take and it worked perfectly precisely with this story.

SO GOOD.

I've been in a bit of an unfortunate mental state this year.
Nothing over and above what we're all going through, mind you.
The depression, exhaustion, burned-outedness, all of the other stuff, it's not dispersing and it's having a terrible side effect on me: I have not enjoyed the books I've recently read, which was especially disheartening when the four books I'd pre-ordered with wonderfully high excitement all got here and I didn't connect to any of them.
I haven't enjoyed reading at all.
Which makes me sad.
And the spiral spirals.

I'd put All the Murmuring Bones on hold the minute we got it in the library but had to wait awhile because there were other people already on hold for it. My turn to take it home finally came up mid-June.
I'll admit, I let it sit on our ottoman for a week, maybe ten days, because of the whole inability to read joyfully thing but one day, I went outside to the hammock and brought this with me.
Can I just tell you how incredibly relieved I felt to be interested in the story from the first page?

I don't know if it's Slatter's writing style, if it was the comfort of being back in this world, or if the story just struck the right way in the moment and I'm not sure that I care, I was just happy to be happy reading again.

Quick summary:
Orphaned Miren O’Malley’s grandfather dies and her grandmother immediately puts into play a plan to restore their family's former glory but at the price of Miren's freedom and the freedom of Miren's future children. Finding evidence amongst her grandfather's papers that her parents may still be alive, Miren is determined to escape the crumbling family estate, an arranged marriage to a spiteful and cruel cousin, and her pinched little life to discover the truth about her origins.

It seems a little grimdark at times, there's a lot of supernatural murdery stuff happening in and around the landscape plus there are decrepit family manors and burnt rooms that hold the memory of dead babies but, ultimately, it's a softer story, a little quiet and dreamy, filled with herb gardens and plant-witchery, about family and belonging and why it's not so great to make deals with hungry, sharp-toothed sea people.

If you've read any of Slatter's short story collections or her novellas, you'll recognize bits and pieces throughout this story; I let out a squeak of excitement when the Weeping Gate was mentioned. If you haven't, though, this is an excellent place to start.

Thank you, Angela, for this gift that you didn't know you were giving me even though I suspect every author secretly hopes this is exactly the gift they're giving readers. You made reading lovely again.

Also...

...it's not a secret anymore.

This book is magnificent. Tales and tails within tales. Angela Slatter's latest adds more ingredients to the bubbling cauldron of her Sourdough world. The story draws on the Little Mermaid and other saline folklore, but the sea witch is the far more fascinating female character. Here, women's power is explored in all its terrifying, benevolent, loving, heart-breaking, sacrificial, and jealous forms. Highly recommended.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this one.
The atmosphere was great and there were tons of interesting, even captivating details in the world that the author created for the book. The narrator was incredible and possibly played a big part in me finishing this one rather easily. But it feels like it needed another editing round to remove some - albeit cool - unimportant elements for the main plot. We got lost in the details several times, and until the very end I was kept wondering what the meaning was for much of the information we were given in the beginning and middle. It's a case of the general aesthetic taking up too much space without adding anything to the character-driven plot. It makes the world too complicated in a way that, in the end, doesn't matter for the story being told.
There seems to be great potential in the author, especially when it comes to strong imagery and dark, foreboding atmospheres. But this one left me wanting more.