Beautiful to the Bone

Who can survive the siren call of beauty?

Eunis, a grotesque-looking young woman struggles with the myth of beauty in an attempt to find perfection (and sanity) in herself. When four-year old Eunis Kindsvatter leaves her Minnesota farmhouse for the very first time, it’s because her mother drags her to a doctor . . .with the hope he’ll absolve her for Eunis’ face. It’s albino with a grotesque birthmark. “An unnaturally ugly thing,” according to Momma. Though the doctor finds nothing physically wrong, Eunis is kept isolated from the world, Momma filling her with tales of fearful gods, demons and prophecy. Eunis begins to experience unpredictable hypersensitivity to people and places. She instinctively gravitates to water and to Freyja, the Norse goddess of beauty, Momma’s ideal. Determined to be of value, Eunis embarks on a journey to quantify beauty, to protect future generations from the pain she’s experienced, and someday “make everybody beautiful” —through science. But Eunis’ obsessive research into beauty draws her into a world of unreliable voices, unforeseen pleasures, dangers and death. In Beautiful to the Bone, Eunis must fight for her sanity and reconcile the gap between the science of beauty and the incalculable qualities that draw us to it.

Author Biography

PG LENGSFELDER wrote and edited his first newspaper at age seven, when he thought he was destined to be a fireman or a forest ranger. But sales of his paper reached a heady circulation of ten-at five cents a copy! He was hooked: he had readers. He’s been writing ever since.He began as a copywriter in a major New York advertising agency and co-authored the best-selling nonfiction book FILTHY RICH (Ten Speed Press). His first two novels BEAUTIFUL TO THE BONE and OUR SONG, MEMENTO MORI (Woodsmoke Publishing) met with critical acclaim, including the BestThrillers.com 2021 Finalist Award. He has written for numerous publications including Frontier Tales (for which he won the Reader’s Choice Short Story Award), Rocky Mountain Magazine, ArtLines magazine, and Patterns.His stories have been heard on National Public Radio and seen on CNN, Discovery Channel, and other national television. He’s been awarded a regional television Emmy and been nominated for four others. A member of Mystery Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, he lives in Colorado. He believes that not everything that’s real can be seen. And still, after all these years, when he can get away from his keyboard, he’s happiest in nature. A BOUNTY OF BONE is his latest and is being described as “A jaw-dropping suspense thriller unlike anything you’ve ever read.” (BestThrillers.com)