Kerewin Holmes, the main character of The Bone People, is an earthy, independent woman. She lives alone in a world of her own making. Sans the influence of family or male companionship, Kerewin's life exhibits a degree of liberation that few women, even in modern societies like America, enjoy.
Kerewin's independence came about partially as the result of sudden wealth, i.e., winning a lottery. The financial stability allowed her the freedom to own her own home on a remote stretch of beach. Even before winning the lottery, however, Kerewin had abandoned society's expectations for women by quitting her day jobs and eking out an existence as a struggling artist. Pursuing her artistic career was the lifestyle that Kerewin would have preferred, but the burden of wealth extinguished her creative ability: "While I was busy blessing the god of munificence, the lightning came. It blasted my family, and it blasted my painting talent" (Hulme, 1983, p. 28). As Hulme (1983) further describes it, Kerewin's separation from her family was an event fraught with "violence and tears" (p. 24).
Although Kerewin often expressed regret regarding her estrangement from her family, she never made an overture to repair the breach in their relationship. Kerewin's liberated lifestyle is too important to her. She is only one-eighth Maori, but when she was among her family she felt all Maori (Hulme, 1983, p. 62). This cultural clash may have also accounted for the distance between Kerewin and her family who, typical of Europeans, probably sought to negate their Maori heritage.
Kerewin's affinity for Maori culture is one of the reasons that she allows Joe and his foster son Simon to infiltrate her hermetic existence. Their presence, however, does nothing to damper Kerewin's liberated lifestyle. She continues to drink like a sailor, smoke cigars, and frequent pubs. Kerewin stands up to a drunken bar patron, stares him down, and demonstrates h...