Gift of Stones - Softcover

Crace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0880014504 ISBN 13: 9780880014502

Publisher: ECCO Press, 1996

Synopsis

Set before the advent of the Bronze Age, The Gift of Stones centers around a community of stoneworkers who live in a village near the sea. Wealthy and complacent, they survive by the trade of their unrivaled skills, secure in the supremacy of their craftsmenship. A small boy, outcast by misfortune, ventures from the confines of the enclave to explore the unknown. He returns with enchanting tales of ships and the seashore, of new vistas and horizons, that beguile and disturb the villagers. In spite of his words and intuitive wisodm, the stoneworkers remain oblivious to the winds of change beginning to blow in the outside world. Until, that is, the storyteller brings back to the village a strange and angry woman whose presence foretells the coming of metal, the end of stone, and the demise of their way of life.

About this title

Review:

‘The intense story of the pre-historical moment when stone yielded to bronze . . . Crace is a virtuoso’ Frank Kermode, New York Times

‘His style is as simple as it is beautiful . . . Crace reveals the dignity in human labour and the power of the passing of time’ Herald

‘A deceptively simple book that explores profound ideas with a rare delicacy of touch’ Los Angeles Times

‘Bewitching . . . brings a lost world to life and imbues it with a sense of wonder’ Sunday Times

Book Description:

From the acclaimed author of Quarantine, a mesmeric novel that breathes life into a distant age.

About this edition

• Publisher: ECCO Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0880014504
• ISBN 13: 9780880014502
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 184