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Stone Yard Devotional
- Narrated by: Ailsa Piper
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
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Summary
A novel by Charlotte Wood, the Stella Prize-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.
A fearless exploration of forgiveness, grief and the complicated beauty of female friendship.
Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, finding solace in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Australian outback. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident.
As she gradually adjusts to the rhythms of her new life, she ruminates on her childhood in the nearby town, turning again and again to thoughts of her mother, whose early death she can't forget.
But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signalling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past.
Critic reviews
'[T]ackles weighty themes - guilt, loss, forgiveness - and manages to be both profound and addictively entertaining. I loved it.' (Clare Chambers, bestselling author of Small Pleasures)
'Beautiful, strange and otherworldly, Charlotte Wood's latest novel is an absorbing mediation on grief, forgiveness and our relationship to the natural world.' (Paula Hawkins, no. 1 bestselling author of A Slow Fire Burning)
'Intelligent and nourishing, Stone Yard Devotional shows us the mysteries of human relationships, asking who can and should bestow forgiveness. This novel is subtly powerful and utterly engrossing.' (Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground)
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For some reason I started out thinking this was a memoir, rather than a novel, so found it gripping. However, having realised that it was actually a novel I was ultimately disappointed… I felt there should have been more resolution at the end, and I ultimately thought what is the point?? I think the author has a duty to resolve, or at least point to something in the future and I was disappointing not to get this.
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