The Stone Carvers

Author:
Jane Urquhart

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Price:
$29.95

Available Now

Stone - but not cold

The Stone Carvers is not a book to be read in a hurry but should be saved for a time when you can immerse yourself in the grand imagery created by the author. Award-winning Urquhart's fifth novel traverses back and forth between generations and across the globe without confusing the reader. The stories within a story move effortlessly between Bavaria in the mid-1800s, pioneers developing the wilderness of northern Canada, the French battlefields of the First World War and its aftermath, culminating with a return to Canada.

The central character, Klara, is introduced as a feisty 38-year old spinster living on the outskirts of an isolated Canadian village, Shonerval. The early narrative relates tales much-loved by Klara and the local nuns. These stories depict how the village was established and named by a Bavarian priest with a dream to build a large stone church with a bell. His seemingly improbable quest drew together a community including Klara's grandfather, a wood carver who later tries to pass on his skills to Klara's brother, Tilman. >>>

Image - Untitled, Bobby West Tjupurrula
Tilman however is a young boy at odds with his world, given to taking to the road on adventures until the occasion when he leaves and does not return. The young Klara embraces her grandfather's craft together with the tailoring skills of her mother and, now approaching forty, lives an independent and somewhat insular life having lost her grandfather, parents, brother and one and only lover, Eamon, who went missing at war.

The return of her long-lost brother, maimed in battle in France, plus her enduring yearning for Eamon inspires Klara to get to and be part of the protracted project to construct a magnificent Canadian war memorial at Vimy, Northern France. Enlisting the company of her reluctant brother she poses as a man to achieve her goal. While there they each find love and exorcise some personal demons as well as contributing to the artistic realisation of the vision of Walter Allward, the memorial's architect (both Allward and his memorial are interesting real-life features in an otherwise fictional work).

Despite its powerful themes of passion, obsession and achieving the impossible set in theatres of religion, romance, art and war Urquhart's prose emanates a sense of calm. Her words conjure up tableaux of landscapes, works of art and characters' deep emotion but leave you with the sense of having shared company with a wise old storyteller. Savour and enjoy.

Lindsay Hayes

Send us your feedback on this article or anything else in The Blurb