Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
$7.99
Stone Yard Devotional
- By: Charlotte Wood
- Narrated by: Ailsa Piper
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction
About this listen
A woman abandons her city life and marriage to return to the place she grew up, finding solace in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Monaro.
She does not believe in God, doesn’t know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive life almost by accident. As she gradually adjusts to the rhythms of monastic life, she ruminates on her childhood in the nearby town. She finds herself turning again and again to thoughts of her mother, whose early death she can’t forget.
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 left the community decades before to minister to deprived women in Thailand – then disappeared, presumed murdered.
Finally, a troubling visitor to the monastery pulls the narrator further back into her past.
With each of these disturbing arrivals, the woman faces some deep questions. Can a person be truly good? What is forgiveness? Is loss of hope a moral failure? And can the business of grief ever really be finished?
A meditative and deeply moving novel from the Stella Prize-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.
©2023 Charlotte Wood (P)2023 Allen and Unwin
Anonymous User
compelling
beautifully written and read. so many pertinent themes for all times and especially now. to do no harm and yet exist human as we are.
Carole Alcock
Beautifully told
Left with a sense of unease. Beautifully told but very much of its time and place. The story felt very familiar to me even though the author is probably much younger than I am. The narration was excellent. I have both the audio and hard copy of this book. Thank you.