You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
laurieb755 's review for:
Stone's Fall
by Iain Pears
Similar to his An Instance of the Fingerpost, Stone's Fall tells the parts of a story form the eyes of three people – Matthew Braddock (1909), Henry Cort (Paris, 1890) and John Stone (Venice, 1867). Braddock is a newspaper man hired in 1909 by Elizabeth Stone to ostensibly write a biography of her recently deceased husband, John Stone, who wound up dead on the street after a fall from his second floor office in his home.
A prominent behind-the-scene arms dealer and financier, shrew in his dealings, and in "it" for the love of a good challenge, Stone's death has left two puzzles behind. The first is an empire that has questionable stability, of which Stone was very well aware. The second is Stone's will, which stipulates leaving money to a child he may have parented some 20 or more years earlier. It is this mystery Elizabeth Stone wants Braddock to unravel, for without its resolution Stone's will cannot be carried out.
Matthew Braddock, himself somewhere in his 20s, tells his story of being hired, falling captive to the aura of Elizabeth Stone, discovering more about Stone's business and Elizabeth's clandestine if then he ever imagine or wanted to know, and some 40 plus years later, in 1953, receiving Henry Cort's sealed papers (upon Cort's death) to illuminate the past and tie up the many loose ends.
Henry Cort, whose "voice" I found most interesting, told the tale of Elizabeth's "beginnings" in Paris in the 1890s, how she rose through the ranks and eventually became Mrs John Stone, Lady Ravenscliff, in a marriage marked by love and mutual admiration. But it was John Stone's tale that filled in many gaps, going back even further to Venice, 1867. This tale of love runs side-by-side with growing armaments, pending changes in world peace, growing anarchy, and a look inside the ruthless world of politics, political stability, and governments. Intertwined stories and characters come alive on the page, all of which makes for exceptionally fine story telling.
A prominent behind-the-scene arms dealer and financier, shrew in his dealings, and in "it" for the love of a good challenge, Stone's death has left two puzzles behind. The first is an empire that has questionable stability, of which Stone was very well aware. The second is Stone's will, which stipulates leaving money to a child he may have parented some 20 or more years earlier. It is this mystery Elizabeth Stone wants Braddock to unravel, for without its resolution Stone's will cannot be carried out.
Matthew Braddock, himself somewhere in his 20s, tells his story of being hired, falling captive to the aura of Elizabeth Stone, discovering more about Stone's business and Elizabeth's clandestine if then he ever imagine or wanted to know, and some 40 plus years later, in 1953, receiving Henry Cort's sealed papers (upon Cort's death) to illuminate the past and tie up the many loose ends.
Henry Cort, whose "voice" I found most interesting, told the tale of Elizabeth's "beginnings" in Paris in the 1890s, how she rose through the ranks and eventually became Mrs John Stone, Lady Ravenscliff, in a marriage marked by love and mutual admiration. But it was John Stone's tale that filled in many gaps, going back even further to Venice, 1867. This tale of love runs side-by-side with growing armaments, pending changes in world peace, growing anarchy, and a look inside the ruthless world of politics, political stability, and governments. Intertwined stories and characters come alive on the page, all of which makes for exceptionally fine story telling.