Pillar of the Sky: A Novel of Stonehenge [Paperback]

Cecelia Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2000

From deep in the mists of time, Cecelia Holland has drawn forth this tale of life on the Salisbury Plain, among the Stone Age Britons who built Stonehenge. It is the story of hunters, of kings and matriarchs, and of one outcast boy who becomes a shaman, burning with a vision that will take shape in mighty pillars of stone.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A first-class storyteller, Holland convinces the reader that only someone obsessed with building a gateway to the heavens could have created something as incredible as Stonehenge." --People

"[Holland] is at all times a superb storyteller, and her talents have never been better displayed. She not only re-creates a prehistoric people with every aspect of their life opened up for us; she also makes us share that life." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Politics in prehistoric times is Holland's theme in this intelligently and lushly developed saga. [Pillar of the Sky] moves with great energy but without neglecting rich detail; the dim past springs to buoyant and believable life." --Booklist

"With her engrossing narrative, some nicely developed characters, and excellent descriptions of the primitive lifestyle, Holland succeeds in stretching our imagination; she has breathed new life into those forty-ton monoliths that for all these centuries have been standing so mutely on the Salisbury Plain." --Los Angeles Herald Examiner

About the Author

Cecelia Holland has been writing since she was 12, and spends a good deal of every day writing. She chose to write historical fiction, because, being 12, she had precious few stories of her own, and history seemed to her then, as it still does, an endless fund of material.

She was encouraged to write by the poet William Meredith and the short story writer David Jackson. Her first novel was The Firedrake, and it was published by Atheneum in 1966. Since then, Cecelia has written a lot, read a lot, and raised three daughters. She lived in northern California, in the country. Once a week, she teaches creative writing at Pelican Baystate Prison in Crescent City, and, every day, she takes care of a small menagerie of little animals.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (July 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312868871
• ISBN-13: 978-0312868871
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,944,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars fans of pre-history novels will love it, December 4, 2004

By 

Matt Dawdy (Saratoga Springs, UT) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pillar of the Sky: A Novel of Stonehenge (Paperback)

Cecelia Holland is one of my favorite authors because of her book Until the Sun Falls, which is a novel from the Mongol perspective about their invasions of Russia and Europe. It is on my top five list definitely.

In fact, because of that book, I have bought several of her other books and I have come to the conclusion that she is one of the best novelists in the world at doing what she does. And what she does is take an event or a person or a group from history and recreate them as accurately as possible in novel form. She does this whether it makes them more interesting or less, whether it aids the novel or makes it worse.

And, so as I look for Until the Sun Falls part two I chanced upon Pillar of the Sky, a novel about a man living in ancient Britain who tries to build something great. There are many interesting forces at work in the novel, including the difficulties the protagonist faces as he confronts his primitive peers and even his own nature, which is slightly more developed than those around him but is still prone to many of their weaknesses.

The writing is smooth and powerful and if you like historical, or in the case of Pillar of the Sky, pre-historical, novels you will probably find it excellent. The characters are interesting and realistic, the main character even has flaws and makes mistakes!

However, being the weakminded pulp media reader that I am I wouldn't mind if she wanted to make the book a little more exciting by adding a few more fights or even a battle. I guess my problem is I am still looking to find Until the Sun Falls part two.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Story - A Great Read, June 9, 2011

By 

Rosaleen MacQueen - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pillar of the Sky: A Novel of Stonehenge (Paperback)

I first read this story from my local library about ten years ago. I loved the story so much that at least once a year I would re-checkout the book so I could enter the world of Moloquin once again. Then just a month ago, I went to check it out again, and I found that my library had discarded my favorite book! I immediately got online and bought the book for myself! It will become a classic in time. For those who like historical fiction, this author is the very best!