Customer Reviews

Water, Stone, Heart: A Novel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Prepare to be transported to the Cornwall village of Boscastle where time passes slowly and friendships are eternal. This delightful tale will mesmerize and entrance. Will North's books are addicting with each new book being better than the rest! Once you finish the book, take some time to do some research on the Internet about the Boscastle flood of 2004. The devastation was terrible. Much of the area has since been restored so that each reader can compare his/her own mental image of the area known as Cornwall with the reality.
A gentle and endearing story featuring many types of love.

I became a big fan of Will North with his first novel, "The Long Walk Home." I loved this his second novel too. His characters are so endearing and the story an intricate mix of information about Cornwall, England, sexual abuse and the art of stone/hedge building. I could not put this book down. Finished it at Midnight despite having work the next day! A super Summer/Beach read!

I loved the setting for Water, Stone, Heart. Will North does a good job with the details and I have always been a fan of books set in English countrysides. It made me want to go there to visit. I liked his first novel as well. I always enjoy getting to know the different characters and the relationships they share. I would recommend this book.

Kris

but for 40-somethings, Andrew and Nicola are a bit pathetic. I think Andrew's a bit of a "Gary Stu," actually - from staid professor (who's not even known to jog) to acclaimed stone wall builder in a week, without even benefit of ibuprofen! And he gets the girl!

Wish I'd seen the back cover first - I'd have been warned off by the fervent comparisons to Nicholas Sparks and Robert James Waller.

I bought Will North's first book "The Long Walk Home" and loved it. I read to be entertained and feel good when I am done with the novel. Heart Water Stone was even better. I loved the characters and their ethics of right and wrong. It was also a nice change to have characters that were not young adults but middle age and open to love and to find it. I can't wait for another of his books to come out. I know that I will reread both of these books and I have raved about them to my girl friends. This book would also make a good read for those of you that belong to a book club. Thanks Will for giving me hours of reading pleasure.

North makes few demands in this novel, essentially a simple tale of two broken people who meet on the wild Cornish coast, spar with one another and learn the art of forgiveness, of self and others. A year earlier, when Philadelphia professor of architectural theory Andrew Stratton is confronted with his wife's demand for a divorce, he is stunned and hurt. Filled with self-doubt, his ego crushed, Stratton impulsively registers for a class on the ancient art of wall building in Boscastle, England. The week-long class offers Stratton an opportunity to explore his pet theory, "the harmony of livable places" and absent himself from the lonely existence he has endured for the past year.

Boscastle is a charming village that reflects the endurance of time and place, the modern world seeming far away. Enchanted by the nine-year-old daughter of his landlord, Andrew allows the girl to serve as his village guide. Delighted with Boscastle's eccentric characters and the historical ambience of this unique place, Stafford is taken aback- and fascinated- when he meets the acerbic Nicola Rhys-Jones, a divorced American ex-pat artist who paints in her Boscastle loft. Nicola and Andrew begin a prickly repartee that serves as a buffer to their mutual attraction. Nicola has her own painful past, more complicated that Andrew anticipates. (North's novel is, above all else, a love story.)

Filled with eccentric characters, it is easy to transport the entire village backwards through time, to endow them with the particularities of another century as the lovers circle one another, carefully testing boundaries. One might be tempted to imbue Stratton with Heathcliffian sensibilities, but he inhabits in the real world and must find his way through the emotional detritus of his past: "Every stone he lifted... was taking one down from the wall around him."

North's modern-day protagonists embrace, for a time, a simpler existence that allows them to heal the damage of the past. This is a sentimental rendering, the author appealing to our need to step back occasionally from a chaotic world. Although North has a tendency to deviate from the plot with discussions of religion, witchcraft, painting and the art of wall-building, the novel comes together in a moment of potential tragedy when the villagers of Boscastle face nature's fury. This is, above all, a love story, one fraught with fear and distrust, the gradual bonding of two damaged souls who find respite in one another. Luan Gaines/2009.

Each time I picked up Will North's Water, Stone, Heart, I had a smile on my face because I was about to be transported to the English countryside in 2004 to follow the lives of some wonderful characters, notably Lee (a meadow elfin and the best child fictional character I have ever encountered). Lee's relationships with her neighbours and her environment enchanted me. The description of the flood and acts of heroism were gripping. I intend to read every book Will North writes, and thank him dearly for this one.

Water, Stone, Heart...couldn't put it down! Will North took me to Boscastle, showed me the beauty of the land, introduced me to fabulous folks, my favorite has to be Lilly, AKA Lee, AKA Miss Guess What! Nicola & Andrew are fun and charming and couldn't we all be so fortunate as to have a Sir Michael in our lives?? An ex-father-in-law who not only knows but acknowledges his son's evil acts! Stir into the brew the mystical magical Witchcraft shop and the casting aside of old demons..L' Chaim! A must read! I missed Will North's debut into fiction by way of The Long Walk Home. Be sure to also look up Boscastle, the actual flood, the town info. I am off to my next read, by my newest, latest, greatest, favorite author...Will North!

I loved this book - read it in a day and felt I was in Cornwall with all my friends. I adore Will's style of writing - his ability to make you transcend into another time and space - and will recommend this book to everyone I know. A 10 for sure!!!!! First choice for our next book group!

Anxiously waiting his next book and loved 'A Long Walk Home ' as well.

Thank you, Will North. This book will be on my shelf of "keepers" also.

After 'The Long Walk Home' I was waiting for another novel with Will's wonderful descriptions. I was not disappointed! You feel as if you live in Boscastle and are a part of the community. The love story is nice but the words around it are better. I can't wait for the next book!