You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
wordsofclover 's review for:
Silence Under A Stone
by Norma MacMaster
I received a free copy of this book from Penguin Ireland in exchange for an honest review.
Harriet Campbell had two great loves in her life - her son James and her religion. When her son decides to walk away from the Presbyterian Church for the sake of love, Harriet finds herself overcome with disappointment and is unable to forgive. Over 50 years later, Harriet is left alone in a nursing home thinking about her decisions.
This book was very well written, and I definitely felt sucked into the story and the lives of the characters. However, in saying that I still felt disconnected to the story - probably because it was so alien to the type of Irish upbringing I know myself.
Ireland is a predominantly Catholic country, so reading about not just a protestant community but a Presbyterian one was a bit strange for me. I grew up with a Catholic father, went to a Catholic school and was surrounded by a Catholic community so Harriet and James’s way of life was so alien, and it didn’t fit into the Ireland I know, and even the historical Ireland I know so because of all of that the story felt distant to me.
I didn’t like any of the characters in this book. Harriet was just so wrapped up in hate and prejudice, I couldn’t understand her at all, and James was a bit of a wet blanket. I did like some of the points that Norma MacMaster’s appeared to be making in the novel however - the contradiction of living your life believing in a God who was all love but then allowing hate into your heart for something as simple as a man falling in love with the ‘wrong’ girl.
The end was a bit depressing, and not what I would have hoped for, or expected. I would have liked there to have been a sweeter moment between Harriet and James, and it was sad to see how Harriet had put a stain onto the rest of his adult life by her behaviour.
Harriet Campbell had two great loves in her life - her son James and her religion. When her son decides to walk away from the Presbyterian Church for the sake of love, Harriet finds herself overcome with disappointment and is unable to forgive. Over 50 years later, Harriet is left alone in a nursing home thinking about her decisions.
This book was very well written, and I definitely felt sucked into the story and the lives of the characters. However, in saying that I still felt disconnected to the story - probably because it was so alien to the type of Irish upbringing I know myself.
Ireland is a predominantly Catholic country, so reading about not just a protestant community but a Presbyterian one was a bit strange for me. I grew up with a Catholic father, went to a Catholic school and was surrounded by a Catholic community so Harriet and James’s way of life was so alien, and it didn’t fit into the Ireland I know, and even the historical Ireland I know so because of all of that the story felt distant to me.
I didn’t like any of the characters in this book. Harriet was just so wrapped up in hate and prejudice, I couldn’t understand her at all, and James was a bit of a wet blanket. I did like some of the points that Norma MacMaster’s appeared to be making in the novel however - the contradiction of living your life believing in a God who was all love but then allowing hate into your heart for something as simple as a man falling in love with the ‘wrong’ girl.
The end was a bit depressing, and not what I would have hoped for, or expected. I would have liked there to have been a sweeter moment between Harriet and James, and it was sad to see how Harriet had put a stain onto the rest of his adult life by her behaviour.