Stone Yard Devotional
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Stone Yard Devotional
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Narrated by:
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Ailsa Piper
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By:
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Charlotte Wood
About this listen
A deeply moving novel about forgiveness, grief, and what it means to be 'good', from the award-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIME MINISTER'S LITERARY AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA AWARD FOR LITERARY FICTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD
BOOK OF THE YEAR, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
BOOK OF THE YEAR, ABC
A woman abandons her city life and marriage to return to the place of her childhood, holing up 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 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 one of Australia's most acclaimed and best loved writers.
'Extraordinary . . . a stunning work of fiction from a major writer who keeps getting better' THE AUSTRALIAN
'Remarkable . . . I'm still trying to figure out how she pulled it off. The best thing she's done' TIM WINTON, author of The Shepherd's Hut
'I have rarely been so absorbed by a novel . . . A powerful, generous book' GUARDIAN
'It extends and deepens Wood's already remarkable achievements as a novelist in powerful and often profound ways' THE SATURDAY PAPER
'A beautiful, mature work that does not flinch from life' SUNDAY TIMES
'A book about what it means to be good: simply and with great humility, it asks the big questions, leaving the reader feeling kinder, more brave, enlarged' ANNE ENRIGHT, author of The Wren, The Wren
'Beautiful, strange and otherworldly' PAULA HAWKINS, bestselling author of A Slow Fire Burning
'Both profound and addictively entertaining. I loved it' CLARE CHAMBERS, bestselling author of Small Pleasures
'No words can quite convey how much I loved this book' KAREN JOY FOWLER, author of Booth
'Wood joins the ranks of writers such as Nora Ephron, Penelope Lively and Elizabeth Strout.' THE GUARDIAN UK
©2023 Charlotte Wood (P)2023 Allen and UnwinWhat listeners say about Stone Yard Devotional
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-10-2024
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.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Carole Alcock
- 05-11-2024
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-11-2024
a probing meditation on loss, forgiveness and crisis
a deliberate and intelligent work. rich reflections on life, faith, community, and the little ways we fail and care for one another.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Helen Diack
- 20-12-2023
Deeply satisfying and satisfyingly deep
I was taken to a quiet reflective space as I listened to this bare and starkly spacious novel. It is written in the first person and tells of a group of people living a pared back simple life of religious order in the course of which courage, forbearance, love and forgiveness emerge in response to human frailty and natural disaster.
It is both a gripping story and a message of understanding and kindness.
Thank you Charlotte Wood,
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-10-2023
Moving
Recognising many events that occurred in this book … the hippies, the charismatic religious gatherings at homes, the bowl of rice we ate to raise money etc leaves a moving, melancholy feeling. A beautiful story Charlotte. Thank you.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Meralyn Tarte
- 05-03-2024
Melancholy and meditative story.
Fact or fiction? I sensed this was an autobiography, too much detail for it not to be. I wish I had the capacity to analyse my life’s important and formative experiences with such depth and articulate feeling. Most of us bury deep inside the complex painful moments of our early years which ultimately make us what we are. This book will stay with me for a long time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 25-10-2024
The narrator really bought this incredible story to light.
I loved every second of this book. Such a beautiful story and so masterfully read. There must be some truths in this ‘fictional’ story. Phew…
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D.M.S.
- 27-10-2023
An instant Australian classic
Loved this book, which feels like a gift, and the performance from Ailsa Piper is just perfect. For those in need of space and solace.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary Comino
- 29-01-2024
beautifully written
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It made mw wish the author was my friend. I found it to be an intimate narrative, gripping but subtle.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 20-09-2024
Beautiful
This is a beautifully written, excellently read and sparsely observed narrative of the life of a nun in a closed order and her life before seclusion. She entered the nunnery in a slough of despair and her self imposed incarceration and separation from the world becomes like the biblical parable of Jesus in the wilderness. Like Jesus she encounters three challenges - the return of remains of a murdered nun, her re-encounter with someone she had wronged in her youth and an horrific plague of mice. All of this told in meticulous delicacy that had me thinking of Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain. A beautiful book shortlisted for the Booker. I haven’t read the others yet, but at this stage I want this book to win
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