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 woman abandons her city life and marriage to return to the place she grew up, finding solace 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 ruminates on her childhood in the nearby town. 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 the Stella Prize-winning author of The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.
©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
- 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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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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Performance5 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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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- 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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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
- 27-10-2024
An exceptional story
Stone Yard Devotional is remarkable. As stark and dry as the landscape in which it is set, the exceptional use of language in this book evoked imagery which was full of love and compassion. To me it is a heartfelt reflection on the sweet and sad realities of life. The narration of the story by Ailsa Piper was wonderful; it was so well done I felt like I was sitting beside her while she told me the story.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Peter Leonard
- 18-11-2024
Elegantly written but ultimately unsatisfying.
This novel was suggested by a friend when I requested a well written recommendation having just listened to something very inelegant. It is very beautifully written but not much happens and there is no character development to speak of. A bit too meditative for me at the moment..
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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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