Stone Book Quartet

Alan Garner wrote four short stories which have now been compiled into one book - The Stone Book Quartet. The stories, now chapters, are The Stone Book, Granny Reardun, The Aimer Gate and Tom Fobble's Day and were written between 1976 and 1978. Each story occurs in a different generation and is based on members of Alan Garner's family who lived in the area near Alderley Edge in Cheshire.

Mary's father worked with stone and had helped build and repair many buildings in the village including St Philip's Church which is where Mary finds him when she takes him his lunch. Mary tells her father that she wants to learn to read a book. Instead he shows her how to read stone and takes her to a cave where she finds a strange mark.

Robert had spent his life working with stone, choosing only the best rocks to use for building projects. At times his grandson, Joseph, helped him. But the period for building with stone was coming to an end as people decided to use bricks to build their homes.  When Joseph finished school he decided to be apprenticed to the village blacksmith but he still had to tell his grandfather the news.

Young Robert had just finished making a cart to go down the hill. His Uncle Charlie was on leave from fighting during World War I and joined a number of the men who were to spend the day reaping corn. Young Robert was with them when they found the remains of a building in the grass and he used his cart to move the blocks of rock that his grandfather needed. Young Robert's father worked at the smithy and once a week he needed to correct the time on the chapel clock. When Young Robert took his father his baggin and climbed and explored the tower, he found what he thought was his name carved in the stone. But whose name was it?

It was winter during the Second World War and William had built a sled to use to go down the hill in the snow. However Stewart Allman commandeered the sled claiming he had the right to Tom Fobble it. William then went into the village to see his grandfather who was the blacksmith and helped his grandfather at the forge before they later went to his grandfather's house.

These stories create a picture of a life long gone. The stories are fiction but Alan Garner has based the stories on events and people in his family's history. The stories show respect for good craftsmanship and pride in what was sometimes dangerous and laborious work. However there is a feeling of comradeship among the characters and often the love of music.

The version of the book I read was an e-book.