Stone Will Answer
  • Published: 7 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9781529920499
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $30.00

Stone Will Answer

A Journey Guided by Craft, Myth and Geology

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Paperback
7 May 2024
EBook
6 Apr 2023
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A beautiful memoir, travelogue, and meditation on stone and the transformative power of craft, by young stone mason Beatrice Searle.

A beautiful memoir, travelogue and meditation on stone by artist and stone mason Beatrice Searle.

'Extraordinary' Guardian
‘A magnificent book’ Alex Woodcock
‘Exceptional’ Kerri Andrews
‘Luminous’ Spectator

At the age of twenty-six, artist and Cathedral stonemason Beatrice Searle crossed the North Sea and walked 500 miles along a medieval pilgrim path through Southern Norway, taking with her a 40-kilogram Orcadian stone.

Fascinated with the mysterious footprint stones of Northern Europe and the ancient Greco-Roman world, stones closely associated with travellers, saints and the inauguration of Kings, she follows in their footsteps as her stone becomes a talisman, a bedrock and an offering to those she meets along the way.

Stone Will Answer is an unusual adventure story of journeys practical, spiritual and geological, of weight and motion, and an insight into a beguiling craft.
  • Published: 7 May 2024
  • ISBN: 9781529920499
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $30.00
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About the author

Beatrice Searle

Originally from Wales, Beatrice Searle now lives and works in Glasgow. She trained in Fine Art and apprenticed in stonemasonry at Lincoln Cathedral. Her multidisciplinary practice draws on ecological and geological research to explore how human beings connect to their landscape and natural environment. Stone Will Answer is her first book.

Praise for Stone Will Answer

Searle is an excellent storyteller... [and Stone Will Answer] make[s] for gripping reading... it's the human spirit that emerges triumphant in this sparky blend of memoir and travelogue... Above all, this is the story of a young woman's astonishing feat of endurance

Herald

A gifted writer, capable of luminous description

Spectator

A story of determination and soul-searching... Compellingly narrated, entertaining and thought-provoking... treat yourself to a copy of this book and enjoy the journey

Natural Stone Specialist

A magnificent book. Written with the eye of a poet and the heart of an artist, Stone Will Answer is both a moving account of an unconventional journey and a testament to the power of stone in finding anchorage in an uncertain world

Alex Woodcock, author of King of Dust

Illuminating... I was quickly taken in by Beatrice Searle's distinctive voice, and by the end I couldn't help but feel very differently about stones, rootedness, belonging, and indeed what walking might mean. Beatrice's story is exceptional, and she is an exceptional story teller.

Kerri Andrews, author of Wandering: A History of Women Walking

A moving testimony to the power of art, of finding the extraordinary in the everyday and acting upon your instinct. To walk with Searle in its pages is to experience stone within a new light... as a part-knowable, ever-shifting medium in the process of slow but perpetual change, one long work-in-progress.

Alex Woodcock, Caught by the River

A story of dedication and tenacity that is deeply moving and utterly captivating. Stone Will Answer is a truly remarkable book, a beautifully crafted tale of an artist's extraordinary journey. Searle seamlessly contemplates the meaning of craft, ancient myths, the mutability of stone and the transformations within her own life. Its rare to read a story of such artistic integrity. I felt bereft when I finished but also buoyed by a new found fascination with stone and all its many meanings.

Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean

An astonishing mission with huge integrity in the telling.

Linda Cracknell, author of Writing Landscape

Subtle and thought-provoking

TLS

Extraordinary... Confessional, elemental and at times moving, this is a memorable and unique celebration of the power and beauty of stone.

Guardian