Bed of Stone

by Letha Albright

During the Great Depression a desperate woman turns to crime in order to raise the money to find her stolen child. With the help of an old cowboy, a naive auto mechanic and her scheming 15-year-old niece, Virginia Crow robs a bank, hijacks an armored car, and finds far more trouble than she bargained for.

Paperback

Published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jessaka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes place during the depression and is about a woman who had her child taken away from her, and in order to find this child she needs the money to search for her and so decides upon a life of crime. This is not an uplifting book, but it is well written and enjoyable just the same as one follows the adventures and misadventures of the her and the man that she hooks up with in her search for her child.

[Kelly Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bed of Stone is a novel that understands desperation not as drama, but as gravity.

Set during the Great Depression, the story follows Virginia Crow, a woman whose love for her stolen child pushes her past the last boundary of what she once believed herself capable of. What makes this book exceptional is its refusal to romanticize crime or suffering. Every choice Virginia makes carries weight, consequence, and moral cost.

The supporting characters sharpen that realism rather than soften it. The scheming fifteen-year old niece is especially memorable neither innocent nor villain, but frighteningly perceptive, embodying how survival corrodes idealism early. The old cowboy’s presence adds a quiet, weathered dignity, reminding the reader that hardship doesn’t always harden people; sometimes it simply strips them down.

Bed of Stone doesn’t chase spectacle. It earns its power through restraint, emotional honesty, and a deep respect for the era it portrays. This is historical fiction that trusts the reader to feel rather than be told what to feel and that trust pays off.