What do you think?
Rate this book
A Stone's Throw
A man and his young son set out on a journey one snow-struck day. Another man skims stones across the sea with his daughter. Three generations separate them, but one loss connects them – sixty years apart, but no more than a stone’s throw.
In between these two men is Meg. Like everyone, she’s made choices in her life; and mostly she’s proud of them. But that doesn't mean she isn’t haunted by what might have been . . .
Set in England and Africa, opening during World War Two, A Stone's Throw is about how secrets linger and the price we pay to keep them. Most of all, it's about the choices we make, about consequences - and how we must, finally, let go of the past and face the future.
In between these two men is Meg. Like everyone, she’s made choices in her life; and mostly she’s proud of them. But that doesn't mean she isn’t haunted by what might have been . . .
Set in England and Africa, opening during World War Two, A Stone's Throw is about how secrets linger and the price we pay to keep them. Most of all, it's about the choices we make, about consequences - and how we must, finally, let go of the past and face the future.
- GenresHistorical
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Fiona Shaw
42 books105 followersNot to be confused with Fiona Shaw, the Irish-born stage & screen actress.
Fiona was born in London in 1964. Her place of birth is now a hospital broom cupboard and her first home was on a street later obliterated beneath a superstore off the Cromwell Rd. However, she passed most of her childhood as the eldest of three girls in a lovely and spacious family home near the Thames.
Fiona studied various literatures at the Universities of York and Sussex, finishing with a PhD on poet Elizabeth Bishop.
Since then, Fiona has written a memoir and four novels and done the habitual round of the novelist’s other jobs to help balance out her stubborn desire to write.
Fiona has worked as a Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at the University of York, 2007-2009, and is now working as RLF writing fellow in Sheffield University, attached to the Animal and Plant Sciences Department.
Living in York with her partner and two daughters, Fiona reads a great deal, cycles everywhere, grows vegetables with variable success and acquires more films than she ever gets around to watching. She is working on her fifth novel.
Fiona was born in London in 1964. Her place of birth is now a hospital broom cupboard and her first home was on a street later obliterated beneath a superstore off the Cromwell Rd. However, she passed most of her childhood as the eldest of three girls in a lovely and spacious family home near the Thames.
Fiona studied various literatures at the Universities of York and Sussex, finishing with a PhD on poet Elizabeth Bishop.
Since then, Fiona has written a memoir and four novels and done the habitual round of the novelist’s other jobs to help balance out her stubborn desire to write.
Fiona has worked as a Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at the University of York, 2007-2009, and is now working as RLF writing fellow in Sheffield University, attached to the Animal and Plant Sciences Department.
Living in York with her partner and two daughters, Fiona reads a great deal, cycles everywhere, grows vegetables with variable success and acquires more films than she ever gets around to watching. She is working on her fifth novel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 1, 2012
Quietly powerful, A Stone's Throw is a study in compromise and its consequences. In evocative and delicately-crafted prose Fiona Shaw traces a pattern of emotional damage that spans three generations of one family.
The first part of the novel focuses on Meg Bryan, a young woman whose childhood is overshadowed by the disappearance of her father and younger brother. As World War two breaks out Meg emigrates to South Africa to marry a man she does not love. On the journey a fleeting, passionate affair with a soldier makes her understand how much she has lost.
The second part focuses on Meg's son, Will, whose life is blighted by the death of his first lover in a freak accident for which he feels responsible. Like his mother, Will makes a marriage of convenience and spends the rest of his life paying the price.
What this novel does particularly well is illuminate with compassion and honesty the struggle of individuals rendered emotionally inarticulate by the long term effects of grief.
The first part of the novel focuses on Meg Bryan, a young woman whose childhood is overshadowed by the disappearance of her father and younger brother. As World War two breaks out Meg emigrates to South Africa to marry a man she does not love. On the journey a fleeting, passionate affair with a soldier makes her understand how much she has lost.
The second part focuses on Meg's son, Will, whose life is blighted by the death of his first lover in a freak accident for which he feels responsible. Like his mother, Will makes a marriage of convenience and spends the rest of his life paying the price.
What this novel does particularly well is illuminate with compassion and honesty the struggle of individuals rendered emotionally inarticulate by the long term effects of grief.
April 18, 2012
I enjoyed the main body of story here, but felt it got a little confused and lost halfway through. All parts are well written, i just didn't feel that they held together quite right.
September 19, 2012
Some family secrets are ment to be kept and not shared.
September 25, 2012
This is beautifully written, but I felt the various narrative sections didn't hang together well, and the ending felt too glib.
January 8, 2023
Book is only 233 pages but could've been much longer.
Read the last 150-ish pages in one sitting because I just kept wanting to know what would happen. Shaw does an excellent job of foreshadowing, making the reader think the foreshadowed danger is past, and then hitting the original perceived danger again.
I think George knew about Will. Would've been nice to have some more time on the boat with Jim. The boat scenes and lifeboat scenes were some of my favorites.
I wish we had more time with the character Benjamin. Having only 12 hours-ish with him alive, considering the impact he has in the story, was not enough.
Also wish Jim Cooper had come back into the picture again, but perhaps that was only wishful thinking...or grounds for a sequel.
It's a story about the secrets we keep, the choices we make, and the consequences that arrive at the crossroads. I did like at the ending that Will breaks the cycle, but I wish we had a bit more than just those few pages at the end. (Having read another of Shaw's books, she seems to like a quickly wrap up everything ending).
Read the last 150-ish pages in one sitting because I just kept wanting to know what would happen. Shaw does an excellent job of foreshadowing, making the reader think the foreshadowed danger is past, and then hitting the original perceived danger again.
I think George knew about Will. Would've been nice to have some more time on the boat with Jim. The boat scenes and lifeboat scenes were some of my favorites.
I wish we had more time with the character Benjamin. Having only 12 hours-ish with him alive, considering the impact he has in the story, was not enough.
Also wish Jim Cooper had come back into the picture again, but perhaps that was only wishful thinking...or grounds for a sequel.
It's a story about the secrets we keep, the choices we make, and the consequences that arrive at the crossroads. I did like at the ending that Will breaks the cycle, but I wish we had a bit more than just those few pages at the end. (Having read another of Shaw's books, she seems to like a quickly wrap up everything ending).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2021
Some interesting scenarios and the author writes well and thinks carefully about her characters. Some of the sections captured me quite well but although I could discern the narrative path, it did not flow well enough for me. The thread of people maintaining deceptions was clear but I was never sure that each section clarified or enlightened the following or preceding parts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2023
A simple story about secrets and loss spanning 60 years from around the 1920s onwards told in five chapters: Ice, Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Whilst a young child Meg’s father and brother disappear. As a young woman Meg travels to Africa to marry and start her own family. On the verge of adulthood her son loses his first love. The characters are well written and held my interest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2013
Well written, with some lovely prose, A STONE'S THROW follows Meg, a young British girl from the time her father left with her brother to when her son stands throwing stones with his teenage daughter at the funeral of his father.
While the writing was tight, with good characterisation of Meg and her husband as a reserved English couple, the themes were too complex for such a short book. I never really got to know the characters, and therefore couldn't relate that well to them. Perhaps that was an intentional technique to emphasize the extreme self-containment needed to sustain a lifetime of British stiff-upper-lip, but it only served to make the characters difficult for me to know.
Meg's husband George, too, was one dimensional as a character - throughout the book we only see him through the eyes of Meg and her son Will, and their view of him was rather harsh. I would have liked to get behind his reserve to find out his thoughts on the compromises he had to make throughout his marriage to Meg.
Interesting enough for me to want to finish it, the first part (up to the end of Meg's boat journey during WW2), was wonderful, but ultimately I was left somewhat frustrated and rather sad at such a passionless existence, although Meg's encouragement of Will to live his life on his terms offered some hope.
While the writing was tight, with good characterisation of Meg and her husband as a reserved English couple, the themes were too complex for such a short book. I never really got to know the characters, and therefore couldn't relate that well to them. Perhaps that was an intentional technique to emphasize the extreme self-containment needed to sustain a lifetime of British stiff-upper-lip, but it only served to make the characters difficult for me to know.
Meg's husband George, too, was one dimensional as a character - throughout the book we only see him through the eyes of Meg and her son Will, and their view of him was rather harsh. I would have liked to get behind his reserve to find out his thoughts on the compromises he had to make throughout his marriage to Meg.
Interesting enough for me to want to finish it, the first part (up to the end of Meg's boat journey during WW2), was wonderful, but ultimately I was left somewhat frustrated and rather sad at such a passionless existence, although Meg's encouragement of Will to live his life on his terms offered some hope.
May 26, 2012
Fiona Shaw returns to World War Two for the setting of her fourth novel, A Stone's Throw. Young Meg Bryan embarks on a perilous voyage at the height of the conflict, leaving her home in England to marry her fiancé George Garrowby, whose business interests lie in Africa. The trouble is that, under the belief that she has no choice, Meg is leaving a world that holds no opportunity to marry a man she does not love. The voyage out is eventful and traumatic. Meg nearly loses her life, and most certainly loses her heart, and arrives in Africa a changed woman. Years later, back in England, Meg's son Will loses his best friend Benjamin in a freak accident, and out of guilt buries his grief and denies his true nature. Shaw's novel is about regret for the path not taken. Meg and Will, mother and son, both choose duty over desire. The novel is honest and bold, with its suggestion that the path to happiness is rarely straightforward. In the end Meg and Will each attain a kind of fulfillment. They have suffered and made mistakes, but have built worthy lives. The novel succeeds by leaving it up to the reader to decide if the choices Meg and Will have made are the right ones. A Stone's Throw is subtle and effective, and an engrossing work of fiction.
October 19, 2013
A story about passion, choices and consequences.
I enjoyed this absorbing and fairly short book with blurb as follows...
''The people you love, they just slip away ... I won't let you do that. A man and his young son set out on a journey one snow-struck day. Another man skims stones across the sea with his daughter. Three generations separate them, but one loss connects them - sixty years apart, but no more than a stone's throw.In between these two men is Meg. Like everyone, she's made choices in her life; and mostly she's proud of them. But that doesn't mean she isn't haunted by what might have been . . .Set in England and Africa, opening during World War Two, A Stone's Throw is about how secrets linger and the price we pay to keep them. Most of all, it's about the choices we make, about consequences - and how we must, finally, let go of the past and face the future.''
I enjoyed this absorbing and fairly short book with blurb as follows...
''The people you love, they just slip away ... I won't let you do that. A man and his young son set out on a journey one snow-struck day. Another man skims stones across the sea with his daughter. Three generations separate them, but one loss connects them - sixty years apart, but no more than a stone's throw.In between these two men is Meg. Like everyone, she's made choices in her life; and mostly she's proud of them. But that doesn't mean she isn't haunted by what might have been . . .Set in England and Africa, opening during World War Two, A Stone's Throw is about how secrets linger and the price we pay to keep them. Most of all, it's about the choices we make, about consequences - and how we must, finally, let go of the past and face the future.''
March 11, 2022
Meg boards a ship which will take her to Africa where her fiancé and a new life away from the war is waiting. The journey is perilous and will change her forever. Fast forward about eighteen years and her eldest son Will is about to begin his adult life. Will doesn’t want a conventional life like his father, he wants to be adventurous and happy but life has quite a different plan for him.
I didn’t expect to read this as quickly as I did because I didn’t enjoy the first chapter but I’m so pleased that I persevered. The writer’s descriptive style was excellent (and reminded me a bit of The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes) though a little overdone in places and the characters she has in the book are very believable. Overall a well written book with an excellently observed story.
I didn’t expect to read this as quickly as I did because I didn’t enjoy the first chapter but I’m so pleased that I persevered. The writer’s descriptive style was excellent (and reminded me a bit of The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes) though a little overdone in places and the characters she has in the book are very believable. Overall a well written book with an excellently observed story.
May 6, 2014
Good, maybe not as good as Tell It To The Bees but good.
It is a novel about making tragedy, decisions, mistakes and compromises. It is told largely through Meg who leaves England for a loveless marriage in Africa after a childhood blighted by death and Ben who in the aftermath of tragedy makes a decision that will also colour his whole life. If I had a gripe (and its a rare one in these of under-edited books) it is that the themes are large but the book is short. Ben and Meg are both interesting characters yet the whole book is brief (a couple of hours reading time)and so the ideas feel somewhat underdeveloped and the subsidiary characters rarely leave the page.
It is a novel about making tragedy, decisions, mistakes and compromises. It is told largely through Meg who leaves England for a loveless marriage in Africa after a childhood blighted by death and Ben who in the aftermath of tragedy makes a decision that will also colour his whole life. If I had a gripe (and its a rare one in these of under-edited books) it is that the themes are large but the book is short. Ben and Meg are both interesting characters yet the whole book is brief (a couple of hours reading time)and so the ideas feel somewhat underdeveloped and the subsidiary characters rarely leave the page.
November 19, 2013
The novel follows members of a family over a period of years with linking themes being loss and regret at settling for what is expected rather than what you want, roads not travelled so to speak. I found some sections more engaging than others - for instance, I liked Meg's experiences on board ship and some of the descriptions about life in Africa. However, I was expecting some of the "loose ends" introduced in earlier chapters to be resolved at the end and they weren't. However, it was an easy read, it's not a long book and I liked Fiona Shaw's prose style.
April 14, 2013
"The fourth novel by Royal Literary Fund writing fellow Fiona Shaw (who recently chatted to For Books’ Sake), A Stone’s Throw is a series of interconnecting stories of a family over three generations.
Starting with abandonment and ending with a revelation, it is a novel about secrets, how they affect families, and the importance of living your own life." (Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)
Starting with abandonment and ending with a revelation, it is a novel about secrets, how they affect families, and the importance of living your own life." (Excerpt from full review at For Books' Sake.)
June 11, 2015
Not quite sure I get the point of this book, I did think there was going to be abit more to the storyline with the soldier and I think that's what kept me reading as I was waiting for it to happen. Did feel like it just ended without really getting anywhere. Also felt there was a lot missing in relation to will and his dad leaving home at the start? No explanation as to why or what happened. Feel a little let down and deflated now!
October 22, 2012
I read this book on my recent holiday and it only took me a few days to read it. I enjoyed the story but when the end of the book came I did not realise I was at the end and I am not sure if I wanted it to go a little deeper - maybe to find her father.
August 15, 2012
Interesting story about the choices people make in life, and how often they do what they think is right at the expense of their own happiness. Very thought provoking
September 19, 2012
A simple story and quick read, but I really enjoyed the writing.
January 18, 2018
Didn't enjoy it
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews