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Making a Stone of the Heart: A Novel
When curmudgeonly Owen Jones died in a Bella Coola nursing home, no one who knew the elderly man could imagine the extraordinary story of his life. Spooling backwards through time against the backdrop of Vancouver's raw, exuberant growth over the last hundred years, Making a Stone of the Heart tells Owen's story and those of his lover, Dora Dow, and of Dr. Jonathan Smyth. The lives of the three have been irrevocably tied together by their knowledge of two terrible secrets secrets that spun each of their lives off on unforeseen trajectories. What are the secrets of the heart that each carries within? What mysteries lie in their pasts? As their lives unwind back to the beginning, the answers are expertly revealed.
342 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2002
About the author
Cynthia Flood
17 books5 followersCynthia Flood grew up in Toronto (apart from two years in England), and after university lived in California and New York. Returning to Canada, she lived briefly again in Toronto and then in Montreal before moving to Vancouver in 1969.
In the late 60s and early 70s Cynthia Flood began to publish short fiction. Left-wing and feminist activity was also a focus through the 80s, along with work on various political magazines and newspapers. She taught in the English Department at Langara College, and was much involved with the faculty union and Women's Studies.
Her first collection, The Animals In Their Elements, appeared in 1987, and was followed in 1992 by My Father Took A Cake To France (both from Talonbooks). Her first novel, Making A Stone Of The Heart, was published in 2002 by Key Porter.
At present she remains connected politically but concentrates on writing. A second novel is underway.
The English Stories
Her latest book, The English Stories, appeared in May 2009 from Biblioasis Press. It's a suite of short stories set in 1950s England, in a girls' school and in a small residential hotel. The collection has won glowing reviews in Quill & Quire, the Globe and Mail online, and the Vancouver Sun.
One story, "Religious Knowledge," won the National Magazines Gold Award in 2000, and "Miss Pringle's Hour" (originally in Descant) appeared in the Salon des Refusés issue of Canadian Notes & Queries in Summer 2008. "Learning to Dance" appeared in the 2008 Best Canadian Stories, edited by John Metcalf.
In the late 60s and early 70s Cynthia Flood began to publish short fiction. Left-wing and feminist activity was also a focus through the 80s, along with work on various political magazines and newspapers. She taught in the English Department at Langara College, and was much involved with the faculty union and Women's Studies.
Her first collection, The Animals In Their Elements, appeared in 1987, and was followed in 1992 by My Father Took A Cake To France (both from Talonbooks). Her first novel, Making A Stone Of The Heart, was published in 2002 by Key Porter.
At present she remains connected politically but concentrates on writing. A second novel is underway.
The English Stories
Her latest book, The English Stories, appeared in May 2009 from Biblioasis Press. It's a suite of short stories set in 1950s England, in a girls' school and in a small residential hotel. The collection has won glowing reviews in Quill & Quire, the Globe and Mail online, and the Vancouver Sun.
One story, "Religious Knowledge," won the National Magazines Gold Award in 2000, and "Miss Pringle's Hour" (originally in Descant) appeared in the Salon des Refusés issue of Canadian Notes & Queries in Summer 2008. "Learning to Dance" appeared in the 2008 Best Canadian Stories, edited by John Metcalf.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 25, 2025
A magnificent, sprawling but piercingly intimate novel that left me breathless. Its intricate construction, bouncing around in time, seems random but makes a kind of perfect, instinctive sense. This is the first and will not be the last of Cynthia Flood's novels I've read, after reading and re-reading her riveting short story collections.
September 16, 2022
Through this Canadian author Cythia Flood I learned of Lithopedion and the secrets that are carried through life. Interesting read of Vancouver life from 1909 on.
May 10, 2014
I enjoyed reading this book because I am from the area that it is set in and the historical references are interesting to me. Some of them were new to me as well, so I was encouraged to do some reading beyond the book's confines too !
I must say that although the book was excellent reading, it was also an " ugly orphan " of a book ! I did not love this story , it was full of misery and the uglier side of life. It showed the darkness inside of us and the sad things we do to survive.
I didn't want to abandon this book but I was glad to finish it.
I must say that although the book was excellent reading, it was also an " ugly orphan " of a book ! I did not love this story , it was full of misery and the uglier side of life. It showed the darkness inside of us and the sad things we do to survive.
I didn't want to abandon this book but I was glad to finish it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews