Stone Lands: A Telegraph Best Book of 2025

by Fiona Robertson

Journeying across Britain, from West Penwith and Avebury to the Lake District and Orkney, Stone Lands uncovers the magic and rich history of our incredible prehistoric standing stones. It conveys the delight that lies in tracking them down, as well as the solace these ancient places offer in times of darkness.

A few months after discovering that her beloved husband, Stephen, had incurable cancer, Fiona Robertson began to write this book. A long-time megalith enthusiast, she found the ancient stones resonated with her more profoundly than ever as she faced the prospect of losing him. Set upright thousands of years ago, the megaliths are symbols of endurance and survival, standing in contrast to our ephemeral human lives. Infused with folklore, legend and mystery, they enchant the landscape and bring magic to our modern world.

This enthralling memoir is woven delicately around great grief but is ultimately about embracing life, joy and ancient wonder - a luminous reminder of what it means to exist on this earth.

Stone Lands is beautifully illustrated inside with stunning black and white line drawings by the illustrator and printmaker Philip Harris. Find out more about his www.philipharrisillustration.com

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Archaeology, Travel, Nature, Memoir, Science

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2025

Reviews

[Arran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, extremely well-researched and ultimately loving account of our relationships with ancient stones and one another. Much more than just a gazetteer of our ancient sites, this is a life affirming tale that reaches out between the ages and connects us to those people who first raised the stones. Heartbreaking, yet funny and inspiring. And I added many new places to my visit list. Wonderful.

[Laurence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant, lyrical, moving and thought-provoking. Also packed with information on ancient places and stone circles. Couldn’t recommend it more highly.

[Julie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moving and spiritual book. A story of coping with grief and loss through the ever present magic of ancient stones

[Alison S ☯️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Loved this. Part memoir, part account of visiting various standing stones. It was evocative, moving and beautifully written. As a Standing Stones Nerd, I particularly liked the reflections on the value and meaning of these stones, to the people who erected them, and to our busy modern lives. Values such as endurance, memory, hope, and connection to others and to the seasons and cycles of the natural world.

[Dr Susan Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspirational read that is helping me in my own new life without my partner. Fiona has coped by writing this book on her visits to prehistoric to Iron Age sites in Britain both with and since her husband died- thisis the aspect that has most satisfied me in her prose. The drawings by Philp Harris are superb. I'm a geologist and my own journey to prehistoric and historic stone sites began at school when we went to Roman Wall settlement near Wolverhampton, and then as a student in the 69s visiting the Rollrights, The Uffington White Horse, Stonehenge, Wayland's Smithy and Silbury, and later seeking stones in Northumberland, and then introducing our som to Avebury, Stonehenge and the Roman Wall sites in the north. All wonderful memories and part of my own geoheritage work to show that humans have always had a geological nature. While not a New Ager I can agree that these ancient places and landscapes are so special. I shall read this one again.

[Lisa Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stone Lands” by Fiona Robertson is an exquisitely rendered memoir that blends personal grief, ancient history, and the quiet magic of the British landscape into a single luminous journey. With poetic sensitivity and profound emotional honesty, Robertson invites the reader into a world where standing stones become companions, witnesses, and spiritual anchors during one of the darkest chapters of her life.

As she travels across Britain, from the windswept cliffs of West Penwith to the mystical rings of Avebury, the rugged peaks of the Lake District, and the timeless majesty of Orkney, Robertson reveals how prehistoric megaliths hold not just historical significance, but healing power. These ancient stones, weathered by millennia yet steadfast, offer a grounding presence as she faces the unbearable reality of her husband Stephen’s terminal illness. In their resilience, she discovers a living metaphor for endurance, hope, and the stubborn beauty of life.

Rich with folklore, legend, and archaeological insight, the book is both an evocative travel narrative and a deeply personal exploration of love, loss, and renewal. Robertson’s prose is tender and clear eyed, capturing the wonder of landscapes where myth and memory converge. She transforms her pain into something radiant, an homage not only to the stones, but to the human spirit’s extraordinary ability to seek light in the shadows.

“Stone Lands” is enthralling, restorative, and quietly transformative, a memoir that lingers long after the final page and reminds us that even in grief, there is ancient magic waiting to guide us home.

[Andrew Dawes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I do like this book but for me it's left me unfulfilled. I'd read the pre publication reviews and thought, being interested in ancient sites, this could offer something new. However I began finding myself speed reading chapters to get beyond the mindfulness and emotional suggestions, to unearth the discovery and fact. There's no doubt this is a well researched book, there's no doubt about Robertson's love of the topic, but like many books published today it majors on a personal warts and all journey with the subject being of secondary merit. Of this genera it does a wonderful job. But for me I had hoped for more. I'm not sure what that more was meant to be, maybe I'd misunderstood the premise but having stopped reading it properly and skimmed through it over two nights to the end I struggled to fully engage with it or the many people mentioned who 'deeply connect' with the mystery of ancient stones, searching for something of fulfillment in these modern times.

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of Fiona’s book is a very moving record of her partner’s, Stephen’s, incurable cancer diagnosis intertwined with recollections of the various trips to megalithic stone structures in Britain which they had made. The writing can be powerful, reflecting a personal, subjective response to Stephen’s illness and death, and to visiting megaliths sites.
For me, from Chapter 7 (following Stephen’s death) the book seems to struggle to find a focus, with a record of more visits to megalithic stone structures, both those previously visited and some which were on a wishlist which were tragically never achieved with Stephen. Nevertheless I found this half of the book engaging and informative.

Loved the illustrations by Philip Harris, which added to the book, and the occasional brief plans of megalithic sites.

[Sal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn't what I was expecting but it was more poignant and thought-provoking than I had anticipated, the ideas raised staying with me after I finished each chapter.
I read this slowly over many months and it brought back so many memories of my own adventures with stones, and my own experience of loss. The author tells the hearbreaking story of the death of her husband and her struggles to cope with his terminal diagnosis and dealing with the aftermath.
The longevity of these great stone megaliths in the landscape and their part in celebrations of ancient rituals marking the passage of the year, help the author to work through her feelings and see the greater patterns we all live within.

[Mary Arkless · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library.

There is a lot to learn here about Britain’s standing stones, megaliths, cairns, burial mounds, and stone circles. It is very clear, the author loves all of these and is drawn to them. However, it is also a personal love story, and a tale of fear, uncertainty, hope, and loss. Writing the book was the author’s way, at first, to distract herself from her husband’s grim diagnosis of incurable cancer, but eventually became the way she worked through her grief. Her great love is everywhere, but also nowhere. She is a brave woman, but she also sets a good example of following our personal passions and living life while we still can.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw a review of this book somewhere and picked it up on a whim. I’m so glad I did. I have learnt so much about the ancient megaliths and burial places that surround us here in the UK, but not in a dry text, but brought alive as a shared experience. There are undoubtedly moments in this book that will make you sad, the journey through a terminal diagnosis, but then the life that she found on the other side of her husband’s death gives some hope. It changed her, and in some ways improved her. It’s a reminder to live every day to the max. Loved this book.

[Florian Ecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply personal book about loss and grief. Fiona Robertson combines her experience of losing her partner with her/their journeys to ancient megalithic sites, showing how these stones can serve as quiet beacons of hope and endurance. The book touched me deeply (I cried more than once) yet it also added fascinating new destinations to my mental holiday map. I fell in love with stone circles all over again and now I kinda want to build one myself.

[Sophie Blackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is completely wonderful! It is organised by Fiona’s journeys to standing stones with her family, some with and some without her husband, who she grieves for throughout the book. The writing is beautiful and reduced me to proper sobs at times. I learnt a lot about standing stones and ancient archaeology, and want to start exploring these magical places myself. Highly recommended for anyone who likes nature memoirs/biographies.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere between three and four stars for me. (Also can’t quite forgive ‘oriented’ for ‘orientated’)

A sad story of the early death of a father and husband and hope for the future found among megaliths where many layers of memories are to be found

As for the stones I think it’s a case of ‘you really have to be there’.
Stanton Drew, one of my favourites, is barely mentioned

[Craig Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving fantastic read

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟🌟