The Sleep of Stone

by Louise Cooper

Ghysla, a magical shapeshifter, is content with her solitary existence until she glimpses Prince Anyr, but afraid to reveal her true identity to Anyr, she appears to him in the form of the wild animals of the wood.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Shapeshifters, Ebooks, Fairy Tales, Science Fiction Fantasy

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 15, 1991

About the author

Louise Cooper was born in Hertfordshire in 1952. She began writing stories when she was at school to entertain her friends. She hated school so much, in fact—spending most lessons clandestinely writing stories—that she persuaded her parents to let her abandon her education at the age of fifteen and has never regretted it.

She continued to write and her first full-length novel was published when she was only twenty years old. She moved to London in 1975 and worked in publishing before becoming a full-time writer in 1977. Since then she has become a prolific writer of fantasy, renowned for her bestselling Time Master trilogy. She has published more than eighty fantasy and supernatural novels, both for adults and children. She also wrote occasional short stories for anthologies, and has co-written a comedy play that was produced for her local school.

Louise Cooper lived in Cornwall with her husband, Cas Sandall, and their black cat, Simba. She gained a great deal of writing inspiration from the coast and scenery, and her other interests included music, folklore, cooking, gardening and "messing about on the beach." Just to make sure she keeps busy, she was also treasurer of her local Lifeboat station.

Louise passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. She was a wonderful and talented lady and will be greatly missed.

Reviews

[Ondine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was a kid, and while I only remembered some of the details, I remember how it made me feel-- pensive, a little haunted, strangely nostalgic. It took me forever to hunt down a copy of it to re-read, and I'm really glad that I did because it absolutely held up (which it not the case with some of the books I read in the 1980s). I won't give anything away, but this story is beautifully written, and deeply sorrowful. For a children's story (I think the targeted audience is tweens), I think it does a beautiful job of stirring up deep and nuanced feelings. For some, the love story will be what it most poignant about it, but for me it was the the changing of tides, the ending of eras that I couldn't stop thinking about. How permanent but ephemeral things can be.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is beautiful. One of the only books to make me cry. It's a wonderful, terribly tragic story. Forever a favorite.

[Von · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia de amor hermosa, poética y melancólica. Muy recomendable.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written story for YA it is about the last of the "old folk." Hundreds of years old yet still an adolescent and very lonely. What humans called gremlins at one time but actually an innocent and well-meaning shapeshifter who still knows the old magic.

In the long past, humans and gremlins knew and respected each other and sometimes intermarried. Now gremlins are the stuff of nightmares and legend. No one believes they exist any longer. She has no recollection of any of her own kind. And she knows that humans would consider her true form as ugly.

She falls in love in a with kind local man and presents herself to him as various wild animals who will come to his hand. An animal-lover, he speaks softly and kindly of his love for what he thinks are the various wildlife. In her innocence and youth, she takes it as true love.

Her naïvité, confusion, loneliness and love for this man set her on a sad path. Believing he is being forced into an arranged marriage, she plans to usurp his rightful bride's place. Like a child, she convinces herself that what she wants is what he wants. But that is not the case. He truly loves his prospective bride. There are no good guys or bad guys. Just a sad congruence of events. When the young gremlin finally realizes her mistake, she takes a step toward adulthood, and the goodness of her heart shines through... Sad but lovely.

[Hacedores · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de lo corto que es, la historia es completamente cerrada, completa y perfecta. La verdad es que independientemente de los sentimientos que profeses hacia Ghysla, sientes la necesidad de seguir leyendo y conocer el final de la leyenda de amor. Ghysla no es mala... pero en algunas ocasiones me ha caído peor que en otras. Esa manía de justificar y de intentar convencerse de que lo que acaba de hacer (aunque sea el peor acto del mundo) ha estado bien y que tenía que ser de ese modo... ¡agh! Es de lo más egoísta que hay.

Sigue leyendo

[Roselyn Blonger · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia es corta y simple, bastante predecible a decir verdad. Sin embargo, la pluma de la autora es tan fluida y poética que es imposible parar la lectura, en especial porque logra darle un toque de frescura a la historia añadiendo y quitando detalles que hacen que la trama sea más dinámica. No pude evitar encariñarme con Mornan y, si bien el final es relativamente triste, tambien me dejó con un sentimiento cálido.

Es una obra sencilla, con una trama sencilla, ideal para disfrutar una tarde.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to give this book 100 pages. It's young adult very simply written, almost overly simplistic and than about 100 pages in the story takes on new meaning. A beautiful story told with a very deep ending. I would given it 5 stars except it did take me almost half the book to really love the story.

[KellyO · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this a few times. I got it when I was a teenager and decided it was worthy of reading to my kids whenever I had them. It’s a beautiful fairy tale style story. Grab the tissues, though, because if you’re prone to tearing up, you’ll need them!

Enjoy!

[Silvana Berreta · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

[Larry Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad and beautiful tale that conjures fairy tale themes.

[Myra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghysla is a magical creature, a gremlin, one of the last of her kind who mostly keeps away from the humans who have taken over the land. She becomes infatuated with a lord’s son, and begins to spend time with him in the guise of animals, like a seal, a doe, a bird, and because of his words to those animals, she thinks that he loves her…even though he has no idea ‘she’ exists. Then he is betrothed, and his wife-to-be arrives at his home for the wedding. Ghysla is convinced he is being married against his will, since obviously he loves Ghysla, and she decides she must find a way to take the bride’s place.

I keep wanting to use the words ‘cute’ and ‘sweet’ to describe this story but it’s really not. It’s more like…horrifying, grim, grisly, and dark. Ghysla is basically ‘good’, as far as human measures go, and everything she does is done for love, but she’s not human and kind of terrorizes this family. It’s really a very sad story although maybe it’s a happy ending?

[HeyT · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the haunting fairytale nature of this story. It's framing narrative adds to that feeling and the tale itself is simple and a little sad. All around it was a great read that I finished in one sitting and I know I'll want to come back to this again and again.

[T.S.S. Fulk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute fairy tale.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather interesting fairytale like story. I liked it.

[Leonardo A. González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una historia realmente entrañable. En tan pocas páginas logras empatizar con la pequeña y desdichada Ghysla.

[Rae Letenyei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book out randomly at HPB and was so pleasantly surprised by it! It encompassed a lot of things I enjoy; whispers of horror, tragedy, a couple so wholly devoted to each other, and morally grey characters.

I was fighting back tears on Christmas as I finished it.

[Verdeazulgris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encantadora historia. Louise Cooper nunca decepciona.

[Marirose Vernalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I like about this book is that the main character is the antagonist - a shapeshifting girl with flaxen wings and oversized eyes, the last of her kind, living in a cave as centuries pass by. She falls deeply into an obsessive love with a lord's son and regularly appears to him as different animals: the seal where he fishes, the doe where he rides. Then she decides to become the girl he's betrothed to.

This really reminded me of older folktales, where actions have direct consequences, and there is no deus ex machina, and no combination of moves to pull off that can result in everyone being saved. It was mystical, sorrowful, warm, and human.

I found this in the basement and chose it because I also appreciate a book that doesn't need to be long - that tells the story in truest terms, and then lets itself end when the tale is done.

[Patricia Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simpática. Un historia para disfrutar un fin de semana.

[B-librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, everytime i read it, it teaches me more and more about being selfless and that we can't always get what we want even if we think it is ours for the taking, we can change the way we look and be someone else but love is not blind, love is from the soul and nothing that we change about ourselves changes love.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was AMAZING! I usually don't like older books, but this one caught on fast! I imagine this book as one of those books that you read a chapter to your children before they go to bed. It's a cute and well put together book. It's a hard book to find, and I really wish it wasn't. I want to buy this book, but can't find it except on Ebay.

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

marked as read, 2 stars, jan 2002? do not remember this at all. thinking i made a mistake.

Decently enjoyable, if not a tad sappy. But then, would it be all right to not be sappy when the story is about love and the last of an old race? I doubt it.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sleep of stone has a intriguing story line, amazing characters and it is down-right beautifully written. Louise Cooper has written a outstanding love story that is emotionally perfect and spun a tale that is jaw-dropping and mind-blowing.

[Liaken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale, not a novel. It's a lovely tale that means more at the end than I was expecting.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking little story told like a old-fashioned fairy tale.

[Bibiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odio las sinopsis de los libros en los que te resumen por completo el libro, sobre todo en las historias cortas como ésta.

[Cristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very lyrical and sad book. This is my first contact with Cooper and would certainly be glad to explore her more. Loved her prose, nice little book told as a sort of fairytale with a tragic ending.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute little fantasy read. I was not amazed, though.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bittersweet tale, simply but well told.