Book Review
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I knew absolutely nothing about William Edwards before I picked up When the Stones Held. To be fair, a book about an eighteenth-century bridge builder probably isn't one I would automatically have reached for either, but it came highly recommended by Mary Anne Yarde and she always has good taste in books. As it turns out, I would have missed a very good book indeed, if I had passed it by.
William's life is hard almost from the beginning. He loses his father to the river, his family loses their home, and poverty isn't just a threat it is very real. Yet there is something about William that makes you want him to succeed. He is determined, stubborn and refuses to accept that where he came from should decide what he can achieve. He is also a very quite sort of character, who simply gets on with things. His delight at earning money for the family, even at such a young age, shows maturity or maybe necessity way beyond his years. The fact that he was a better stone mason than many adult sums up his whole character - if a job is worth doing, do it properly.
I became surprisingly invested in his attempts to build a bridge across the River Taff. Every time something went wrong, I was willing him to try again. And plenty goes wrong. William is bullied and belittled, from both children and adults alike, nature certainly doesn't make things easy for him, and there are people who would quite happily see him fail. But he has a quiet determination that I could not help but admire. Failure was not an option, and when each attempted did fail he would simply learn from it and try again.
When the Stones Held really surprised me. I didn't expect to become quite so caught up in William's story, but once I started reading, I didn't want to put it down.
Five very well-deserved stars from me. ✰✰✰✰✰
