Synopses & Reviews
From
New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a long-awaited opportunity for readers to discover an acclaimed early novel-one of this cherished storytellers most powerful and complex portraits of the fragile bonds of family and home.
STONE HEART
Nomadic archaeologist Maria Dark is returning home again to the Connecticut shore-a magical place where she, her sister Sophie, and their brother Peter spent their childhood on the banks of Bell Stream. After fifteen years away, Maria hopes that she can rediscover the joy and optimism of her youth in the arms of her family. But things have changed. Marias siblings and her mother have weathered difficult times...and Sophie and her children are not as happy as they seem. Now Maria will embark upon an emotional journey-navigating the memories of a tender past-toward the truth at the heart of her family and the chance for a new beginning.
A remarkably graceful and intuitive novel, Stone Heart reveals the depths of faith and love that can mend lifes most fragile and precious ties. As never before, Luanne Rice inspires us all to look love squarely in the eye and never let it go.
About the Author
Luanne Rice is the author of Secrets of Paris, Stone Heart, Angels All Over Town, Blue Moon, Home Fires, and Crazy in Love, which was made into a TNT Network feature movie. She lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut and New York City with her husband.
Reading Group Guide
Hailed for her powerful storytelling gifts and her poignant renderings of love's many facets, Luanne Rice has enchanted millions of readers in her twenty-year career as a novelist. Now her fans have a chance to rediscover one of her acclaimed early works,
Stone Heart, which has been unavailable for a number of years. Possibly her most stirring and complex portrait of the fragile bonds of family and home,
Stone Heart brings readers home to the Connecticut shore.
Stone Heart begins with reunions, as archaeologist Maria Dark takes a hiatus from her international fieldwork. On the banks of Bell Stream, a magical place where she, her sister Sophie, and their brother Peter, spent their childhood, Maria discovers that much has changed in her hometown, and in her family. Sophie's marriage is filled with secrecy, but Maria's mother can only turn a blind eye to frightening warning signs revealed by Sophie's children. As she tries to understand the history that led her sister to these straits, Maria must also examine her own marriage as it draws to a bittersweet close.
A tender and mesmerizing work, Stone Heart reveals the depths of trust that bind life's most precious ties. As never before, Luanne Rice inspires us all to look love squarely in the eye and never let it go. The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Luanne Rice's Stone Heart. We hope they will enrich your experience of this captivating novel.
1. In her preface to the novel, Luanne Rice tells us that the title comes from a poem by Irish Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, “Easter 1916.” Discuss the relevance of the lines "Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart" to the novel's primary characters. In what way is Irish history an apt metaphor for the personal struggles faced by Maria and her family?
2. Why do Maria and Sophie have such different approaches to love? What does the storyline indicate about the role of nature versus nurture in a child's life? Compare the various notions of legacy presented by Gordon's parents and Maria's parents. What does it take to break a harmful family cycle?
3. What makes this part of America such a compelling setting for Stone Heart, and for so much of Rice's fiction? How does Hatuquitit, with a rich and difficult history between Puritans and Native Americans, create a meaningful backdrop for Maria's homecoming?
4. Discuss the role of talismans and possessions in the novel. How does the meaning of the Chavín goddess replica shift over the course of Maria's time in Connecticut? How does Sophie calculate her own self-worth?
5. The author begins chapter 21 by telling us that Peter had always wanted to be the strong one in the family. How does he compare with the other significant men in Maria's life? Why were she and Aldo not able to form a lasting marriage? Does Duncan's unraveling marriage mirror Maria's?
6. Discuss the many obstacles that prevented Sophie's family from intervening in her crisis. What ultimately was the source of Gordon's power over her?
7. What insight do you gain from the chapters narrated by Sophie? What feeds her denial, and the denial expressed by her mother? What turning point does the miscarried child reflect?
8. What is the significance of the artifacts Maria unearths from the Pequot squaw's grave? How does this ancient love story reflect the novel's contemporary ones?
9. The community's notion of the prison as being "where bad girls go" is undermined by Sophie's experience there. How would you characterize the temporary family she forms with the inmates?
10. Why did Sophie believe she could only experience peace through death? Or do you perceive her death as further self-punishment? Do you believe that awareness and understanding of domestic violence have improved since 1990, when Stone Heart was first published?
11. Each of Luanne Rice's novels presents a unique and provocative human experience. What do we discover about resilience and vulnerability in Stone Heart? In what way does the novel convey Rice's signature approach to storytelling?
12. Discuss your own homecoming experiences. What were you able to discover about your past by spending time away from your roots? Have you ever been able to serve as an agent for change for a friend or relative in need, as Maria did?
1. In her preface to the novel, Luanne Rice tells us that the title comes from a poem by Irish Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, “Easter 1916.” Discuss the relevance of the lines "Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart" to the novel's primary characters. In what way is Irish history an apt metaphor for the personal struggles faced by Maria and her family?
2. Why do Maria and Sophie have such different approaches to love? What does the storyline indicate about the role of nature versus nurture in a child's life? Compare the various notions of legacy presented by Gordon's parents and Maria's parents. What does it take to break a harmful family cycle?
3. What makes this part of America such a compelling setting for Stone Heart, and for so much of Rice's fiction? How does Hatuquitit, with a rich and difficult history between Puritans and Native Americans, create a meaningful backdrop for Maria's homecoming?
4. Discuss the role of talismans and possessions in the novel. How does the meaning of the Chavín goddess replica shift over the course of Maria's time in Connecticut? How does Sophie calculate her own self-worth?
5. The author begins chapter 21 by telling us that Peter had always wanted to be the strong one in the family. How does he compare with the other significant men in Maria's life? Why were she and Aldo not able to form a lasting marriage? Does Duncan's unraveling marriage mirror Maria's?
6. Discuss the many obstacles that prevented Sophie's family from intervening in her crisis. What ultimately was the source of Gordon's power over her?
7. What insight do you gain from the chapters narrated by Sophie? What feeds her denial, and the denial expressed by her mother? What turning point does the miscarried child reflect?
8. What is the significance of the artifacts Maria unearths from the Pequot squaw's grave? How does this ancient love story reflect the novel's contemporary ones?
9. The community's notion of the prison as being "where bad girls go" is undermined by Sophie's experience there. How would you characterize the temporary family she forms with the inmates?
10. Why did Sophie believe she could only experience peace through death? Or do you perceive her death as further self-punishment? Do you believe that awareness and understanding of domestic violence have improved since 1990, when Stone Heart was first published?
11. Each of Luanne Rice's novels presents a unique and provocative human experience. What do we discover about resilience and vulnerability in Stone Heart? In what way does the novel convey Rice's signature approach to storytelling?
12. Discuss your own homecoming experiences. What were you able to discover about your past by spending time away from your roots? Have you ever been able to serve as an agent for change for a friend or relative in need, as Maria did?