The Stone Road

by Trent Jamieson

Overview

Winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel
Finalist for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel
Finalist for the Australian Shadow Awards for Best Novel

With the lyrical cadence of The Last Unicorn and intense imagery of A Wizard of Earthsea, The Stone Road is a timeless story of hope, belonging, and growing into your power.

Award-winning Australian author Trent Jamieson presents a haunting rural fantasy where the dead speak beneath your feet and twisted monsters hunger for their lost humanity.

On the day Jean was born, the dead howled. A thin scratch of black smoke began to rise behind the hills west of town: Furnace had been lit, and soon its siren call began to draw the people of Casement Rise to it, never to return. 

Casement Rise is a dusty town at the end of days, a harsh world of grit and arcane dangers. While Jean’s stern, overprotective Nan has always kept Casement Rise safe from monsters, she may have waited too long to teach Jean how to face them on her own. On Jean’s twelfth birthday, a mysterious graceful man appears, an ethereal and terrifying being tied to her family’s secrets.

Now, Nan must rush Jean’s education in monsters, magic, and the breaking of the world in ages past. If Jean is to combat the graceful man and finally understand the ancient evil that powers Furnace, she will have to embrace her legacy, endure her Nan’s lessons, and learn all she can—before Furnace burns down her world and everyone in it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645660187
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	07/19/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,117,866
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Trent Jamieson is a multi-award winning Australian novelist and short story writer. He is the author of Day Boy, The Stone Road, the Death Works series, and the Nightbound Land duology. His picture book The Giant and the Sea won the 2021 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. When he’s not writing, Trent works as a bookseller at Avid Reader in Brisbane.

Editorial Reviews

05/23/2022

Jamieson (Day Boy) builds a complicated and somewhat muddled mythology in this slow-moving fantasy set in a post-oil dystopia. On the day Jean March is born in small-town Casement Rise, an otherworldly fire called the Furnace starts burning nearby, slowly luring people from town to its flames. Jean grows up isolated from school by her alcoholic mother, Ella, and coddled by her stern grandmother, Nancy, whose nightly protective walks and subtle magic keep the town safe from monsters. On Jean’s 12th birthday, a visit from a strange man made of leaves convinces Nancy to start training Jean how to fight and survive. The novel then meanders through Jean’s training, exploring her risky rescue of a peer from a magic tree, her visit to a limbo of lingering dead, and other tests of power and ability. When Nancy dies a violent, unexpected death, Jean becomes the town’s sole protector amid growing threats and increasingly odd occurrences. Battles and challenges pass by quickly as the ever-expanding worldbuilding raises more questions than answers, cluttering out emotional impact. Patient readers wanting strong female protagonists may find something to enjoy here, but many will struggle to wade through this one. Agent: Alex Adsett, Alex Adsett Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A coming-of-age story with a dreamlike quality. . . . Those who appreciate fantasy that leans toward fable will gladly follow along on Jean’s journey.” —Booklist

“The Stone Road is lovely, hypnotic. I want to drink this book.” —H. A. Clarke, author of The Scapegracers

“Trent Jamieson’s The Stone Road is a heart wrapped in thorns. Its world, even as it unpicks itself at the seams, is shot through with bright mysteries. And the novel, like its heroine, holds dear a loving, quarrelling community, even as it understands that towns—like time and people—slip away like dust. The Stone Road is a cycle of mysteries, an invocation of kindness amidst decay, a promise to the living, and blessing for the dead.” —Kathleen Jennings, author of Flyaway

“The Stone Road . . . pulls you in and makes you linger over every page. I don’t know which to praise first—the worldbuilding, which had a depth that made it feel neverending; the prose, which made me want to underline whole passages; or the characters. . . . Perfect for fans of classics like The Last Unicorn (which is to say, anyone who likes good books). I know it’s something I’ll be recommending for years to come.” —Katherine Nazzaro, Manager of Porter Square Books: Boston Edition

“Trent Jamieson is . . . a significant talent, writing beautifully crafted tales that often have a baroque sensibility and resonate on an emotional level.” —Terra Incognita

From the Publisher