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Stone's Fall
by
Iain Pears
A return to the form that launched Iain Pears onto bestseller lists around the world: a vast historical mystery, marvelous in its ambition and ingenius in its complexity.
In his most dazzling novel since the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears tells the story of John Stone, financier and arms dealer, a man so wealthy that in th...more
In his most dazzling novel since the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears tells the story of John Stone, financier and arms dealer, a man so wealthy that in th...more
Hardcover, 608 pages
Published
May 5th 2009
by Spiegel & Grau
(first published January 1st 2009)
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This is one of those books you need to read rather than listen to. The best thing about it is the three-part complex plot, which doesn't lend itself to the audio version (at least for me).
The book begins with the narrator attending the funeral of a woman he once knew and may have been in love with, then flashes back to the death of her older, wealthy husband 50 years before from a fall from a window in 1909 in London. The wife hires the narrator to track down an unknown child name...more
The book begins with the narrator attending the funeral of a woman he once knew and may have been in love with, then flashes back to the death of her older, wealthy husband 50 years before from a fall from a window in 1909 in London. The wife hires the narrator to track down an unknown child name...more
Well, all you Iain Pears fans can relax -- he's written a terrific book again. (I say this as an Iain Pears fan who had to throw The Dream of Scipio against the wall with great force.)
As in An Instance of the Fingerpost, Pears uses multiple narrators to tell the story of financier John Stone's death after a fall out a window. The multiple narrators, in turn, narrate stories taking place in different eras, each illuminating the mystery at the heart of it all: who killed John Stone, an...more
As in An Instance of the Fingerpost, Pears uses multiple narrators to tell the story of financier John Stone's death after a fall out a window. The multiple narrators, in turn, narrate stories taking place in different eras, each illuminating the mystery at the heart of it all: who killed John Stone, an...more
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Another stellar novel by Iain Pears! He certainly knows how it is done, no doubt about it...
Who knew the world of high finance could be that thrilling? We all know it is a world of intrigue, treachery, egomania and tragic flaws, but in the hands of Iain Pears, it takes on epic proportions and becomes a terrain where all human foibles run free.
As always, a very brilliant construction full of surprises and several voices, each one more convincing than the previous one.
Who knew the world of high finance could be that thrilling? We all know it is a world of intrigue, treachery, egomania and tragic flaws, but in the hands of Iain Pears, it takes on epic proportions and becomes a terrain where all human foibles run free.
As always, a very brilliant construction full of surprises and several voices, each one more convincing than the previous one.
An astonishingly intelligent, complex historical thriller. It even managed to make high finance, industrialism and weapons manufacture kind of interesting! I knew nothing about it in advance, so was unprepared for the story to apparently reach an end only a third of the way through the book.
What can happen now? I wondered. What happens is that we are taken deeper into the story and the characters and a whole new level of understanding of what has really happened. Then in part three, w...more
What can happen now? I wondered. What happens is that we are taken deeper into the story and the characters and a whole new level of understanding of what has really happened. Then in part three, w...more
I've read other books by this author, in particular the art mystery series, which I loved. this book took a fair bit of effort to get into, the initial narrator annoyed me, but I read on, for I was in the mood for a lazy read and was also hoping it would improve....which it did. I admire the attention to detail & especially, the financial history is very finely rendered, so that even a financial Neanderthal like me could understand it. The story is at its best mid to end, when it enters there' ...more
I was a bit afraid to start this very long novel, thinking that it would be very hard to find the time to finish it. But the convoluted plot really got me in. It is told in 3 parts, first by the journalist Matthew Braddock, who has been hired by Elizabeth Stone to investigate the clause in her husband's will about a missing child that John has fathered. This part sets out some of the mysteries surrounding the life and death of John Stone, a wealthy financier in London at the turn of the centu...more
I picked up this book not knowing anything about the work of Iain Pears, but it seems he is well known as a writer of historical mysteries, as well a series about an art historian/detective which draws on his own professional background. This one, published in 2009, is about the life of a fictional nineteenth century arms manufacturer who has some things in common with the real life armaments king Basil Zaharoff, and which deals with some real events, in particular the financial ‘panic’ of 1890....more
A fascinating back to front novel. The first narrator, a journalist, is hired by Elizabeth Stone to search for her husband's secret child in order to complete the conditions of his will. The second part is set about 20 years before part one. The narrator, an English spy, Henry Cort, tells of the events surrounding the meeting of John Stone and his wife, and the hard headed financial and diplomatic manipulations at a crucial period when The British Empire is under attack. The third part is set fu...more
A page-turning murder mystery from Iain Pears that takes on European politics, global finance, armaments, and the run up to the Great War. It's told, rather ingeniously, in 3 parts, with 3 different (unreliable) narrators. The effect is to close in on the truth and increase the tension. The first narrator is the most distant from the action; the second, a spymaster, is closer to it (and his story benefits from the thriller aspects); and then the final section is written by the central figure....more
No, I haven't given up on reading, this has been a monster of a book..... 600 pages of densely written literary fiction.
The book is told in three parts and for a mystery, we know what the end game is. In 1909 London, John Stone, a rich industrialist, has been found dead after an apparent fall from a London Window. His widow, the enigmatic Countess Elizabeth, commissions a young journalist, Braddock, to decipher his will, where money has been left to his first daughter - a child tha...more
The book is told in three parts and for a mystery, we know what the end game is. In 1909 London, John Stone, a rich industrialist, has been found dead after an apparent fall from a London Window. His widow, the enigmatic Countess Elizabeth, commissions a young journalist, Braddock, to decipher his will, where money has been left to his first daughter - a child tha...more
There have been so many occasions that I have seen or heard a novel described as Dickensian. Do you want to know how often that turns out to be true? Almost nev-ah. Less than almost never even. That's very disappointing. So sad. Charles Dickens is my favorite, favorite, favorite author. I heart all the Victorians but Charles is my desert island author. I try to be a big girl about it and move on but then --cue the angelic choir-- goodness gets its reward and suddenly there it is the truly Dicken...more
This novel got steadily better as I read it--it's shaped like a Klein bottle. The first section, which takes place in London in 1910, is worth three stars. A journalist is hired by a mysterious wealthy widow to help resolve the will of her husband, John Stone, who died by falling out a window. The will gives a bequest to an unnamed child of Stone's, who must be found before the estate can be settled. The view into Stone's business empire--he owned numerous companies involved in the manufacture o...more
London, 1909. Ruthless super-industrialist John Stone is dead, fallen from a second floor window. His estate is tied up indefinitely by a mysterious codicil leaving a quarter million pounds to his child. Trouble is, nobody, including Elizabeth, his enchanting wife of 20 years, knew he had any children. Elizabeth hires a journalist to make discreet inquiries, under cover of writing a biography.
Paris, 1890. Henry Cort, a sort of superspy, with a bit part in the first narrative, tell...more
Paris, 1890. Henry Cort, a sort of superspy, with a bit part in the first narrative, tell...more
A return to form for Pears, his best since An Instance of the Fingerpost.
John Stone is mysterious as any man of power. Married to a bewitching younger woman with a mysterious past, in charge of one of the first great conglomerates and afflicted with vertigo, he dies by plunging from a window and leaves behind a will leaving vast wealth to a never acknowledged child. His wife hires an impressionable young journalist to find out. His account is followed by two others, stretching bac...more
John Stone is mysterious as any man of power. Married to a bewitching younger woman with a mysterious past, in charge of one of the first great conglomerates and afflicted with vertigo, he dies by plunging from a window and leaves behind a will leaving vast wealth to a never acknowledged child. His wife hires an impressionable young journalist to find out. His account is followed by two others, stretching bac...more
Good Thriller. Story is told in three sections, from most recent to past. This provides several revelations about the earlier sections of the book.
Main Characters:
Stone - Industrialist who made fortune in munitions. He falls from a Window and dies before the book starts up. Remaining book traces back and in the final pages you find out what happened. Part 3 of the book is told from Stone's perspective in Vienna.
Elizabeth - Very interesting character in the book. Her...more
Main Characters:
Stone - Industrialist who made fortune in munitions. He falls from a Window and dies before the book starts up. Remaining book traces back and in the final pages you find out what happened. Part 3 of the book is told from Stone's perspective in Vienna.
Elizabeth - Very interesting character in the book. Her...more
Shipbuilder, arms merchant, industrialist, conqueror of the financial markets, Lord Ravenscliff strangely falls out a window of his London mansion one night to his death. His younger widow, who adored him, hires a young reporter to find out the truth of a new secret revealed in her husband's will. To get to the truth, the reporter looks into the life of the man who was born John Stone.
The twists and turns discovered by Matthew Braddock are only the beginning. For both Stone and his w...more
The twists and turns discovered by Matthew Braddock are only the beginning. For both Stone and his w...more
This book was brilliantly put together - a series of cogs and wheels and moving parts that only come together as the three parts are read. As we go backwards in time, to see John Stone's rise, we are taken through the pieces of his life which caused his fall. The story was riveting, and the narrative voices compelling, as the story explains the love affair between Stone and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth's dramatic history is revealed piece by piece, as it dovetails with her husbands, and the ...more
This is my new favorite book! It's one of those stories that pulls the reader into its world. Who would think that a book about the development of capitalism, and industrialization could be so interesting! Pears makes these subjects thrilling --- as the bankers and industrialists of the late 1800's must have felt it. The mystery of who killed John Stone, Baron of Ravensciliff does not unravl until the very end, and its conclusion is perfectly true to the rest of the story.
Th...more
Th...more
STONE'S FALL by Iain Pears is one of those books that just looks intimidating. Even in paperback it's a great big doorstopper of a thing - 597 pages long. One of those books that you wonder if you can risk reading in bed, what with a tendency to doze off and the potential for blackened eyes and badly squished noses. Three books in one in styling, STONE'S FALL tells the story of why John Stone, First (and last) Baron Ravenscliff died, falling from a window at his London home.
Star...more
Star...more
The central question is simple: How and why did the wealthy and powerful industrialist John Stone come to fall to his death from the window of his London home? The answer is anything but.
First there is a prologue, set in Paris in 1953. Two men meet after a funeral. It is short and simple but it sets the tone beautifully and provides a firm basis that will hold together what is to come.
And then the story travels back in time: to London in 1909, to Paris in 1890 and finally...more
First there is a prologue, set in Paris in 1953. Two men meet after a funeral. It is short and simple but it sets the tone beautifully and provides a firm basis that will hold together what is to come.
And then the story travels back in time: to London in 1909, to Paris in 1890 and finally...more
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With The Instance of the Fingerpost, Pears created a new kind of masterwork—a historical novel constructed intricately to work like clockwork, which glides sequentially from one subjective narrator to another, so that each section unveils new explanations that upend the previous narrator’s picture of the characters’ motivations and actions . Moreover, this novel draws the reader deep into a historical era’s skullduggery and political and geopolitical machinations. A subsequent novel, The Dream ...more
This is a very long novel (I'd guess nearly 300,000 words), and as the official blurb says, it is ingenious and intricately plotted. But I think it could have been just as ingenious and intricate at about half the length. I was hoping it would be as good as An Instance of the Fingerpost, but I was disappointed. Like that one, it is divided into sections, each with a different narrator; but in this case, the narrators all sound pretty much alike, and none of them is particularly engaging. In fact...more
Janice
marked it as to-read
Stone's Fall
By Pears, Iain
BookPage Notable Title
In his most dazzling novel since the groundbreaking "New York Times" bestseller "An Instance of the Fingerpost," Pears tells the story of John Stone, a man so wealthy that in the years before World War I, he was able to manipulate world markets.
Iain Pears' peerless historical intrigue
Review by Robert Weibezahl
Well Read
At 600...more
By Pears, Iain
BookPage Notable Title
In his most dazzling novel since the groundbreaking "New York Times" bestseller "An Instance of the Fingerpost," Pears tells the story of John Stone, a man so wealthy that in the years before World War I, he was able to manipulate world markets.
Iain Pears' peerless historical intrigue
Review by Robert Weibezahl
Well Read
At 600...more
Pears, Iain. STONE’S FALL. (2009). ****. Here’s another historical detective novel from the author of “An Instance of the Fingerpost.” Although not as good as the previous novel, it is still well written – although much too long. It tells the story of John Stone, financier and arms dealer; a man so wealthy that in the years before World War I he was able to manipulate markets, industries, and – sometimes – entire countries and continents. It all starts out as out protagonist – a newspaper...more
Iain Pears’ novel Stone’s Fall is incredibly complex. It is told from the perspective of three narrators, during three time periods, and in three separate settings. It also travels backwards through time. Pears’ pieced together a historical mystery that simply broaches espionage, international finance, and military arms production. And this novel also has the heft of a decent sized phone book. Such an ambitious undertaking in the hands of a lesser author could have easily been confusing or ...more
I loved An Instance of the Fingerpost. I liked Stone's Fall. This book is similar in approach to the earlier one; i.e., narrated from different characters' points of view. Still, it's not as challenging, and in fact the reverse chronology seemed to me to be a distraction, requiring frequent returns to pages previously read in order to refresh recollections. (Glad I wasn't reading it on Kindle.)
The main plot line is interesting, and Pears's evocation of 19th century Ve...more
The main plot line is interesting, and Pears's evocation of 19th century Ve...more
Stone's Fall covers a lot of ground--from the finance of empire to spycraft to relationships and how the approach to them changes over years. It does this by examining an overlapping set of events having to do with the life of John Stone, an idustrialist and financier, from three different points of view and points in time. Set in the early twentieth century, the novel largely succeeds in its aim to reveal not just the meaning of events experienced differently by different narrators, but also ...more
"Think of a subject so dull that no one would possibly think to make a thriller out of it. Now double the length of said thriller. Then add the author Iain Pears—and you've got a weird magic trick on your hands," noted the Times in amazement. Although he introduces complex ideas about global finance and industry, Pears humanizes them through his wholly compelling charactersóengaging, shady, and unreliableóand detailed settings, from anarchist meetings to Parisian salons. Riveting, smar
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Stone’s Fall
by Iain Pears (Jonathan Cape)
978-0-224-08437-6 £12.99 pbk
The story is written in three parts, beginning in 1909 after John Stone, a wealthy financier and armaments manufacturer, falls to his death through an open window. Journalist Matthew Broderick is asked by Stone’s widow to find the illegitimate child mentioned in her husband’s will. The story then moves backwards in time, as the following two parts are written in 1890 and 1867 respectively. However, it ...more
by Iain Pears (Jonathan Cape)
978-0-224-08437-6 £12.99 pbk
The story is written in three parts, beginning in 1909 after John Stone, a wealthy financier and armaments manufacturer, falls to his death through an open window. Journalist Matthew Broderick is asked by Stone’s widow to find the illegitimate child mentioned in her husband’s will. The story then moves backwards in time, as the following two parts are written in 1890 and 1867 respectively. However, it ...more
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Iain Pears is an English art historian, novelist and journalist. He was educated at Warwick School, Warwick, Wadham College and Wolfson College, Oxford. Before writing, he worked as a reporter for the BBC, Channel 4 (UK) and ZDF (Germany) and correspondent for Reuters from 1982 to 1990 in Italy, France, UK and US. In 1987 he became a Getty Fellow in the Arts and Humanities at Yale University. His ...more
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“He (William Cort) had some desire to be successful, but it did not burn so strongly in him that he was prepared to overcome his character to achieve it.”
—
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