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Land of Stones
It is 1918. In the Caucasus, as World War 1 nears its end, the British Government is sending millions of pounds in gold coins by train to prop up the Armenian army against the rampant Turks in a bid to protect the Baku oil reserves on the Caspian Sea. A small squad of British soldiers pulls off an audacious heist of a crate of gold, secreting it with every intention of recovering the treasure at the end of the war.
Fast forward a century to Philip Blake – an emotionally damaged reporter seeking respite from years of front line reporting. Blake finds himself working for the National Archives in London, researching documents from the Caucasus campaign for a commemorative display of the British evacuation of Baku. Regimental and private diaries reveal the story of the missing gold – something that Blake cannot pass by, and one that will ultimately lead to the unexpected love of an Armenian woman.
While Philip Blake begins searching for an exclusive story, the Archives Director – Cassandra Jennings - begins her own separate secret hunt for the gold for much less altruistic reasons. News of the surreptitious ventures in Armenia reach the ears of Iosif Kasharin, a retired Armenian security service spymaster, whose intention for the gold is no less self-serving. Kasharin has local knowledge and resources that he can call on - until he learns the location of the gold, and the political ramifications that could result.
Against a background of the recent history of Armenia - the Land of Stones - through a century of misfortunes from the Genocide in 1915, then disease, famine, earthquake and political upheaval, the story twists and turns to a tense political climax.
Fast forward a century to Philip Blake – an emotionally damaged reporter seeking respite from years of front line reporting. Blake finds himself working for the National Archives in London, researching documents from the Caucasus campaign for a commemorative display of the British evacuation of Baku. Regimental and private diaries reveal the story of the missing gold – something that Blake cannot pass by, and one that will ultimately lead to the unexpected love of an Armenian woman.
While Philip Blake begins searching for an exclusive story, the Archives Director – Cassandra Jennings - begins her own separate secret hunt for the gold for much less altruistic reasons. News of the surreptitious ventures in Armenia reach the ears of Iosif Kasharin, a retired Armenian security service spymaster, whose intention for the gold is no less self-serving. Kasharin has local knowledge and resources that he can call on - until he learns the location of the gold, and the political ramifications that could result.
Against a background of the recent history of Armenia - the Land of Stones - through a century of misfortunes from the Genocide in 1915, then disease, famine, earthquake and political upheaval, the story twists and turns to a tense political climax.
724 pages, Paperback
Published March 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 19, 2024
Interesting book!
I chose to read the book based on a personal connection with the author and I was curious to see what he might come up with. I have not met Richard for quite a number of years but we exchange Christmas letters and through the 2023 letter I found out about the books he has on offer. I jumped, and I'm very happy to have shared some time with a friend for only a small Kindle outlay.
Land of Stone(s) is a very well thought out story based on an incredible amount of history of the Caucasus region where it seems the Armenians, Turks and Azerbaijanis have a constant need to not live together harmoniously. A lot of the details were new to me and I was doing my own vicarious exploring of the region as I progressed through the story.
I have two measures for evaluating historical fiction: The first is how often I go to Wikipedia* or another www search to find another interpretation or background of events in the narrative. My previous knowledge of Armenia/Turkey/Azerbaijan was very limited and I was frequently going outside the story to get more context of a particular scene. Sadly, the context was usually not very pretty.
I recently finished the book: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, a book which has had much commenting on the social networks. I find it has many parallels to Land of Stone(s) in that it's set in an ancient land where the old and new collide and societies are torn apart with no benefit to anyone. Missing Trees similarly had me bouncing into Wikipedia* and other places to find out what happened in Cypress and where it's going today. I just wish Land of Stone(s) was experiencing a similar circulation and exposure since I'm sure it'd appeal to a similar audience. I'll do what I can.
My second measure of good historical fiction is when the boundary between fiction and historical narrative blur. Some boundaries are obvious especially regarding the main fictional characters, but when the setting is vague, then that's kudos to the author. In particular, I still don't know if there's any reality to any of the gold story which underlies the whole narrative. It's plausible in the weird world of geopolitics, but I see no reference on web searches for any such activity in the Middle East as part of The Great War. So, kudos Richard on pinning an entertaining and thrilling story on something that may be imaginary, or only slowly coming to light in some way or other.
On the same note, I would like to know how much of the story rings true to the Armenian diaspora. I had the pleasure of working with Canadian Armenians earlier in my career, and I would love to know how the story holds up to readers more familiar with the historical events and movements during the time of the story.
One thing to mention that I particularly liked: as I was reading the story I felt a series of tone changes. By this I mean, the level of settings. In the early part of the book, it's all The Great War. We then switch to the contemporary world of finance and journalism and military activity. But then the tone changed "up" and we were then in the company of national presidents, prime ministers and foreign secretaries. I enjoyed the slow changes and it made the narrative take on a fresh approach with whole new diverse sets of characters.
Any down sides?
Yeah, a couple. My own personal tastes tend to a simpler calmer life. There are several scenes in the story that are violent, and I found these uncomfortable. I don't watch TV or see violent movies so my violence threshold is very low. Could the scenes have been muted? Maybe, but national secret services forces do not play nice, and I accept they do have very effective pain and psychological tools to extract information and control behaviour. And stuff like that likely needs to be part of the story and plot. Just me.
Second: a few typos through the book and formatting errors. I'll pass these back to Richard for his entertainment and possible action.
Recommendation: If you like a gritty story of greed, ruthless power and tools, along with a tender love interest and a not so tender love interest, then this is a good read for you. It's also a good read to get a street view of the nationalities of the Caucasus region.
Wikipedia*: Yes, I pay Wikipedia an annual subscription for use. Wikipedia is what the Internet could have been (sigh.)
I chose to read the book based on a personal connection with the author and I was curious to see what he might come up with. I have not met Richard for quite a number of years but we exchange Christmas letters and through the 2023 letter I found out about the books he has on offer. I jumped, and I'm very happy to have shared some time with a friend for only a small Kindle outlay.
Land of Stone(s) is a very well thought out story based on an incredible amount of history of the Caucasus region where it seems the Armenians, Turks and Azerbaijanis have a constant need to not live together harmoniously. A lot of the details were new to me and I was doing my own vicarious exploring of the region as I progressed through the story.
I have two measures for evaluating historical fiction: The first is how often I go to Wikipedia* or another www search to find another interpretation or background of events in the narrative. My previous knowledge of Armenia/Turkey/Azerbaijan was very limited and I was frequently going outside the story to get more context of a particular scene. Sadly, the context was usually not very pretty.
I recently finished the book: The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, a book which has had much commenting on the social networks. I find it has many parallels to Land of Stone(s) in that it's set in an ancient land where the old and new collide and societies are torn apart with no benefit to anyone. Missing Trees similarly had me bouncing into Wikipedia* and other places to find out what happened in Cypress and where it's going today. I just wish Land of Stone(s) was experiencing a similar circulation and exposure since I'm sure it'd appeal to a similar audience. I'll do what I can.
My second measure of good historical fiction is when the boundary between fiction and historical narrative blur. Some boundaries are obvious especially regarding the main fictional characters, but when the setting is vague, then that's kudos to the author. In particular, I still don't know if there's any reality to any of the gold story which underlies the whole narrative. It's plausible in the weird world of geopolitics, but I see no reference on web searches for any such activity in the Middle East as part of The Great War. So, kudos Richard on pinning an entertaining and thrilling story on something that may be imaginary, or only slowly coming to light in some way or other.
On the same note, I would like to know how much of the story rings true to the Armenian diaspora. I had the pleasure of working with Canadian Armenians earlier in my career, and I would love to know how the story holds up to readers more familiar with the historical events and movements during the time of the story.
One thing to mention that I particularly liked: as I was reading the story I felt a series of tone changes. By this I mean, the level of settings. In the early part of the book, it's all The Great War. We then switch to the contemporary world of finance and journalism and military activity. But then the tone changed "up" and we were then in the company of national presidents, prime ministers and foreign secretaries. I enjoyed the slow changes and it made the narrative take on a fresh approach with whole new diverse sets of characters.
Any down sides?
Yeah, a couple. My own personal tastes tend to a simpler calmer life. There are several scenes in the story that are violent, and I found these uncomfortable. I don't watch TV or see violent movies so my violence threshold is very low. Could the scenes have been muted? Maybe, but national secret services forces do not play nice, and I accept they do have very effective pain and psychological tools to extract information and control behaviour. And stuff like that likely needs to be part of the story and plot. Just me.
Second: a few typos through the book and formatting errors. I'll pass these back to Richard for his entertainment and possible action.
Recommendation: If you like a gritty story of greed, ruthless power and tools, along with a tender love interest and a not so tender love interest, then this is a good read for you. It's also a good read to get a street view of the nationalities of the Caucasus region.
Wikipedia*: Yes, I pay Wikipedia an annual subscription for use. Wikipedia is what the Internet could have been (sigh.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review