Between Stone and Sky: Memoirs of a Waller

by Whitney Brown

At the age of twenty-six, Whitney Brown met a dry-stone waller. Within weeks she was out on the hill with him in Wales, learning the language of dry-stone walling. Far away from the pressures of her old life, she found deep satisfaction in working with her hands, in the age and heft of the stones, and the ring of the hammer.

Out under the open sky, Whitney relished every sore muscle and smashed finger, opportunity to stand atop a wall she'd just built and feel like the strongest woman alive.

Between Stone and Sky is a celebration of the raw and rugged splendour of the Welsh countryside and the enduring beauty and relevance of traditional craftsmanship. It is an unflinchingly honest account of the emotional struggle to become and belong. Most of all, it is an empowering story of female friendship, accepting uncertainty and risk, and crossing oceans in pursuit of dreams.

Genres: Travel, Memoir

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a spirited defense of manual labor, with a voice that may remind readers of J.D. Vance’s in Hillbilly Elegy. Brown’s niche subject matter and informal style (frequent ellipses, sassy asides and occasional bland sentences [“We were just very, very happy” or “Construction was OK”]) could prove off-putting, though the book’s overlong and slightly repetitive nature is the larger problem. Brown’s stated aim was to distill her seven years in Wales, and she captures well what she loved about the country, from the landscape to the humor. Yet the loss of several important relationships, including that with Jack, who wouldn’t marry her because of their 33-year age gap, gives the closing chapters a prematurely elegiac air.

(My full review is in the June 15th issue of the Times Literary Supplement.)


Other readalikes:

Shop Class as Soulcraft / The Case for Working with Your Hands by Matthew Crawford

Three Things You Need to Know about Rockets by Jessica Fox, about unexpectedly finding love in Britain

The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap, Wendy Welch’s memoir about bookselling in a small Appalachian town

& Brown’s is like the reverse of the journey undertaken in Tara Westover’s Educated: from intellectual to manual labor

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something about drystone wall that fit the countryside they inhabit. They are self-supporting structures that look simple to make, however, it is a craft that takes a while to master to ensure that they are strong and safe. Making them look beautiful though is another level up again. At the age of twenty-six, Whitney Brown had never seen a dry stone wall, let alone met a met a dry-stone waller. But chance meant that whilst helping at the Smithsonian Folk Festival she was introduced to a contingent of Welsh people including a female blacksmith and a man called Jack. 

She was going through an emotional time and feeling the urge to smash things with a hammer would stop by to learn a little about how it was done. As they got talking they started to learn more about each other's home country and by the end of the festival, Brown knew that all she wanted to head to the Welsh hills to learn about this craft. Declining a position at the Smithsonian, her parents tried to dissuade her from heading across the Atlantic, but she was smitten by the look of the countryside and could not think of any other way of quenching her burning desire on how to learn how to make dry stone walls.

Dry stone walling though is a tough job, but Brown grew to love it. The physical effort of shifting tonnes of stones took its toll on her body along with the wear and tear on her hands. She grew to love the countryside that she ventured out in every day, often getting cold and frequently wet (especially in Wales). She had the companionship of Jack who was twice her age, but more importantly the fellowship of the women in the local area who took her under their wings and carried her in her lowest ebbs.

This is a warm and touching memoir of a lady who completely fell in love with a country and a craft. It is raw and emotional too, as she wears her heart on her sleeve for a lot of the book, detailing the positive and the negatives of being so far from home and in the company of strangers. She was determined to take back what she has learnt on the hillsides of Wales and make a career from back in America, and it is something she has achieved judging by the impressive structures completed on her website.. She is one impressive lady who has the eye of an artist and the muscles of a waller.

[Wendy Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A respectable and lucrative desk job in the arts was probably the destiny for the academically-excellent but maverick Brown. Instead, she gives up the chance of a prestigious, well-paid museum job to become a dry-stone waller in the Welsh countryside. I love stories like this. An outlier in lots
of ways, Brown is always remarked on for being big and tall and she works this by owning and exploiting the strength of her body to become an exceptional waller, rare in a male arena. She also falls in love with her mentor, a dry-stone waller in his sixties ... what may have been a bit queasy (she was in her 20s at the time) becomes irrelevant as you get to know Brown: she is very self-aware, open and honest which makes her writing heartfelt and engaging. It's easy to see why everyone she comes across likes her, and the effusive Brown also falls hard for many of the people she meets. She also falls in love with the countryside and describes elements like cold water swimming very well, it '..strips you to the barest essentials of your existence: breath, movement, sight, sound. It clarifies. It distils. Time almost ceases to exist.' I like that. A great read for anyone who was ever too safe and risk-averse to leave their desk job for something precarious, creative and infinitely more interesting. The book is also a reminder to appreciate the 'small' things in life we take for granted: sunshine, the beauty of the landscape, a gorgeously-constructed stone wall, a good scone and jam.
I just wonder what happened to Rose.

[Howard Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book. I loved meeting the author and listening to her review the book and her life to date in Oswestry on 24th May, but since reading the book my admiration for her has grown enormously.

It is well written, easy to read and pick up whenever you have a spare moment, and is a mixture of the struggles, achievements, challenges and people in the author's life and I suppose is ultimately, a story of great love and passion for those people, and the little country she soon refers to as home.

If you get a chance to meet Whitney, then please do so as you won't regret it. However, reading the book is a must. Don't be put off by the fact that it is written about dry stone walling!

As a final note. This has encouraged me to unearth, clean off and repair an old wall at the back of my garden. Don't wait for an update as it will probably take me years but hopefully I will get there.

[Emma Cormack · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Carole Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, Whitney met a group of welsh people at an exhibition in America, she was helping host and organise an international folklore and craft show, she liked the warmth and enthusiasm of the people and especially the dry stone Waller, and blacksmith, an invitation to visit them was extended at end of show, Whitney was hoping for appointment to Smithsonian, she decided to visit the stone Waller who had invited her, a much older man, she found Wales a peaceful beautiful place so unlike her home, the blacksmith whom she’d become close to was pleased to show her how to work metal, she learned how to dry stone walls, she developed close ties to these two in particular, on return home she took on various jobs but longer to return to wales, she was offered her previous dream job but realised it no longer appealed, she eventually after several visits to Wales learned to build walls and between visits worked at commissions building walls, it’s a book about her love of country and country life and people, her love for this much older man, her life, and friendships

[Dennis Mashue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Met Ms. Brown at a neighborhood cookout in Virginia last summer. I was struck by her intellect, humor, and what I can only describe as thee best laugh! I read her book a couple weeks later, and loved every page.
Gritty and intimate, there were several passages where I just wanted to reach into the page and hug her, so plainly evident was her pain.
But, what I took away from Between Stone and Sky, was the importance of this memoir for girls and women who long to chase their passion, but choose to remain trapped within the expectations of family and society. To that end I understand Ms. Brown now offers stonewaller training and empowerment programs for young women.

[Arwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between Stone and Sky is a lovely, engaging read. It is beautifully written and leaves you filled with the desire to love and live, to work and explore, to take risks and be your true self. It captures the contradictions of a life being well lived and shows that living in the space of those contradictions can be beautiful. Thank you Whitney Brown for sharing your story with such honesty and grace.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this read up because I like dry stone walls. Initially I thought there was too much angst and wall detail and not enough human connection (it's what I look for in a book) and then Whitney hit her stride and it became a page turner. I liked her portrayal of her friendships with her woman friends and I liked her honest portrayal of her relationship with her partner. It became a touching, revealing, heart warming book.

[SUE HANSARD · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. As a lover of the English Lake District dry stone walls are iconic which is why I was drawn to the book and it didn't disappoint. Weaving the story of her journey from unispired, unchallenged academic, to becoming a top specialist in this male dominated, ancient and dying craft, Whitney Brown really evokes the feeling of becoming one with nature. She finds herself and love and friendships along the way and was the inspiration on one of my poems.

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read--especially the descriptions of the land and people of Wales. But I found the overwrought descriptions of her self-doubts more than a bit wearisome (sort of like re-reading my own journals from when I was in my twenties). I hope she writes a second book but this time focusing on her life and work in the mountains of Virginia.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful life-affirming memoir. Brown writes with raw honesty and passion, and her love of the Welsh countryside (which she describes brilliantly) and of creating stone walls with her bare hands made me want to research cottages for sale in Wales and move there.

[Janet Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book as drystone walls are a common sight here in Derbyshire. However, | did find Whitney rather irritating! How can a grown woman always be in tears! For heavens sake, get a grip!

[Dei Mur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Safbwynt eithaf unigryw am walio a'r tirwedd drwy lygaid dynes arbennig iawn. Tyner a deallus.

A somewhat unique perspective on the landscape and dry stone walling, through female eyes. Knowledgeable and tender.

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

A present for Christmas the other year from my in laws saying it was my kind of book - nature, outdoors & seaons, dry stone walls and Wales. This was a memoir about life, growing older and love.

[Chris Lindley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had pretty much nothing to do with a wallers life

[Harriet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this, so much of it I could relate too. A great balance of relationships, life, and wonderful dry stone walls.

[Ronnie Weedle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute gem of a book. This should have a permanent place on everyone's bookshelf.

[Muir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually a good read, mix of personal journey with ups and downs and flourishing as a dry stone waller.

[Liz Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an interesting read, loved the Welsh parts but overall I found the pattern of the book repetitive, although I appreciate that the relationship had to involved lots of travel.

[Alexander Lean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very yank and very millennial. But very moving and very pro Cymru.

I dare to think of the inverse where a woman from Port Talbot travels to Rural Appalachia to mend fences.

[Steve Chilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating tale of an academic forsaking that life to learn to be a stone waller. This leads to a transatlantic love affair with her mentor. It was both uplifting and also very sad. It really held my interest, especially as it is on a subject I know very little about, and I read in in three days. The strangest thing is she reveals at the end that the (main) character, named Jack, has had his name changed for the book. Can't really see why.