Yes, I deliberately timed this review to be posted around the time of Reformation Day/All Saints Day (respectively this Sunday and Monday). After all, I often hear people talk about celebrating Christmas all year long - why not celebrate Reformation Day and All Saints Day all year long? (Of course, I'm trying to figure out what celebrating Groundhog's day all year long would look like.)
The Keeper of the Stone: Of Saints and Chieftains is Epoch One of the Celtic Cross Series. In it, Donna Fletcher Crow does an excellent job of telling history in story form, where you keep your attention throughout.
You can call The Celtic Cross a re-release of her previous books, The Fields of Bannockburn and The Banks of the Boyne, dividing these historical stories into a set of ten books (the former being a four part look at Scottish history, and the latter being six dealing with Ireland). In this new version, she also adds a story of three contemporary young people in modern times.
The beginning and ending of the book take place in current times. The rest of this book jumps back to the 500's and looks at Saint Columba. Personally, I thought the transition could be smoother between present and past - the present story occupies only the first couple of chapters and the final one, with the rest a millenium and a half ago.
The major part of the story focuses on Columba, and I found his story inspiring, especially with him wrestling with his past sins. It deals well with the conflict missionaries faced in the 500's - and in the 2000's, as well as any other time following Pentecost - struggling against the native religious beliefs of a society. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip into the past and getting to know some history. Which, considering how strong a story-teller Donna Fletcher Crow is, doesn't surprise me at all.
I'm looking forward to reading on in the series. The ending doesn't have the resolution I'm used to in Crow's series (such as the Monastery Murders, Lord Danvers Investigates, and the Elizabeth and Richard Literary Suspense series, all of which also are good at looking into the past). So I'm not just interested in learning about what will happen to the characters, but also in learning more about the history of Scotland and Ireland.
I did receive a copy of this book for my unbiased review.
Thank you, Jeff! I love the tie-in with All-Saint's Day. I greatly enjoyed working with the irony that St. Columba--whose name literally means Dove of Peace--was guilty of starting a devastating war. The fact that he then brought peace to Scotland shows that God can use anything--even our failures.
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