Once upon a time, in the earliest of time as a matter of fact, a meteor fell to the earth. It contained a beautiful blue stone which was picked up on the African plains by a primitive human girl called Tall One (named for obvious reasons). [return][return]The stone granted her certain power over her tribe, and gave her the push she needed into following her instincts, thus setting into motion the evolution of the human race.[return][return]Tall One passed on, as did the stone. It played a significant role in the lives of various individuals, dividing this novel into eight stories linked by the one blue stone.[return][return]In the first three stories, women are still revered for their powers of being able to give birth. This changed rapidly as civilisation evolved. In the fourth story, a Roman officer presents it to his wife as his version of a scarlet letter. He forces her to wear it out and would tell everyone the story behind it - it was worn by an Egyptian queen who was put to death for adultery. [return][return]Amelia suffers this in silence. When her Jew friend Rachel invites her to join her home church, Amelia learns about Jesus the Jew who was crucified 30 years ago. She came to forgive her husband and make the best of her situation. But Cornelius is not a man to be denied the pleasure of tormenting his wife. [return][return]Amelia dies and is canonised as a saint. Her remains came into the possession of a church in England several centuries later, resting under the roof of the chapel of St. Amelia.[return][return]The focus moves on to Mother Winifred, the prioress of St. Amelia. The chapel is home to the scriptorium where illuminations are added to text. Winifred wants nothing more than to paint the altarpiece to honour St. Amelia but Father Abbot will not hear of it. He is on a quest to close the old chapel and move the sisters to the new one where they can teach younger nuns the art before they die.[return][return]The point of conflict is established, but Winifred is on the losing end. By accident, she discovers the stone and is presented with a new problem - sell the stone for pigments that the sisters so desperately need and the church refuses to fund, or hold on to it for the time being and rely on her resourcefulness for worldly matters. It is in this manner that the blue stone saved the lives of herself and her sisters.[return][return]The stone passed through many hands and many years, and the story continues in Germany where a young peasant woman named Katherina sets off to find her father, who was on a quest to find St. Amelia s Stone.[return][return]This is probably the longest and most elaborate story, charting her journey from Germany to Jerusalem and the many obstacles that cropped up in-between. Katherina found love and lost it, was captured and sold into slavery twice, gave birth and found a place for herself in the process. [return][return]Her father did find the stone but he died before he could return to Katherina. The stone ended up in the French colony of Martinque, years after it was named the Star of Cathay. The tale here is short but surprising, and is my favourite of the lot because it shows the depth of deviousness women are capable of.[return][return]Eight epics in two sittings is the right way to a headache, which was exactly what happened to me. The Blessing Stone is a good choice for those wanting to try the author without committing to a full length single story. [return][return]Barbara Wood is my other guilty pleasure author, with a gift for engaging characters and attention to detail. It wasn t easy finding her novels here though, so good luck.[return][return](2006)
This book arrived to my attention at the perfect moment. I was already in the depths of a Roman history self study, Netflixing as many documentaries on ancient Rome that I could find. How surprised I was to read a section on Roman life in Barbara Wood's "Blessing Stone." Now I'm finished gobbling up the Roman times, I am moving on to early civilization, thanks to this book perking my interest.Most amazing to me is Ms. Wood's historical accuracy. She nails it. I really am a closeted history buff and this book gave me an excellent fix. From Neanderthals to emigrants moving westward in the California gold rush, I learned a lot more than I knew before this book. So interesting. I vaguely knew that international slave trading goes on frequently in the present world I live, but I was surprised that it's nothing new. In elementary school, a white person guilt emerged after I learned about the African slaves who were kidnapped from their homeland. I really thought Americans invented this. Not so. It's been a prevalent part of human experience since the beginning. And "The Blessing Stone" presents it in a way that allowed me to safely become part of the action. Barbara's storytelling ability drew me in every time. There are eight snapshots in history all with differently defined tones, themes, and plots with the blessing stone as the common thread. Characters who came upon the stone saw different visions in its center, visions that fundamentally changed them and the choices they made. The reader soon realizes the blessing stone is not so much prophetic as it is reflective of the inner growth of the person holding it. This type plot may lend itself to formulaic patterns and predictable outcomes, but not with "The Blessing Stone." I never, ever knew what was to come. Partially because I didn't know the historical context and partially because Barbara Wood is a masterful storyteller, truly.Although each story changes in ways mentioned, I did find a main theme throughout that may be more reflective of who I am right now than it is purposeful. The women in this book possess a great inner power and strength, all containing attributes of the goddess realized. It is my deepest core belief that women contain the values, knowledge, and guidance with which to orchestrate earthly civilized living. Women, when in their goddess state, have well tuned diplomacy skills, communication brilliance, and a gentle nurturance allowing those around them to ground and stabilize. It's hard to maintain this goddess state when the imbalance of aggressive male energy dominates the waves, but when we goddesses shine, we are brilliant and everyone takes notice. Ms. Wood's characters and vision validate my core belief. So refreshing!Great book and the first of Barbara Wood's I've read. I will be putting more of her literature on my "to-read" list!
What do You think about The Blessing Stone (2004)?
Really creative book! I thoroughly enjoyed the "trip through history" as I piggybacked through time with the ethereal Blessing Stone in the pages of this book.POSITIVES:-SUPER creative-Entertaining-Well-paced-Fascinating perspective on history-Loved how the characters the stone passed down through were described and plotted-Great descriptive writing-Almost complete absence of foul languageNEGATIVES:-A bit of sexual content periodically that I felt was unnecessary for the plot-The plot was occasionally lost in the heavy descriptions-I felt as if the entire book lost some of the impact it could have because it was split up like a Horcrux, sliced into several totally different storylines. (Though at the same time this is one of the things that kept me most engaged and interested, so I would call this negative a draw.)BEST MOMENT: My favorite story was the pirates and the brave woman that saved her plantation.SUMMARY:4 starsI would not recommend this book to any under the age of 14 due to the before mentioned sexual content.Overall enjoyable read
—Alex
This is the first novel I have read of Barbara Wood's. It spans millenia, and 425 pages divided into eight "Books", each book in a different era from 3,000,000 years ago to the 1800's in the US. The books and story lines are tied together by a mysterious and powerful blue crystal that arrived in a meteor three million years ago and was passed from one era and one family to the next.Ms Wood seamlessly adds historical facts into each era, reflecting her wide ranging research. Though I found myself interested in each owner of the blue crystal, I was not particularly drawn into their lives. I liked it well enough, however, to read more of her work.
—Maritha Burmeister
The Blessing Stone is a series of stories connected by a single factor, an amazing stone created by a metorite millions of years ago. It begins with a Neandthral who finds the stone in the Rift Valley of Africa and the stone travels on and on, dropping out of history for many years only to emerge in the next short story. This book crosses time and country as easily as a stone can travel in a pocket, showing up in a variety of places, each time changing the people it touches who in some way affect the next generation.Well written and compelling, it is hard to put down as you want to see where the stone will take you next.
—Emily Decobert
