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Customer Reviews of The Stone

Tranter weaves his very special Highland magick!
The Stone of Destiny or Lia Fail, also called the Stone of Scone, was for centuries the coronation "throne" of the Celtic Kings of Scotland. Nearly 700 years ago, Edward Plantagenet, King of England supposedly stole the Stone from the Scots in 1296 after his forces defeated John de Balliol's army of Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. Edward carried it back to Westminster Abbey and had a throne built around it in 1301 for the English Monarchs. So the last King of the Scots to sit up the Stone was John de Balliol. In 1996 the English returned the Stone of Destiny in a big production on the eve of Scotland's partial independence from England.

Only the question has been asked for 700 years: is this the real Stone of Destiny or a mockery? The drawings of the Stone from that period (you can see them on the seals of the Kings), show a taller stone, high enough to be a true chair, with Erse drawings and symbols all around the base. Described as a hard, glassy black stone, it was smooth, slick on the sides - a far cry from the rough-cut, slab of red sandstone Edward the Longshanks dragged back from Scotland. So the questions came. Had the Scots hurriedly made the substitution and hidden the true Stone of Destiny away? Did they hurried quarry this red sandstone slab and put it in Lia Fail's place giving the English King a fake to carry away? Two years after taking away the Stone Edward came back to Scone Abbey and ripped it apart. Was he hunting for the real stone? Another scenario, Edward arrived to find the Stone gone, and in a bit of perverse humour, had the sandstone slab quickly chiseled out and paraded before the Scottish Nobility in August 1296 at Berwick when they arrived to sign the Ragman Roll and take oath of allegiance to an English King. He knew it was fake, knew the Scots knew, but also was aware they could not say so out loud or else risk his Angevin temper when they refused to produce it. At one point after Edward's death, Edward II made a promise to return the Stone to Robert the Bruce. The promise went unfulfilled. Some say the Bruce refused it knowing it was a fake. This only added fuel to the belief this was not the real Stone.

If this stone sitting in Edinburgh Castle today is not the real Lia Fail, then what happened to it? That is the question Scotland's great writer the late Nigel Tranter turned his attention to when he penned The Stone. This book, written in 1958, has been reprinted several times, and again drew a lot of interest in the middle 90's when the discussion came up about returning it to Scotland. Finding a copy was hard. Tranter blends myth, fact and speculation into a satisfying tale of a race to discover the hiding place of the real stone and protect it from those bent on using it. He weaves his love for Scotland, its history and legend in to one of his best works. Those not familiar with the lore of the Stone of Destiny or perhaps has not read Tranter before, I cannot think of a better introduction. Once in a great while, there comes a writer that has the ability to 'walk in the past', to make you join him on that journey. Tranter was just such a magick talent and this book shines with it.

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New and forever devoted Tranter fan!
I've just finished reading "The Stone" (my first Tranter novel) and am reminded of the great books of my childhood which left me feeling sad as I turned the last page. I didn't want the book to end! Mr. Tranter's lyrical depiction of Scotland was transporting and I'm afraid I will always believe the story to be true somewhere in the back of my mind. His story and characters are amazingly real and believable. Maybe the real Stone of Scone truly is buried in a bog in the Highlands?