Stonecutter

Publishers Weekly

A 14-year-old relates his life as an apprentice stonecutter in 1835. "The ominous, claustrophobic tone that Watts sustains marks this writer as one to watch," said PW. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

Albion Straight is leading a simple apprentice's life in 1835, learning a skill from his kind master. He enjoys a friendship with his mentor's son, Little Watty, and feels as if he himself is a member of the family. This peaceful existence is disrupted upon the arrival of a strange man to their small town of Little Sion in western New York. Albion is hired to work for John Good, who lives in a foreboding mansion many miles away from Albion's home and deep in the wilderness. Albion finds upon his arrival at Goodspell that he is being employed to sculpt a tomb for Good's late wife, located in a great cave. The suspense deepens as Albion realizes that he is expected to use Good's beautiful young daughter, Michal, as the model for his carving. He soon realizes her father holds her captive in the house and that Albion is the only who might be able to help her. At this point in the story, the pieces are set in motion for an intriguing ending. The language of the story is vivid, lending the story an authentic 1800's ambience. Told in a journal form that allows the reader to enjoy the story from an intimate perspective, this gothic novel will surely keep readers turning the page. 2002, Houghton Mifflin Company, Ages 8 to 12.
—Jamie Roszel

KLIATT

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2002: Stonecutter is a Gothic tale with mythic elements. In diary form, the narrator, a young stonecutter from upstate New York in the first half of the 19th century, tells about how he is chosen for a strange job in a strange place. A mysterious character named John Good (who seems anything but good) hires him to travel some distance to the grand mansion he is building in order to make a memorial to his long-dead wife. John Good's daughter Michal looks just like her dead mother, and she will be the model for the stonecutter (named Albion Straight). Albion hates the feel of the mansion, which seems like a prison to him. And the cave where the wife is buried, where the memorial will be, is an eerie place of dread. When Albion gets to know Michal better as she poses for the gravestone cutting, he learns that she too feels like a prisoner in her father's house. She yearns to escape to Manhattan and beyond, to get as far away from her father as possible. Nothing is ever spelled out as to the relationship between father and daughter, but an evil emanates from any scene between the two and suggestive language abounds as to whether this is an incestuous relationship. We don't know for sure, however. Albion helps Michal escape this horrible man and his riches. They journey through the forest, trying to find their way back north to the village Albion is from, where he was an apprentice stonecutter. Michal becomes weak and sick from the strain of the journey and the two are rescued finally, miraculously, when it seems all is lost. The language sets this tale apart from other YA fiction. It is slightly archaic, seemingly a story written inthe 19th century as well as set there. But it fits well into this Gothic mode--the foreshadowing of danger, the dread, the darkness. In no way do we feel that these two teenagers could be modern youth because their world of 1835 is so well described. Yet any YA today can understand Michal's suffocation, her obsession to escape her tyrannical father, and the kindness of Albion in helping her find a salvation. This is Watts's first fiction for YAs, and a most interesting addition to the literature. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2002, Houghton Mifflin, Graphia, 181p., $7.99.. Ages 12 to 18.
—Claire Rosser

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-In a novel told in journal form, Albion Straight recounts his strange journey into the wilderness in 1835 America. An apprentice stonecutter in a small town in western New York, he lives with the family of his master, Mr. Bonness. Soon Albion is offered a chance to work for a rich and mysterious man named John Good. Accepting the job with some trepidation, he is led deep into the wilderness where he finds a magnificent mansion being built. There he discovers that he has been hired to sculpt the tomb of the man's dead wife, located in a huge cave; and he's expected to use as a model Good's daughter, Michal, who looks exactly like her mother and is kept as a prisoner by her father. Obviously, all the elements are here for a classic gothic novel, and the story delivers the goods. The creepy atmosphere and sense of horror build throughout and although the character of Michal remains rather flat, the effective historical details and strong plot make this an excellent choice for many readers.-Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A young journeyman stonecutter becomes entangled in a web of emotions he cannot begin to navigate when he accepts a job from a mysterious man in this rather pointless gothic meditation set in 1835. Fourteen-year-old Albion Straight has reservations when a stranger’s agent approaches him to carve a monument, but lured by both the fee offered and the opportunity to make his professional name, he agrees. Hidden in the undeveloped wilderness of western New York’s Genesee River Valley, John Good’s mansion-in-the-making has attached to it a company of workers who seem to labor as virtual slaves to the autocratic Good. It turns out that Albion has been brought to Goodspell to carve a tomb for Good’s wife, 15 years dead, in a natural limestone cave that gives Albion the willies. Moreover, he is expected to use as model Good’s daughter Michal, who is the very image of her mother and whose birth precipitated her mother’s death. Told in the form of Albion’s diary entries, the narrative takes on the labored cadence of swollen Victorian language: "The strange illumination made them both ghastly, red-faced, and quaking in the lantern’s light. Tho they’d ceased speaking, it seemed that the echoes of their quarrel still flitted like bats around the great chamber. A crazed light shone in Michal’s eyes." The relationship Albion glimpses between Good and Michal is indeed disturbing, but frustratingly, it is not explored enough within the narrative to make it other than vaguely creepy. Although both Michal’s and Albion’s distress at their powerlessness in the face of Good’s obsession is obvious to the reader, the climax and dénouement that result seem hastily thrown-together after the many pages of carefulexposition that has gone before. In the end, there’s lots of atmosphere, but little story here. (Fiction. 10-14)