We were super excited to get to be a part of the Stone Field blog tour with Christy Lenzi because Historical Fiction, Literary Retellings & Romance (all things that Stone Field is about) are some of our favorite things! We were even more excited that we got to pick Christy’s brain about a certain topic… Christy’s Favorite Literary Couples!
But first… a little about the book:
Stone Field by Christy Lenzi (Website, Goodreads)Published by Macmillan on March 29th 2016
Genres: Civil War Period (1850-1877), Historical, Love & Romance, United States, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
A stunning debut novel that offers a new look at a classic love story about soul mates torn apart by the circumstances of their time.Catrina Dickinson is haunted by her past and feels caged in by life in small town Missouri. When she discovers a strange man in Stone Field where her family grows their sorghum crop, her life takes on new meaning. He has no memory of who he is or what brought him to Cat's farm, but they fall passionately in love. Meanwhile, the country is on the brink of the Civil War, and the conflict in Missouri demands that everyone take a side before the bloodbath reaches their doorstep.A passionate and atmospheric reimagining of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Stone Field explores how violence and vengeance perverts the human spirit, and how hatred can be transcended by love.
Here are Christy’s favorite literary couples:
- Jane & Rochester in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
- Inman & Ada in Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain
- Cecilia & Robbie in Ian McEwan’s Atonement
- Anne & Gilbert in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables
- Marianne & Willoughby in Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility
- Lucy Snowe & M. Paul Emanuel In Charlotte Bronte’s Villette
- Sue & Maud in Sarah Waters’s Fingersmith
- Ophelia & Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
- Anna & Vronsky in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina
- Bridget & Mark in Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary
There you go!! Are any of these your favorites? Let us know in the comments why!
Erin’s Thoughts
Stone Field by Christy Lenzi was a book I had my eye on since I read the summary. Inspired by Wuthering Heights I was intrigued. Don’t hate on me but I have never actually read Wuthering Heights (seriously…stop judging me) so I can’t comment on the comparison but I can tell you that it explores the idea of revenge and hate as well as love and acceptance. While slow moving at times, I found myself pulled into this story and turning the pages just to see what would happen next.
I have to admit that I thought the characters in this story were a bit odd. There is an interesting commentary here on what is “normal” and of course, what society would consider acceptable behavior and the main character in this book, Catrina, definitely falls into the category of “odd” to the people around her. She likes to be in the woods making her art and she doesn’t really care what people think about her. As the story progresses, we find out how the death of her mother impacted her but I admit, I found her frustrating at times. When she finds a naked man with absolutely no memory of anything in their fields, she is immediately taken with him.
Not knowing his name, Catrina names him Stonefield. These two are instantly drawn to each other and they quickly begin to create a world for themselves outside of everything else. Of course, with the questions surrounding Stonefield as well as the atmosphere and hate towards “different” people at the time, there is quite a bit of fear and anger embedded in this story and this is where the danger is for these two characters. As Stonefield realizes more and more who he is and where he comes from, it creates a wedge between these two and decisions they make ultimately destroy them.
Inst-love haters will most likely be frustrated by the immediacy of the relationship…I am sure of it and even though I found myself rolling my eyes a bit, I have to say that this piece added to the feeling of the overall story. I thought Lenzi did a wonderful job of creating this atmosphere of fear, hate, and ultimately a love that falls apart. I could feel the tension in the characters and one of the things I find both interesting and frustrating in historical stories is the way female characters are viewed by those around them. God forbid they have a thought in their head or aspire to be more than a wife and mother and in this story she takes it another step by tying religion and fear of the devil into the story.
Overall while the story felt a bit slow in parts, I thought it was well done. I don’t want to say too much about what happens and how but if you are looking for something unique to read, this one will definitely fit. Consider checking this one out when you can as once I started, I couldn’t put it down because I needed to see what was going to happen to these characters next.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
GIVEAWAY – One finished copy of STONE FIELD
US ONLY
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