When a legendary stone is stolen from Westminster Abbey, Great Britain is set astir. Both the IRA and the Scottish nationalists are suspected. Amid the uproar, young politician Andrew Trentham embarks on a personal quest for answers. But the more he learns about his Scottish ancestry, the more questions he has.
Setting: Scotland
Time Period: Saga / Ancient up to Modern Day
If Beverly Lewis is the queen of Amish Fiction and Bodie Thoene has the market on Jewish History, then Michael Phillips is the man when it comes to Scotland. From the Stonewycke Trilogy to the Secrets of the Shetlands Series and many more, Phillips paints Scottish history on the pages of his novels with unforgettable characters and beautiful glens in the enchanting land of Great Britain’s northern shores. Unlike his other works, “Legend Of The Celtic Stone” gives a half fictional, half factual saga of Scotland’s history in the first book of the Caledonia Series.
When you open this book, the first thing you’ll learn is that this isn’t just one story, or even two. Phillips anchors the novel with a male lead who works as an MP in the House of Commons in London, a female reporter from America trying to work her way up in the BBC network and a thrilling mystery around the “Stone of Scone;” which at the fictional telling, was temporarily at a Westminster in London for viewing. This is the main story the novel always comes back to, but in between, the author takes the reader on an ancestral journey of Scotland’s past. This past includes some of the area’s first settlers, major wars and of course, a love story or two. With each segment, we get to imagine how Scotland’s first clans lived and what their beliefs were.
What I really liked about this book was the variety and detail that went into the work. Some of Phillips works can be looked at as written in a more “classic” style, and I’d place “Legend Of The Celtic Stone” in that category for sure. There’s a lot to be digested in this volume! Yet, every story within it took on a life of its own. I could see in my minds eye the ancient warriors as they ran of the Roman’s, raised up stone monuments and sadly, even fought each other. Also, the descriptions of the countryside are delightful! If you’re looking for an immersive journey through the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, this is it!
Conclusion: So, now that you know I highly recommend “Legend Of The Celtic Stone,” here’s a few other things you might want to know about this book… It does have a sequel, called “An Ancient Strife.” (I haven’t read that one yet.) This is also a long book, with 500+ pages. I have the Kindle edition and when I first opened it, the reading speed said 14 hours. I wasn’t quite prepared for that! But I will say this, once I got into the story, it didn’t really feel like a long book. If you’re really interested, don’t let the thickness of the volume scare you, but you should be prepared for a lot of history, as well as, a good plot in the modern day portion of the novel. This was my “Scottish” choice for the “Around The World In 80 Books” reading challenge – I wasn’t disappointed!