Stone of Help

by Robin Hardy

Book Overview

The Chataine's guardian, Roman, sees his dreams fulfilled beyond his wildest hopes when the armies invading Lystra are felled by disease and Roman's Commander, Galapos, assumes rulership of the country. Moreover, Roman is reunited with his bride, Chataine Deirdre, who is pregnant with their first child. But while Galapos is consumed with the task of rebuilding war-torn Lystra, Deirdre allows herself to be lured away from Roman's protection. Immediately...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0849904765
• ISBN13: 9780849904769
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: W Pub Group
• Length: 209 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.

Customer Reviews

What is it?

What is it that makes a Christian a Christian? Is it only the profession of Faith in Christ? In this book we see the amazing changes God can make in one when we choose to lay down our lives to Him. I've read and Re-read Robin's books and this has become my favorite because it's amazing tos ee not only how God protects us in trials but how He molds us through them and uses them for amazing good! This book is amazing.

Stone of Help

As usual, Robin Hardy presents the reader with incredible odds. As you read, you'll find yourself on a tummultuous journey, in vivid peaks and valleys. You'll wonder what's going to happen, and why. You'll come up with a conclusion in your mind, only to be sideswiped with what really happens. With heartfelt, "kodak moments" and painful times of asking"WHY? WHY? WHY?", the reader will be immersed in a whirlwind of emotion. As with all Hardy books, the first book is recommended for you to read first. This will make a great bridge from "The Chataine's Guardian" to "The Liberation of Lystra."

It's a classic

Within a trilogy, the middle child has the most to prove: it can neither possess the honor of introducing the reader to the characters and setting; nor can it bring the series to its satisfactory close. It must be the bridge, the keystone, the backdrop against which a story is fully resolved. Authors have two ways of dealing with this: either the second book is merely a continuation of the first and background for the third, or, the stories are nearly unrelated so that each stands on its own, but the sum total is not greater than the parts. In this case, Stone of Help is the most intricately ornamented keystone this erudite reader has seen yet. Ms. Hardy takes the best of both worlds: she enriches the characterizations as she builds an airtight plot that is satisfactory in and of itself; and all the while she weaves this story with its successor, Liberation of Lystra, and to some extent, the Latter Annals of Lystra. The basic plot is simple enough: the heroine, Chataine (Princess) Deirdre of Lystra, is abducted shortly after delivering her first child. She eventually finds herself in the most difficult of circumstances imaginable-a slave in a rival, base country. But Deirdre is not without a growing host of unexpected allies, and she learns meekness (in the older sense of the word: a teachable spirit) to temper the royal fire in her blood. In the meantime, the reader is introduced to or reacquainted with the rest of the fine players in this drama. What is revealing about Ms. Hardy's gift is the parallel from this fantasy world to real life: the plot is natural, uncontrived, and yet, the characters are complex and alive, and both culminate in the most satisfactory of outcomes. Through the story of Stone of Help individually, and the Annals and Latter Annals of Lystra collectively, is communicated that mythical must for timeless tales: the nature of man-for both good and evil-and the unexpected, all-overcoming nature of the Divine. -The Medieval Chick

Stone Of Help by Robin Hardy

Stone Of Help opens with the rejoicing in the aftermath of Lystra's deliverance from invading forces. Deirdre, imprisoned by a treacherous uncle, has been reunited with her soldier husband, Roman, and her father, Galapos-now ruler of Lystra. Deirdre, Galapos, and the entire Lystran army have sworn allegiance to Roman's God, who saved them from the enemy, and Deirdre is joyfully awaiting the birth of her first chilld. But there are problems in war-ravaged Lystra. Renegade soldiers and slave traders prey on the citizenry, and there is no money in the treasury to pay for protection. Although Galapos's new laws have given them unprecedented rights, the villagers constantly bicker and complain. And the unrest in the kingdom is matched by a disquiet in Deirdre's heart-a spirit of ingratitude that soons turns to pride and peevishness toward her loving but preoccupied husband and father. Then the real trouble starts. Lured away from Roman through her own wilfullness, Deirdre is forced to give birth in a hillside cave, then kidnapped by renegades. Soon she finds herself bound in a rough cart, jolting over rutted roads toward slavery in the palace of Sheva, the proud and cruel monarch of George. Why doesn't God intervene? He will, in a way so heartrending and astonishing Deirdre could never convieve of it. But first she has some growing up to do-with the help of a filthy baby, a hungry field hand, and a feeble old slave named Josef. What she learns, and what happens to her family while she is learning it, form the heart of this grippin tale