Stone Lands
A Telegraph and Waterstones Best Book of 2025
Published on 19. June 2025
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-4721-4918-3 (ISBN)
Description
One of the Telegraph's 'Greatest Books of 2025'
'Superb' Telegraph
'There's a real sense of peace and magic in this beautiful book' Daisy Buchanan
'Utterly endearing' Dr James Canton
'A fantastic book for weird walkers and megalith-obsessives alike' Weird Walk
'I was alternately gripped and moved to tears by this brilliant, exquisite memoir. . . I can't recommend it enough' Harriet Evans
Journeying across Britain, from West Penwith and Avebury to the Lake District and Orkney, Stone Lands uncovers the magic and rich history of our incredible prehistoric standing stones. It conveys the delight that lies in tracking them down, as well as the solace these ancient places offer in times of darkness.
A few months after discovering that her beloved husband, Stephen, had incurable cancer, Fiona Robertson began to write this book. A long-time megalith enthusiast, she found the ancient stones resonated with her more profoundly than ever as she faced the prospect of losing him. Set upright thousands of years ago, the megaliths are symbols of endurance and survival, standing in contrast to our ephemeral human lives. Infused with folklore, legend and mystery, they enchant the landscape and bring magic to our modern world.
This enthralling memoir is woven delicately around great grief but is ultimately about embracing life, joy and ancient wonder - a luminous reminder of what it means to exist on this earth.
Stone Lands is beautifully illustrated inside with stunning black and white line drawings by the illustrator and printmaker Philip Harris. Find out more about his work: www.philipharrisillustration.com
'A reminder that the ancient stones can be sources of reassurance and solidity, even in our times of greatest upheaval and loss' Angeline Morrison
'A very, very good read ... this is one to treasure' Blackwell's
Stone Lands is 'assiduously researched, full of anecdotes and makes you look anew at these enduring landmarks' Country Life
'Superb' Telegraph
'There's a real sense of peace and magic in this beautiful book' Daisy Buchanan
'Utterly endearing' Dr James Canton
'A fantastic book for weird walkers and megalith-obsessives alike' Weird Walk
'I was alternately gripped and moved to tears by this brilliant, exquisite memoir. . . I can't recommend it enough' Harriet Evans
Journeying across Britain, from West Penwith and Avebury to the Lake District and Orkney, Stone Lands uncovers the magic and rich history of our incredible prehistoric standing stones. It conveys the delight that lies in tracking them down, as well as the solace these ancient places offer in times of darkness.
A few months after discovering that her beloved husband, Stephen, had incurable cancer, Fiona Robertson began to write this book. A long-time megalith enthusiast, she found the ancient stones resonated with her more profoundly than ever as she faced the prospect of losing him. Set upright thousands of years ago, the megaliths are symbols of endurance and survival, standing in contrast to our ephemeral human lives. Infused with folklore, legend and mystery, they enchant the landscape and bring magic to our modern world.
This enthralling memoir is woven delicately around great grief but is ultimately about embracing life, joy and ancient wonder - a luminous reminder of what it means to exist on this earth.
Stone Lands is beautifully illustrated inside with stunning black and white line drawings by the illustrator and printmaker Philip Harris. Find out more about his work: www.philipharrisillustration.com
'A reminder that the ancient stones can be sources of reassurance and solidity, even in our times of greatest upheaval and loss' Angeline Morrison
'A very, very good read ... this is one to treasure' Blackwell's
Stone Lands is 'assiduously researched, full of anecdotes and makes you look anew at these enduring landmarks' Country Life
Reviews / Votes
'There's a real sense of peace and magic in this beautiful book - it's filled with stories and ideas about loss and reconnection through our ancient landscapes that will help us all to heal.' * Daisy Buchanan * 'An extremely relatable memoir, densely packed with the author's first-hand experiences as a committed "stone hunter". As well as an inspiring tour of the megalithic landscapes of these isles, Stone Lands is a human journey into grief, hope and love. It's a fantastic book for weird walkers and megalith-obsessives alike.' * Weird Walk * 'A wonderful story of grief, self-discovery, hope and reconnection to our ancient past and landscapes, in which Fiona Robertson takes us on her own deeply personal journey and by doing so, shows us the power of looking back in order to move forward.' * Ben Edge * 'Written with great craft, sensitivity and authority, Fiona Robertson offers a wonderfully evocative, and at times deeply personal and poignant, account of the ancient sites and landscapes of Britain. There is a resonance here to artists and writers such as Nash, Ravilious and Blake, and that tradition of deeply embedded landscape romanticism and sense of place that runs through our engagement with traces of a prehistoric past.' * Prof. Josh Pollard * 'An utterly endearing account of seeking the ancient wonders of the prehistoric stone sites of Britain, told against the backdrop of such poignant personal heartache. Stone Lands brims with the intrigue and delight of the modern antiquarian who journeys to the sacred spaces of these isles to connect with the ways of our ancestors.' * Dr James Canton * 'A wonderful and moving book: part personal memoir and part tribute to the megaliths in our midst which - in strange and subtle ways - still have so much wisdom to impart.' * Oliver Smith * 'Rich with folklore and beautifully illustrated, this is a moving tribute to love, loss and the timeless solace found in stone' * Telegraph * 'Fiona weaves folklore, legend, and mystery into these wonderful structures and places and illustrates how they continue to hold our imagination today' -- Neil Redfern * British Archaeology *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
Approx. 25 b/w line drawings plus maps.
Dimensions
Height: 238 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
610 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4721-4918-3 (9781472149183)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2025
Robinson
€3.99
Available for download
Person
Fiona Robertson is a writer, editor and committed megalith enthusiast who drags her family all over the country in search of standing stones. She is passionate about archaeology, history and folklore, and in a former life as a publishing industry professional enjoyed building a list exploring these topics. Her cool megalith-focused commissions include The Old Stones by The Megalithic Portal, which won the Current Archaeology Book of the Year award. Follow her stones adventures on Instagram: @stone_lands