Stone Work
Reflections on Serious Play & Other Aspects of Country Life

In Stone Work, critically-acclaimed author John Jerome describes the back-breaking but soul-strengthening task of building a stone wall on his New England farm. Equipped only with gloves, elemental tools, and the sense to get out of the way of rolling boulders, Jerome tries to reconstruct a wall in a year. The job begins on a whim-he decides to move a stone wall hidden in the woods on his property for the sheer pleasure of seeing it from his house. While wrangling, lugging, rolling, and carting an entity that responds only to gravity and leverage, Jerome grasps the gifts of the seasons and the complexities of being a middle-aged male. Philosophical, yet almost giddy with the excitement of doing something extraordinary, Stone Work is a delight. Narrator Ed Sala's gifted storytelling enhances Jerome's graceful prose, and lends vibrant voice to the gentle humor and self-effacing ruminations of a man of letters confronted with lugging tons of rock.