The Stone Boy

This is a wonderful mystery/drama/psychological thriller, translated from the French. It's not my usual type of novel, but I became totally engrossed and couldn't put it down. It's intriguing, amusing, surprising, and sometimes troubling.

The Stone Boy is really the story of Elsa Preau, and elderly lady who returns to her house after several years in a "convalescent" home. In the years she has been gone the neighborhood has changed, and houses have been built just across the street from hers, allowing her to see from her window into the neighbor's garden. There she sees what appears to be a neglected, even abused child, who she comes to call the Stone Boy because he's always playing with the rocks in the garden. But no one else has ever seen the Stone Boy - is he even real?

Through a series of flashbacks, conversations, journal entries, and letters, we learn that Madame Preau has a history of a somewhat tenuous grasp on reality, and has enjoyed (or suffered from) relations with spirits in the past. Is the boy just another of these? Or is he a real child suffering from horrible abuse? The way the case builds in one direction - well, I won't ruin it, but I have to say I was taken by surprise again and again in this novel.

The author, Sophie Loubiere, and the translator, Nora Mahoney, really explore the idea of reliable vs. unreliable characters, and sort of leak information to drag you deeper and deeper into the story. I highly recommend it.

The Stone Boy