The Stone Book is rich with detail of the stonemason's craft and with the eloquent dialect of its Cheshire setting. But, unlike the stone which is its theme, this is a bleak, austere story; one may admire the precise style and even the self-conscious parade of unfamiliar vocabulary, but one remains unmoved by the characters and their preoccupations.

Lance Salway, "Little Boy Found," in The Times Literary Supplement (© Times Newspapers Ltd. (London) 1976; reproduced from The Times Literary Supplement by permission), No. 3890, October 1, 1976, p. 1241.