The Stone Book Quartet

The Stone Book Quartet is a collection of stories by Alan Garner about his family spanning over a century, which was awarded the Phoenix Award in 1996. These are:

• The Stone Book
• Tom Fobble's Day
• Granny Reardun
• The Aimer Gate

While seemingly in modern English, the language of the book is poetic and draws on the patterns and rhythms of local Cheshire dialect. Garner's great grandfather was a stonemason, and The Stone Book describes his initiating his daughter into the secrets of his craft high on the steeple of a church he is helping to build. When she asks for a book, he shows her an older writing - his own stonemason's emblem carved in rock deep within Alderley Edge and dating back countless centuries. The book is the land.