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Riverhead Books

Stone Yard Devotional: A Novel

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BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLIST A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A WASHINGTON POST TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A LOS ANGELES TIMES TOP FIFTEEN BOOK OF THE YEAR “Stone Yard Devotional is as extraordinary as you’ve heard.” —The Washington Post “An exquisite, wrenching novel of leaving your life behind.” —New York Times Book Review "Meditative (but by no means uneventful)." —New York Times "Riveting prose about how humans beat back despair."—Los Angeles Times Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, a novel about forgiveness, grief, and what it means to be good, from the award-winning author of The Weekend and The Natural Way of Things. Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident. But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signaling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past. Meditative, moving, and finely observed, Stone Yard Devotional is a seminal novel from a writer of rare power, exploring what it means to retreat from the world, the true nature of forgiveness, and the sustained effect of grief on the human soul. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books


Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 11, 2025


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 52


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.15 x 1.09 x 9.26 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #32,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #43 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books) #80 in Women's Friendship Fiction #220 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#43 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books):


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Beautiful Book and a Worthy Successor to Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede
Format: Kindle
What an excellent way to start the new year--with a book as engrossing and thought-provoking (or maybe I should say feelings-provoking) as Stone Yard Devotional. I am a lifelong atheist myself, a product of 12 years of Catholic schools, and someone with a fascination with the idea of choosing to live apart for whatever the reason. This book's description grabbed me, given that one of my favorite books is Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede, which deals with many of the same subjects. I think it is a worthy successor to that fine book. A woman who is an atheist decides at an age when she is much too old to be a traditional postulant to "join" a Catholic order of nuns. It's never clear, really, if she becomes a nun or is just somehow living there. But it doesn't matter. Her reflections on the life and its meaning are just as valid. We don't really learn precisely why she joined, and she seems unsure herself, but she does share thoughts and feelings about life, death and forgiveness that apply to people no matter how they choose to live. Earthly corruption grows everywhere and finds its way into the abbey, testing its residents. Each person understands and deals with events in their own way. But no one escapes it and no one can truly escape the fears and demons from their own past. Living a monastic life is sometimes described as leaving your life behind, but that's not really right. No one can do that. This book is a meditation on the idea that uour past and your grief for what you've lost are always with you. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2026 by Lydia Fazio Theys
    • Read it slowly.
Format: Hardcover
Necessary to get into the groove of what Charlotte Wood is saying. Can't rush through this book. I tried listening to it on Audible while reading the text and while that worked somewhat I never got submerged in the book like I think it needs.
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2025 by C. Cage
    • Meandered
Format: Kindle
Lacked focus and tension. I kept hoping that the writer would come to some realization that life was worth fighting for.
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2026 by Christopher Ames
    • A Great Novel
Format: Hardcover
I really liked this novel. The writing was smooth and lovely; the plot surprisingly engrossing; the narrative thought-provoking. Excellent book.
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2026 by Brent Sargent
    • A thoughtful, fictitious journal – but is it a novel?
Format: Kindle
“We prayed about this. Or at least they did, and I thought closely…” (p75) This is the (fictitious) journal of a wounded soul who seeks renewal in a small, isolated community of Catholic nuns. The protagonist, while introspective, isn’t the least bit religious. The journal is quite interesting – pithy, sharp, thoughtful, and sometimes deep. Without saying so explicitly, the writer invites the reader to ponder the life the writer has chosen. How does monastic life differ from the “real world”? How is it the same? Does the experience lead to renewal? Or does it simply reveal who we already are? And what happens when one’s former life intersects (collides with!) the monastic experience? Curiously, the protagonist is largely silent about a significant chapter in her life; I suspect this inexplicable, gaping hole is its own commentary on these questions. But is this a novel? In my view, not so much. While there are certainly themes, metaphors, and a few story lines that unite the text, this is largely what you’d expect from a journal: a loosely connected collection of short, informal reflections, asides, anecdotes, and non sequiturs. If that’s what the author was shooting for, fair enough. And if this were the diary of a deceased loved one, it would likely be emotionally moving, perhaps even life changing. But figuratively flipping through a fictitious family album is interesting only for a while, and it isn’t particularly satisfying. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2025 by DJ
    • Thoughtful, beautifully told, and a little sickening.
Format: Paperback
This is such an interesting book, and I love how it was told. Aside from the mice (important to the story and the plot but sickening) it was a fascinating look at religious life, life in a community of women, what fuels activism and what stalls it.
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2026 by Pasiphae
    • Brilliant beautifully written novel
Format: Kindle
Charlotte Wood is an exceptional writer. "Stone Yard Devotional" is filled with stories galore that reveal significant characteristics of the protagonist and other characters. The novelist gives her readers important details about a complex fictional universe of complex people and places, events and memories, and their social worlds. Wood has created a fictional world informed both by history and current events. Her descriptions of the lives of believers and skeptics are spot on. Her exquisite descriptions of end-of-life and other extremely difficult events, both local and international, add depth and meaning to the plot. The locations, including churches, hospitals, farm houses, fields, and animal shed, are vividly and imaginatively described. I am recommending this book to several friends and my book club. I also intend to read it again and order Wood's other novels. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2026 by Brooklyn reader
    • don’t get it
Format: Kindle
I found it laboring, depressing and to be honest, could not finish it. I’m not sure what I was expecting but this wasn’t it.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2025 by Donna J. Murphy

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