Title: Harvesters of Stone
Authors: George Dick and Talia Hodgson
Publisher: iUniverse
ASIN: B07Q36NZLW
Pages: 208
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed By: Dan MacIntosh
Hollywood Book Reviews
On the surface, George Dick and Talia Hodgson’s novel Harvesters Stone is about the search for potentially hidden treasure. However, in the end, ‘treasure’ becomes more about the people in our lives, the ones whom we treasure most. It’s not until characters in this book – both the modern ones, and the ones alive during the American Revolution – realize that that materiel possessions are not worth dying for, do they truly begin to live well.
The story begins in Charleston, South Carolina in – not ironically – 1976, about 200 years after the British and the colonies fought on that very territory over American freedom. These modern characters, in many cases, had distant relatives involved in that revolutionary conflict. The material treasure written about in this story is connected to a Scotsman, who transported some of his expensive treasures to this new land to help famous future Americans, including Benjamin Franklin, fight the British. The story’s modern characters believe much of that treasure has remained hidden, hundreds of years after the war.
The story’s main modern characters are William Dick, a sort of curious wanderer, Jack Falstaff, the book’s primary villain and Fripp, an innocent black man with the deepest roots in the region. Yes, these characters conspire together to look for treasure, and even find some of it. However, where there is a lot of wealth, there is oftentimes jealousy, envy and ultimately crime. Much like the sorts of pirates that once inhabited this part of the country, some of these characters – namely Fallstaff – end up behaving just like criminals. Heck, there is even a spy ring involved. There’s lots of death along the way, even murder, so it’s one action-packed book.
Authors Dick and Hodgson do a fine job of alternating between olden times and modern times. This book really makes the readers imagine what it must have been like during this revolutionary period. In other words, they put skin and bones on history, making it come alive. We tend to look at American History as dusty old stories about characters with weird, white hair and unusual military uniforms. This book presents these characters as real people, with sincere passions.
The modern characters are just as earthy. There is love and romance, heartbreak, betrayal and even some natural disaster along the way. Some of this book’s best plot developments involve how these characters are related to each other. At the book’s beginning, for example, Bill’s breakup with Erica is described as little more than the ending of a youthful romance. Later in the book, though, we learn there is so much more to this breakup than originally meets the eye. Another admirable feature of this storyline is how it incorporates multiple generations. In some cases, characters are good people, much like their ancestors, and in one case, one modern character ends up being as good as his father was bad.
Maybe this book’s biggest and most important message, is that treasure is only truly a treasure when we bless someone else with some of our possessions. In other words, it’s not about what we have, but ultimately about what we give away. Reading this book, you may never again think about treasure hunting the same way again.