No Stone Unturned
No Stone Unturned is a dual time frame story of a young Traveller girl, Kelly, who becomes intrigued by local mysteries about a disused quarry with the help of her enigmatic new friend, Ben. The stone from their village was used in the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament after its destruction by fire in 1837, with enormous consequences to the local community. As a Traveller, Kelly is an outsider, putting down roots into both location and the past, which throws up interesting cultural issues regarding education, gender roles, exclusion of the Other and bullying.
The relationship that develops between Kelly and Ben is a poignant device for uncovering social history and a local tragedy. The time slip scenes relating to the story of the workers in the quarry or on the railway and the challenges of their domestic lives work well, blending seamlessly into the modern narrative and allowing the plot to unfold elegantly and the characters to develop.
However, the historical strand, which explains the financial pressures that are brought to bear on the community by the architect, Charles Barry, are lacklustre by comparison with the fully-rounded exploration of life in the village. Equally, the opening chapter where Kelly visits the Houses of Parliament is somewhat uninspiring, and it is difficult to see why she is blown away by some municipal paving slabs without the benefit of the rest of the book.
By the end, however, we have fully bought into the tale of the blood, sweat and tears of lives lost a long time ago. The uncovering of domestic heroism and the little tragedies that contributed to the delivery of a remote public building is surprisingly moving. Recommended for boys and girls 10+.
