“Mary wanted to learn to read and asked her stonemason father for a book. In reply, he sent her into a cavern deep under the hills where the stone was quarried.”
“Robert is making his mark as a builder involved in the construction of churches and buildings made from local stone. Mary wants a book, even though she can’t read.”
“Joseph takes Mary on an underground journey following a path where she reads the geology as she finds her way to a spot where her father carved his stonemason’s mark. ”
″ And senses her ancestors all around her as many others have followed this path; the footprints are there for her to see. The eldest child, usually a boy, is taken on this journey.”
“She could see the marks left by breaking waves in the rock above her head and, on the wall, the figure of a bull, a stonemason’s mark, and the outline of a hand that exactly matched her own. ”
“Looking down, she saw a myriad of footprints made by earlier generations of her family and, in a timeless moment, felt herself surrounded by a throng of people. ”
“Father’s face was bright, and his beard danced. He took off his cap and swept it in a circle and gave the cry of the summer fields... Mary laughed. The wind blew on the spire and made the weathercock seem alive.”