A meaning for Stonehenge

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 20

A meaning for Stonehenge

Pillar of the Sky. By Cecelia Holland. Goliancz, 1935. 468 pp. $34.95. Stonehenge has been a puzzle to mankind for centuries. Who built that amazing circle of stones in the English countryside? How did they do it? And why? No-one really knows the background to Stonehenge. In “Pillar of the Sky," Cecelia Holland offers some possible answers. These are thought-provoking, to say the least. Even if this is a fantasy novel, it benefits from the depth of meaning more usual in a historical story. And it provides an explanation for the existence of the ancient monument which is probably as accurate as anybody will ever get. Since publishing her first novel, “Firedrake,” in 1966, Cecelia Holland has earned an enviable reputation as a historical novelist. She has been attributed with an uncanny skill for

recreating the past, sometimes from a minimum of information, and this is very evident in "Pillar of the Sky.” This time, she has created a whole lost world, and given it superb realism. Essentially, this is the story of a young man who rises from humble beginnings to establish himself as leader of the scattered villages. He conceives a great vision, the building of the Pillar of the Sky, a gateway between his world and that of the ancestors. Take away Stonehenge and the basic plot of the story is left with a familiar ring to it. Much is made of the failings of human nature. Cecelia Holland, however, has a gift for filling in fine detail and this puts her novel well above average in quality. This is an absorbing tale of an imaginary if totally believable past, intricate in its construction and well worth reading.— Rod Dew.