Review
I enjoy an author that can use description to carry me away and place me in locations that I can enjoy within my mind's eye. Christa Polkinhorn does just that in Love of a Stonemason. From Switzerland to Italy to Peru, I enjoyed vistas I will never see; felt breezes across lakes and through valleys I will never personally feel; was surrounded by local scents from exotic dishes and fields of flowers that I will never smell. Karla is an artist and I understood her challenges when approaching a blank canvas. Once upon a time I painted and Christa tweaked my mind with the scent of turpentine and the feel of paint on the brush as it made magic on the easel.
But more than a romance between creative minds, this story digs deep into the early trauma of each and follows their struggle in resolving their individual demons. This would be the perfect book to tuck in your suitcase or add to your kindle for that "myself" time this summer. Pick your own special spot - perhaps in the shade of a maple tree beside a secluded cove at the lake. Ah, sounds of waves lapping gently on the shore, glass of wine and Love of a Stonemason.
- Elizabeth E Wilder, Author of The Spruce Gum Box
This book is lovely and full of grace. Set mostly in Switzerland, with detours to Italy and Peru, Love of a Stonemason is about the relationship between Karla, a painter, and Andreas, a stonemason.
Christa Polkinhorn is insightful about the nuances of this relationship and gives you a sense of how it deepens. Unlike some fictional couples, Karla and Andreas conduct their relationship in an ongoing crowd of family and friends. Karla and Andreas are people you root for. I found myself thinking I would like to spend an evening with them, drinking wine and talking. They are good. Not perfect or saintly or always right, but good at heart. They are acquainted with pain and loss, and scars from separate childhood tragedies. The darkness in their lives makes the happy ending all the more luminous. There is nothing sentimental about it. It feels real and honestly earned. Do you want to see love triumph? Read this book and be grateful you found it.
- Lindsay Edmunds, Author of Cel & Anna
This second Family Portrait book is about the relationship between the artist, Karla, and Andreas. Very enjoyable for its detailed scenic descriptions and the complexity of relationships, it is also a powerful telling of the triumphs and failures of love. I highly recommend it!
- Larry Enright, award-winning author of The Jennifer Project, Four Years from Home, A Cape May Diamond
Beautifully written, thoroughly engaging book of love, life and the art world. The first thing that went through my mind when I finished this book on Friday night was simply "Wow". I felt like I had been told a full story and while I wanted more of Karla and Andreas at the end, the story really was complete. I don't know when was the last time I truly felt that when I finished a book. Ms. Polkinhorn did a magnificent job crafting this story and getting it on the page. The characters, scenery and happenings in the book really came alive for me and I felt like I was watching and feeling Karla and Andreas through the full book.
- Crystal Fulcher, Host of My Reading Room
Reading Christa Polkinhorn's Love of a Stonemason is an inner visual experience. Not only will you "see" locales in Switzerland, Peru, and Italy, but also, because her main characters are artists, you'll feel you've toured a gallery of paintings and sculpture. The author weaves the threads of her story into a beautiful tapestry. This debut novel is a worthwhile read and almost doubles as a vacation escape. Well done.
- Linda Cassidy Lewis, Author of The Bay of Dreams series and A High Tea & Flip-Flops series
From the Author
As a reader, I always enjoy finding out about "the story behind the story" of a work of literature. So, I decided to share some background about my novel Love of a Stonemason.
The initial trigger was an intense personal experience. At the end of 2005, I lost my mother and found myself to be the sole survivor of our immediate family in Switzerland, my only sister and my father having died earlier. Death and its impact--the pain of loss and loneliness--play an important in the life of the main character in the novel.
During that time, I spent several months in Switzerland, cleaning out our family home, getting it ready to be renovated. I came across my father's early paintings--he was an artist as a young man. I talked to a stonemason and sculptor about the tombstone on my parent's grave. That gave me the idea for my main characters and their professions. I spent time with my relatives in the Ticino, the Italian canton of Switzerland, so the Vallemaggia became the central location. My trips to Peru and Italy also found their way into the novel.
The final product was a completely fictional story. While writing Love of a Stonemason, I was rarely conscious of any one particular person, incidence or experience which influenced me. Some of it came to me much later. I had many "aha"-moments half-way into the novel or even after it was finished. One of the most fascinating aspects of the creative process is the way consciousness and the unconscious work together to produce something unique and new.
About the Author
"Born and raised in Switzerland, I have always had the desire to explore the world outside of my beautiful but tiny country. I traveled in Europe, China, Japan as well as South America. Now, I live and work as writer and translator in southern California. My interest in foreign cultures informs my work and my novels take place in several countries. I published a volume of poetry (The Path of Fire). Now, I write and publish contemporary fiction with a focus on family drama/love stories(The Family Portrait trilogy)and family drama/suspense (The Wine Lover's Daughter series). Aside from writing and traveling, I am an avid reader and a lover of the arts,dark chocolate, and red wine."
