Stonehenge, A Novel of 2000 BC, Bernard Cornwell

Publishers: HarperCollins

Pages: 558 (Paperback 1999)

Main Characters:

Saban, Camaban

Stonehenge, A Novel of 2000 BC is the pre-historic novel written by my favourite author Bernard Cornwell. The novel (as suggested in the title) is set around 2000 years before Christ. It tells the tale of a small pre-historic hunter gather village and the lives of three brothers there, Lengar, Saban and Camaban. The novel follows the brothers through their lives and their sibling rivalries after a strange occurrence happens in the village. This is when a stranger comes to the village with a horde of gold, after the brutal murder of the stranger the gold is seen as a sign from the Gods and their favour on the tribe. To please and honour the Gods the tribe decides to build a temple that will outlast and outshine any of the wooden temples in the area, if only they knew how long it would outlast them…

Another good read from Cornwell. I do prefer the novels he has written in the medieval period than ones set as early as this one, however Cornwell gives a very good account of how he thinks Stonehenge could have been built. You have to applaud Cornwell in his story telling. With a small amount to no evidence of how Stonehenge was built, it is possible to think that a novel about the building could be over exaggerated or maybe even quite dull. However Cornwell gives a fair account on the tools and techniques that were likely available at the time, making the story so much more realistic. Along with the great plot to the story, Stonehenge kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through as it was filled with action, romance and detail.

This was a good book, I would suggest it to anyone who is a fan of Bernard Cornwell or to anyone who enjoys a good historical novel.  

For author's offical website click here