Heartstone. This item is unavailable.Heartstone

Heartstone weaves elements of the Arthurian legend into a contemporary quest tale in which a young woman seeks the truth behind her father's disappearance and the mysterious stone he left her. Maxine Pike teaches English and folklore at a community college on Chicago's north side where she lives with an over-sized dog and vague aspirations. Shortly after learning her archaeologist father is missing and presumed dead, she becomes custodian of the strange-colored stone he left her. Immediately she begins searching for answers: what happened to her father and what is the story behind the stone? Events are set in motion that will test her courage and faith and force her to redefine her own reality. However, there are others who lay claim to the stone. There's the young man who believes he's its rightful guardian, and the wealthy psychologist and aspiring media mogul who has far-reaching plans that hinge on the stone and is willing to use anything and anyone to get his hands on it. Along the way, Max receives some unexpected help from mysterious friends of her father's and, perhaps most unexpected, from her older sister, Olivia. Max's journey will take her from Chicago to London and finally to Alyssum, a remote island off Land's End, and to the reclusive man who owns the island. It is here that she learns the stone's fate and confronts her own destiny.

D. C. Brod lives in St. Charles, Illinois, with her husband, Donald, and a cat, Travis McGee.

Those who love myth and legend--and even those who think they don't--will devour this engaging story, which expertly weaves Arthurian legend into a modern setting. Dashing between Chicago, London, and Alyssum, a small island off England's southwest tip, the novel follows the two daughters, Maxine and Olivia, of archaeologist Ben Pike, who is missing and presumably dead. Ben has left a stunning green stone to Max, a Chicago college professor. Olivia, a broke and aging playgirl, joins Max to search for answers to their father's disappearance--and to protect the beautiful stone. Joined by a British half brother they never knew existed, the sisters attempt to return the stone to its home (the Arthurian connection) and to fight a frightening man named Rhys, in whose hands the stone would be used for evil. Brod wisely waits to introduce supernatural plot elements until even hardcore realists will be well and truly hooked. A nice mix of thriller and fantasy genres. Jenny McLarin
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