Stonecutter

This story is told in the form of a journal. A young man who is an apprenticed stonecutter is hired to carve a statue of John Goode's daughter so that he has a statue of the dead mother. John Goode makes increasing demands and the stonecutter feels caught between what he feels is right and his boss. Interesting story.

The Stonecutter tells of Albion Straight, an apprentice stonecutter in rural New York in 1835. He lives with his master, treated like another son in the family. Those were strange times of signs in the sky, revivals, and cults. When strangers appear in town it seems they are some kind of menacing, religious folk. Another stranger offers Albion a job at ten times the going rate and he goes with his master's approval. He goes beyond the edge of civilization to a strange house ruled by a man with an iron fist. There Albion is expected to use his gift at stonecutting to make a masterpiece for the lord of the house, but is he a guest artisan or is he a prisoner? The story is skillfully told in diary format and captures a sense of dread and tension that builds to the climactic conclusion. Karen Woodworth-Roman