Bernard Cornwell · 1999 · overland

Bernard Cornwell's 1999 novel about the building of the temple. Three brothers in a Bronze Age settlement on Salisbury Plain contend for power, and the youngest sets out to raise a temple of stone that will outlast every other - which means bringing the blue stones a hundred and fifty miles from the mountains of west Wales.

1. 1
   Ratharryn

   At Ratharryn on the chalk downs, a stranger dies in the marshes carrying a fortune in gold, and the three sons of the chief fall out over it - and Saban, the youngest, ends by promising a temple greater than any in the land.

2. 2
   Cathallo

   Cathallo to the north is the older and richer shrine, with a sorceress who intends Ratharryn to remain a lesser place - and the rivalry between the two settlements shapes what gets built and who is sacrificed for it.

3. 3
   Sarmennyn

   The stones must come from Sarmennyn in the far west, where the sea meets the mountains - and hauling them a hundred and fifty miles by sledge, raft and river is the labour of years and the spine of the book.