The Stone Carvers is a 2001 historical and World War I novel by the Canadian writer Jane Urquhart. The novel follows three generations of a Canadian family, starting with a wood carver who befriends an immigrant German priest as he founds a church in an isolated town in 19th century Ontario. The story centres around the lives of the wood carver's two grandchildren as it explores the devastation of World War I, the building of the Vimy Memorial to commemorate the Canadian war dead in France, and the human need to live, love, remember and memorialise. In the mid-19th century, Father Gstir is... sent from Bavaria to Canada to minister to German-Catholic communities. He is drawn to Shoneval, a farming town situated in a valley in Ontario, and is determined to build a stone church with a bell. Joseph Becker, a master woodcarver, helps him. Later, Becker tries to pass on his carving skills to his grandson, Tilman, but the boy is unenthusiastic. Tilman suffers from constant restlessness and is unable to stay in one place, often running away from the settlement for weeks at a time. Aged 12 he leaves for good.
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