"In me the past lives" is the mantra of the distinguished, 350-year-old John Stone in British author Linda Buckley-Archer's (the Gideon Trilogy) expansive novel The Many Lives of John Stone.
Seventeen-year-old Stella Park, or Spark, of modern-day Mansfield, England, is initially excited when John Stone offers her a summer job organizing his archives at the secluded Stowney House in Suffolk. Her enthusiasm quickly wears thin. Housekeeper Martha loves having the bright, curious Spark around, but she and Jacob, the cantankerous gardener, are clearly not used to outsiders. In a parallel narrative, a series of notebooks chronicle the coming-of-age of a 15-year-old named Jean-Pierre in Versailles in the 1680s. In the legendary court of the Sun King, Jean-Pierre is shocked to discover his true heritage: he is descended from a line known as sempervivens, people who age "exceptionally slowly," outliving their peers by centuries. Back at Stowney House, Spark becomes increasingly perplexed by the mysterious John Stone, but John fears that revealing his longevity, mankind's holy grail, may have devastating consequences. The question is, can he be himself if no one else truly knows him?
Buckley-Archer's novel of the quest for personal identity shifts seamlessly between vividly descriptive settings--the remote, ethereal quiet of Stowney House and the dazzling opulence of the 17th-century French courts. Richly developed characters--especially Spark and John Stone--ingeniously paralleled dilemmas and an elegantly formal style lend the novel a timeless quality. Passion, intrigue and uncertain loyalties span the centuries in this slow-burning pageturner that's breathtaking in scope and thought-provoking to the end. --Kyla Paterno, reviewer