The Pope's Stone

A SPECIAL NOTE BEFORE YOU BEGIN: If you choose to read The Pope's Stone, you should know that the story transitions almost chapter-by-chapter between two time periods and two individuals. To help you keep track, each chapter heading includes a reference as to when and where the chapter takes place. If you prefer to read at a faster pace, the entire book is on Kindle for only $.99 at amazon.com
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Two young boys have parallel lives as they grow up. Their family circumstance is similar, as are events that happen to them and the relationships they have, especially with the girl next door. Each young man keeps a journal describing his life on almost a daily basis. But the most intriguing curiosity about the young men is that they lived 100 years apart. Oh, one other thing...they're related and because of that each has possessed the Pope's Stone that is handed down through the male lineage of the Barrington family.

While the story is fiction, there are many places and events that are real. In fact, the entire story is based on the fate of the Pope's Stone, which was very real. It was a slab of engraved marble, a gift to America from Pope Pius IX in 1854. It was, like many others stones donated, to be embedded in the inside walls of the Washington Monument, then under construction. Instead, it was deliberately smashed and the pieces thrown into the Potomac River, none of them ever to be seen again...except one. So begins the fascinating story of the lives of two young Barrington boys, a century apart!