{"id":41971,"date":"2025-10-06T08:58:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T14:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=41971"},"modified":"2025-10-06T09:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:00:35","slug":"the-soul-stone-by-brad-collis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=41971","title":{"rendered":"The Soul Stone by Brad Collis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A quietly haunting novel of faith, power, and moral reckoning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Collis’s compelling novel, a young priest confronts the limits of faith in the harsh heart of Australia. 1960, Australia. Simon Bradbury\u2019s childhood unfolds between the cold discipline of his Catholic education and the dry, desperate rhythms of his family\u2019s farm. Sandwiched between the two, Simon seeks salvation in the Church. Decades later, sent to an Aboriginal mission in the desert, he discovers faith\u2019s darker side: where obedience masks cruelty and silence becomes sin. Beneath the relentless sun, Simon must face the truth about his Church, and the man he has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collis renders Simon\u2019s early world of incense, hymns, and fear with unsentimental clarity. Brother Wheatley\u2019s strap and Father MacNamara\u2019s charisma define two faces of the Church\u2019s authority: cruelty and charm. Beyond those walls lies a failing farm, a father worn down by the land, and a mother bound by endurance. Simon\u2019s turn to the priesthood carries less the echo of faith than the hush of despair. At Gunwinddu, Collis delves into how faith, bent by colonial power, becomes corruption. Through Simon\u2019s gradual disillusionment, Collis captures the erosion of certainty with the precision of lived experience. His prose is taut and lyrical and the pacing leisurely. By the novel\u2019s end, Simon\u2019s struggle is no longer with belief but with conscience itself. Collis resists redemption. Instead, he offers a hard-won clarity. Readers looking for a literary, character-driven story that explores faith, conscience, and the moral cost of obedience will want to take a look. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poignant, searching, and humane; a novel that confronts what remains when faith reaches its breaking point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Buy now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pub date May 17, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISBN 979-8324779078<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price $20.00 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quietly haunting novel of faith, power, and moral reckoning. In Collis’s compelling novel, a young priest confronts the limits of faith in the harsh heart of Australia. 1960, Australia. Simon Bradbury\u2019s childhood unfolds between the cold discipline of his Catholic education and the dry, desperate rhythms of his family\u2019s farm. Sandwiched between the two, Simon seeks salvation in the Church. Decades later, sent to an Aboriginal mission in the desert, he discovers faith\u2019s darker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":41974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[38100332,24777292,7223,91,3328,178,723771082,1747,1136176,91586,723771167,723771168,1473,1008073,856121,309,723771220,349],"class_list":["post-41971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amreading","tag-amwriting","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-brad-collis","tag-fiction","tag-indie-books","tag-literary-fiction","tag-read","tag-reader","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-review-website","tag-reviews","tag-the-soul-stone","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-aUX","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/soul.jpg?fit=286%2C425&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41971"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41977,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41971\/revisions\/41977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}