Joshua's mother, Miriam, was forced into taking over decision making for the family after her husband, Abraham, was hurt in an accident?. This was totally out of character for a woman who was Plain.

Joshua endured his father's abuse just because that was the right thing to do when you were Plain. He completely feared his father, but had no recourse but to run away to avoid more abuse since he knew his father would blame him for the accident.

Joshua ran away to California and had to deal with and live with the English. Joshua found some good English as well as bad.

Miriam had to deal with and live with the reality that her son was gone even though she knew he was not dead, but out there somewhere even though everyone said he couldn't have survived the accident that had maimed his father.

In my opinion, Joshua endured more hardships than he had at home and more than Miriam endured even though losing a child is the worst thing in the world.

We follow Joshua as he finds work and families to live with. He was a sweet character, but felt guilty about not letting his mother know he was alive. He couldn't let her know for fear of having to face his father's wrath because he would send someone to find him?. Miriam was a dedicated wife and mother even though she lived with the hope her son was alive, but presumed dead. Abraham was a character that I did not like at all.

STONES IN THE ROAD takes us into homes and the way of living in the 1800's whether it was a Plain home or an English home. The book dragged a bit, but it was very interesting to see the different, difficult life style of both homes in the 1800's.

STONES IN THE ROAD was about family, about hardships, about survival, about choices, and about God's influence in your life.

I enjoyed the book for the historical aspect. Ms. Moore's writing style was beautiful along with wonderful description.

I would recommend STONES IN THE ROAD to those folks who want to know more about the customs of Plain people as well as see first-hand the hardships they had every day as well as the hardships of traveling across the country in a wagon train. 4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.

I found this book to be boring, unrealistic and poorly written. Without giving away the bad ending, there is no way you can convince me that a mother who has pined for her child more than ten years would not recognize him when he comes home, and yet a child who never met him knows almost immediately that this stranger is his brother.....really??? This was just one of the examples of how unconvincing the book is...from start to finish.