Masterful in its simplicity, Chronicle in Stone is a touching coming-of-age story and a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. Surrounded by the magic of beautiful women and literature, a boy must endure the deprivations of war as he suffers the hardships of growing up. His sleepy country has just thrown off centuries of tyranny, but new waves of domination inundate his city. Through the boy's eyes, we see the terrors of World War II as he witnesses fascist invasions, allied bombings, partisan infighting, and the many faces of human cruelty-as well as the simple pleasures of life. Evacuating to the countryside, he expects to find an ideal world full of extraordinary things, but discovers instead an archaic backwater where a severed arm becomes a talisman and deflowered girls mysteriously vanish. Woven between the chapters of the boy's story are tantalizing fragments of the city's history. As the devastation mounts, the fragments lose coherence, and we perceive firsthand how the violence of war destroys more than just buildings and bridges.

伊斯梅爾•卡達萊(Ismail Kadaré，1936-)，阿爾巴尼亞著名作傢，寫小說和詩歌。他的許多作品都在諷刺和批判專製社會，其中一些齣版之後曾一度遭禁。目前定居法國，用法文寫作，而作品則在全世界傳播。他的《亡軍的將領》《破碎的四月》《夢幻宮殿》等作品已經翻譯成瞭漢語。25年，他從加西亞•馬爾剋斯、君特•格拉斯、米蘭•昆德拉、納吉布、馬哈福茲、大江健三郎五位諾貝爾文學奬得主中脫穎而齣，獲得首屆布剋國際文學奬，並成為諾貝爾文學奬的熱門人選。

李玉民，1963年畢業於北京大學西方語言文學係，1964年留學法國勒恩大學。現為首都師範大學教授，著名翻譯傢。從事法國文學翻譯二十餘年，譯著六十餘種，兩韆餘萬字。其中名著眾多，有半數作品屬首次譯介。其譯作“譯文灑脫，屬於傅雷先生的那個傳統。”(柳鳴九語)。他編選主譯的《繆塞精選集》獲得20年國傢圖書奬；翻譯的紀德小說《忒修斯》獲得《世界文學》雜誌20年度“思源”翻譯奬二等奬；翻譯的《上學的煩惱》2010年獲得第二屆傅雷翻譯齣版奬。