Stormy Petrel (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading Mary Stewart’s light ‘romantic thrillers’ when I was a teenager, and have gradually collected them and re-read as an adult. In a charity shop in the UK a month or so back, I came across three of them which I didn’t think I had read, in a relatively new paperback edition. They were in excellent condition so it was not a difficult decision to decide to buy them.

I started reading ‘Stormy Petrel’ a couple of days ago. It was first published as late as 1991, so is not one I read during my teens. However, a chapter or two in, it felt familiar and I realised that it’s one of a trilogy of Mary Stewart books which I read back in 2011. Not that this is a problem - the trilogy is quite an old copy, so I’m quite happy to have one of the individual books on its own.

The story is narrated by Rose, a young woman who is a lecturer at Cambridge University. She wants to take a break, somewhere where she can do some writing without distraction. She sees an advert for a cottage on a remote Scottish island, and decides to rent it for a couple of weeks. Rose’s brother Crispin, who is a doctor, decides to join her there; he’s an enthusiastic bird-watcher and won’t interrupt her when she’s busy.

The cottage is basic, but adequate, and the air is wonderful. All is going well until Crispin is involved in a rail accident, and while nothing serious is wrong, he is delayed for a few days. Meanwhile Rose has two visitors one night; a young man called Euen who has a key to her cottage and says his parents used to own it, and another young man who seems quite antagonistic, and introduces himself as Andrew….

The blurb on the back implies that Rose doesn’t know which of these young men to trust - if, indeed, either of them is who he says he is. Perhaps, she thinks, they arranged to meet at the cottage and just pretended they didn’t know each other. But it doesn’t take long for her to realise, after talking with one of two of the islanders, that while one of the young men gave a false name, it’s the other who really can’t be trusted.

Or so she believes… it’s not actually obvious to the reader whether she is correct in her assumptions, and I had entirely forgotten how the story pans out. So while I hoped she was right, I didn’t know until several chapters later.

It’s not my favourite of Mary Stewart’s books, although the tension isn’t as great as in some of her earlier novels, and there’s no car chase or anything too unpleasant. But there’s rather too much for my tastes about bird-watching. I got the point: the island is a haven for many kinds of wildlife, in particular sea birds including the rare stormy petrels. But I skimmed a fair bit of description.

The writing is as good as I expect from this author, and the pace works well. It’s not a long book; only a little over 200 pages, and I read the last half in one sitting. The romance is so low key it has only the faintest hint of what might happen in the future, but the ending is basically satisfactory.

Recommended as a light read, particularly if you’re interested in Scottish islands or ornithology, and don’t mind a bit of mild tension.

As with other novels by Mary Stewart, 'Stormy Petrel' has been republished a couple of times in paperback in the past decade, and is now available in Kindle form too.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews