Wildfire at Midnight (by Mary Stewart)

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I have enjoyed re-reading my Mary Stewart novels in recent years, and also acquiring some I had not previously read; most of her books have been re-published and are more easily available than before. I first discovered Mary Stewart’s writing in my school library as a teenager, and while some of her books were a bit too ‘thrilling’, I liked the genre of romantic suspense, and was pleased to discover several of my old favourites.

I had ‘Wildfire at Midnight’ on my wishlist for a while, and was given it for my birthday earlier this year. I’ve just finished reading it and am pretty sure it’s not one I have come across in the past, although the title feels somewhat familiar.

The protagonist of the novel is a young woman called Gianetta, a name given to her in memory of a rather shocking great-grandmother whom she never met. I’m not entirely sure what the point was of this foray into family history in the first chapter, as it’s not at all relevant to the rest of the novel. However it introduces Gianetta nicely; she works as a model, but is tired and is persuaded by her parents to take a break. We learn early in the book that she was briefly married to Nicholas, and now divorced although her mother doesn’t quite believe that they are no longer together.

So Gianetta travels to the Scottish island of Skye, hoping to get away from people, from her memories, from her work… and also from the stress of the upcoming Coronation, which sets the book firmly in historical context: the early Summer of 1953.

After arriving at the hotel which her parents recommend, Gianetta immediately recognises an actress and they become acquainted. There are other visitors too, one of whom she knows already - it seems a bit of a coincidence, but not really a problem. However I couldn’t distinguish the other visitors - married couples, two single women, and a few others. Mary Stewart’s characterisation is usually good, but I simply couldn’t keep my mind on the different guests. And it was important to do so, because this book turns out to be a murder mystery.

However it’s not in the Agatha Christie style; although the first tragedy took place off-stage, before the start of the book, it’s described rather ghoulishly. Nor is it the only one… and unsurprisingly Gianetta herself goes through some very tense moments. I had half guessed who the perpetrator was by some of the action - and when revealed, it was clear that there had been some clues, although I don’t think I would have picked them up.

I have to admit that by the time I was about three-quarters of the way through the book I was finding it so tense that I had to skip to the end to discover if my hunch was correct, and to find out what happened. I assumed that Gianetta survived, since she is the narrator of the whole book, telling the story in the past tense. But I wasn’t going to keep reading if the rest of the guests didn’t...

I found the ending quite satisfactory, if a tad surprising in one respect, and then went back to read the intervening chapters, which were less stressful when I knew the outcome. Mary Stewart was excellent at writing suspenseful prose, and as a thriller it works very well if you like this kind of tension. The romantic thread, such as it is, is quite low-key in this book.

I liked Gianetta, even if the other characters felt a bit flat, and thought it a good story. It's one which I will probably re-read in another decade or so. Not my favourite by this author, but if you like nicely tense books from the middle of the 20th century, this is a good one to try. It's now considered a modern classic, and is available in ebook form as well as paperback. Mary Stewart's novels are also often found second-hand.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews

Rose Cottage (by Mary Stewart)

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I first came across Mary Stewart’s novels in my library at my secondary school, many decades ago. I was pleased when I found some of them, years later, in charity shops; and in more recent years I have been able to acquire re-printed versions of those I didn’t have already. One of these is ‘Rose Cottage’.

I did in fact have it as part of an omnibus edition with three of Stewart’s novels, but it was quite an unwieldy tome, which I read in 2011. Since I also had one of the books in this omnibus separately, and was given one of the others, I added ‘Rose Cottage’ to my wishlist in a new edition, and was delighted to be given it for Christmas.

I had entirely forgotten the story; although set in 1947, it wasn’t published until 1997 when the author was in her early eighties. I gather it was her last published novel, but her skill in writing and characterisation shines through, as in her earlier books. And it’s a very enjoyable story. Some of Stewart’s novels have a bit too much violence for my tastes; there’s none in this, other than brief mention of a tragic road accident which affected the main characters significantly - but it all happens off-stage, so to speak.

Kathy is the main protagonist of this story, a young woman in her mid-twenties. We learn in the first chapter that she’s been staying with her grandmother in Scotland, after her grandmother has been ill. Kathy’s had a difficult life: her mother abandoned her when she was small, and she never knew a father. Her grandparents brought her up, and she’s very fond of her grandmother. Then Kathy married an airman, although the marriage was very short as he died in the war. He’s left her reasonably well-off but she’s still grieving.

Kathy’s grandmother asks her to travel to their former home, Rose Cottage. There’s still some of their furniture there, and a hidden safe with some important documents, and a few nostalgic mementoes of their life. Kathy has quite mixed memories of Rose Cottage, which she and her grandmother shared with her great-aunt, who was very puritanical and quite harsh.

So she travels down, and embarks on quite a nostalgic journey, meeting people she hasn’t seen for several years, exploring places she recalls from her childhood. Inevitably she can’t find everything her grandmother wanted her to send to Scotland… and she hears rumours in the village of prowlers a few days earlier. The tension is very mild; Kathy is puzzled more than frightened.

The people feel real, even the slightly caricatured three old biddies (who are probably not all that old): the sweet, unworldly one who loves to garden; her more practical sister, and their neighbour who has dreams and visions. There’s a gentle low-key humour in their twitterings, but their care and concern shines through.

Perhaps the plot is a tad far-fetched - but it’s a good story, well-told, with descriptive passages that weren’t tedious, and conversations that felt entirely natural. I liked Kathy very much; I’m not quite sure why it was necessary for her to have been married and widowed for the story, except that it enables her to be reasonably self-sufficient. She does have a job, but can easily take leave.

There’s only the faintest hint of a possible romance - even less than in most of Mary Stewart’s ‘romantic thrillers’, but perhaps it was realistic, leaving the way open for developments in the future.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who likes mid-20th-century character-based stories with a touch of intrigue. It’s not a long book - less than 250 pages in my paperback edition - and I finished it in just a few days.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews

My Brother Michael (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I have read and liked novels by Mary Stewart for over forty years. I discovered some of her books in the ‘senior library’ at my secondary school, and loved her writing style. She was one of the first writers of ‘romantic thrillers’, and while as a teenager I liked the romance (always very low-key) better than the thrills, I knew too that she was a good story-teller.

In recent years, many of her lesser-known novels have been published. When I like an author, I like to collect all their works, so I’ve added some which I didn’t have to my wishlist.  I was given ‘My Brother Michael’ for my birthday almost nine months ago, and have just finished reading it.

As with all of Mary Stewart’s books, the writing is excellent. She paints her scenery realistically; this one is set in Greece, and I felt that the places and people were all authentic. There’s perhaps a tad more description than I like, in places but it’s easy to skim. Her conversations are believable, and her main characters quite well-rounded.

Camilla is the narrator of this book. She’s in her mid-twenties, and has recently broken off an engagement to a man whom she acknowledges was quite controlling. She’s on her own in Athens, writing to a friend complaining that nothing much ever happens to her.

Camilla’s funds are running low and she’s wondering how she might be able to get to Delphi. At that moment, a man comes into the cafe where she’s writing, and approaches her table. He says that a car is ready for her, with the deposit paid already. His English isn’t brilliant and her Greek is limited to about half a dozen phrases, and she is not able to persuade him that he has the wrong person. He insists that ‘Mr Simon’ needs the car, and that it’s a matter of life or death…

While she has plenty of qualms, Camilla eventually picks up the key that was left behind, and decides that she will drive to Delphi. It’s at this point we learn that she hasn’t driven for a long time, never on the other side of the road. The book is set in the 1950s, when licenses were easier to get - or not required - and she has a few false starts before she gets going - and some near run-ins en route to Delphi.

Naturally she finds Simon, and equally unsurprisingly he has no clue about the car - but the two seem to click, and she learns that he is in Delphi to get some closure on his brother Michael’s death in the war, twelve years earlier. She accompanies him as he meets the family who took Michael in when he was injured, and she also gets to know one or two other people locally.

The story doesn’t really get tense until about half-way through, and the extreme ‘thriller’ part is in the final chapters. It’s a complex and very well-thought-out plot, all too believable, and the bad guys are really extremely unpleasant. There’s more violence than I’m comfortable with; I’d forgotten that Mary Stewart sometimes almost casually kills off some of her minor characters, and thinks nothing of a few good fights with serious injuries.

Having a first-person narrator ensures that I wasn’t worried about whether Camilla would survive, and I was pretty sure that Simon would too, but it was touch-and-go at times. I had to put the book down a few times as I came towards the end, as it was more ‘thrilling’ than I like. There isn’t much of a romance, either; while there are hints, nothing is said or followed through.

I’ve liked other of Mary Stewart’s novels better, but this was still a good read. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes this genre: for older teenagers or adults.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews

Thornyhold (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I have very much enjoyed re-reading my novels by Mary Stewart over the past year or so. The last few days I have re-read ‘Thornyhold’. I first read it in 2006, then re-read it in 2011 as part of a three-book omnibus by the author. I had a vague memory of the characters and storyline but had forgotten most of the detail in the past nine years, and very much enjoyed reading it for the third time.

It’s a bit of a strange story, more mystical than many by Mary Stewart. Most of her books are light romantic thrillers, but this one is different. Geillis is the heroine, although she’s usually known as Gilly (pronounced, as she explains, the same as Jilly). We learn a bit about her childhood in the early part of the book. Her father was a slightly vague but likeable Vicar, but her mother, as the first sentence of the book explains, could have been a witch.

Gilly is lonely as a child. She has no siblings, and her parents are quite distant, although her physical needs are all met and she doesn’t feel neglected. Her parents won’t let her play with the village children, but there are no other families of their ‘class’. And the first school she is sent to is a disaster.

We also meet Gilly’s godmother (though she prefers the word ‘sponsor’), another Geillis. She’s a mysterious person who appears unexpectedly, spends time with Gilly, inspiring and encouraging her, and then vanishes. The older Geillis is in her forties when Gilly is seven so I found it a bit disturbing that, a few chapters later, she is referred to as an ‘old lady’ when she could not have been more than about sixty-five.

This is when the main story begins; Gilly is twenty-seven, and moves to a house called Thornyhold. There she discovers secrets of herbalism, meets some likeable neighbours, and some who are less pleasant. There’s an undercurrent of fear at first, and one very bizarre incident which is later explained.

There are references to witchcraft, but mostly in the context of ‘wise women’ or healders. Gilly experiences some flashes of insight and of memories not her own. These enable her to help sick animals or make salves. There’s a low-key theme involving the difference between gifted healers and self-centred people with similar gifts who don’t use them for the benefit of others.

It’s not a particularly long book, just over 220 pages in paperback, and I found it far less tense than most of Mary Stewart’s novels. Gilly is a three-dimensional realistic person, albeit with her unusual gifts, and I found myself empathising with her, seeing her environment and neighbours through her eyes.

There are scenes in the book that animal lovers may find disturbing; Gilly herself loves animals and is angry at some of the things she experiences; yet, later in the book, she is able to rationalise some of the unpleasant events of her childhood.

There’s a romantic thread;, it’s quite predictable when the man concerned appears, but nicely done and very low-key.

Recommended to adults or teenagers who would like something a little different.

'Thornyhold' is not currently in print in paperback, but fairly widely available second-hand. Also now published in Kindle form.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews

The Moonspinners (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I have liked Mary Stewart’s mid-century romantic thrillers since I was in my teens, and have been delighted to find many of them in charity shops over the past couple of decades. There were some which I had never read, so I was particularly pleased, in the summer, to discover a relative new edition of three or four of them which I didn’t have, in another charity shop.

I’ve just finished reading ‘The Moonspinners’, and don’t recall ever having read it before. Mary Stewart set several of her books in Greek islands; since I now live in Cyprus, that gives them some added interest. She writes about the places and culture in a way that feels authentic, and not as dated as books set in the 1960s in Western European cultures can. This is no exception, set entirely in Crete.

Nicola is the main protagonist and narrator, and we meet her saying goodbye to some acquaintances before setting off for a new hotel in a remote village. Her cousin Frances was supposed to have joined her, but there have been delays - so Nicola has a day to herself. She speaks reasonably fluent Greek as she works in Athens and she’s a confident young woman.

So she’s a bit surprised to be confronted by an angry man with a knife - and very concerned when she meets an English man called Mark, who has been seriously injured, and appears to be in a feverish, weakened state. Nicola is the kind of person who acts without too much thought, and cares about people; the first person narration works well in that we get inside her head during this story. I found myself liking her very much, while also taking a mental step backwards, shuddering a little, during some of her actions.

It becomes clear that Mark was victimised because he saw a crime, and that even if he recovers from his injury, his life is in serious danger. More worryingly still, his teenage brother Colin is missing - and much of the book involves uncertainty, and growing concern about him.

There’s a tad more description in this book that I’m comfortable with. I have a hard time imagining places and don’t ‘see’ things in my mind’s eye, so geographical explanations leave me entirely at a loss. I can appreciate a bit of colour and useful descriptive references that let me know where the character is, but Nicola’s interest in birds and her cousin’s passion for flowers led to a fair amount of skimming.

Still, it’s a good story. In some of Mary Stewart’s novels we don’t know who the ‘good’ people are until near the end; there’s often an unexpected twist or new uncovering of villainy that I didn’t see coming. In this book it’s more straightforward. Nicola makes some educated guesses which mostly turn out to be correct.

Since it’s narrated in the first person, I knew that Nicola herself was going to come through whatever dangers and disasters might overtake her. But there are some very tense moments when I really didn’t know what was going to happen to other main characters. There’s a lot of fast action in the final chapters, much of which I didn’t really follow (but then I never can follow fast sequences in films - perhaps confusion is intended, to give an impression of panic and fear).

Because it’s Mary Stewart, and because of the era, I was fairly certain things would pan out in the end, so the conclusion was predictable, but well done. The romantic element of this is so low key as to be almost irrelevant, but it leads to a positive and hopeful ending.

All in all I liked this book and look forward already to re-reading it in another ten years or so.

As well as being fairly widely available second-hand, Mary Stewart's books are regularly re-printed, and also available for the Kindle.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

This Rough Magic (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I do enjoy the late Mary Stewart’s writing, although it’s in rather a different genre from my usual reading. She wrote romantic thrillers in the middle and end of last century, with the romance being quite low-key, and the thrilling part usually not too stressful. I have several of her books, and have been re-reading them over the past year, so I was delighted when I found a few that I didn’t have in a charity shop in September.

I have just finished reading one of them, ‘This Rough Magic’. It’s possible that I borrowed it from the library when I was a teenager, which is when I first discovered Mary Stewart. If so, it would have seemed more contemporary, as it was published in 1964. But I had no recollection of it at all, so am assuming I had not previously read it.

The book is narrated by a young woman called Lucy. She has been working as a not very successful actress, and is now ‘resting’. Her sister Phyllida has a house in Corfu, where she has come for a while; she has a wealthy husband and two children, and is expecting her third. The two existing children are rather older, and don’t come into the story at all, neither does her husband. But Lucy has gone to stay with her sister, to keep her company and look after her.

There are often ongoing literary references in Mary Stewart’s novels, and this is no exception. Each chapter starts with a quotation from ‘The Tempest’, and the play is mentioned many times. One of the significant minor characters in the story is Leo, a highly successful actor, who has been through a difficult time with family bereavements, and a possible nervous breakdown. He is staying nearby, in Phyllida’s husband’s ancestral mansion, with his son Max. Leo was known for his rendering of Prospero in ‘The Tempest’ before he withdrew from public life.

There’s a rather dramatic start to the story, when another neighbour, Godfrey, arrives with the bad news that a young man may have drowned. Godfrey is a photographer, and Spiro, who was working for him, fell out of his boat the previous night, but has not been found. Spiro was the twin brother of Miranda who works for Phyllida as a general help.

This is the start of a series of incidents that make Lucy a little nervous, wondering who to trust. As she walks along the beach and swims, she finds disturbing sights. She also rather unexpectedly befriends a dolphin, and suspects someone is trying to shoot him, although she cannot imagine why.

While the characterisation isn’t great, and I didn’t feel any real empathy with any of the people in the book, the story is very well told. Mary Stewart had a tremendous gift of writing at exactly the right pace to give tension and anticipation, and to make it very difficult to put her books down! The unpleasant scenes mostly happen off-stage, and since the story is narrated in the first person, I knew there could be no danger to Lucy herself, although I felt quite apprehensive in the final chapters when she stows away on a boat belonging to the villain of the piece…

There aren’t any real mysteries or surprises; I’d more-or-less worked out who could not be trusted by the time Lucy had accepted it, and I guessed easily who was going to be her romantic interest. The enjoyment of Mary Stewart’s novels is in the process of getting to the inevitable conclusion - and the climax is quite dramatic.

It’s a good story, with the literary references adding some interest, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different from normal light women’s fiction. Mary Stewart's books seem to be considered modern classics now, and are regularly re-printed.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

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

Madam, will you talk? (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I have been enjoying re-reading my Mary Stewart novels. I first discovered this author when I was a teenager, and borrowed several of her books from my school library. I started acquiring them an adult years later, and was delighted when many of them were re-published in the past ten years. I was given ‘Madam, Will you Talk?’ just over eight years ago, and read it almost immediately. So it was more than time for a re-read.

The story is about a young woman called Charity, who is on holiday in France with her friend Louise. Charity, we quickly discover, was briefly married and then widowed during the war. As with most of Mary Stewart’s novels, this was written as a contemporary novel during the 1950s, when World War II was still vivid in many people’s memories.

We get hints right from the start that Charity is going to become embroiled in a drama - a tragedy, even - although she has no idea of it when she and Louise sit down for drinks on the terrace of their hotel. Louise is a relaxed, laid-back kind of person who wants to sunbathe, read, and draw. Charity is keen on sight-seeing, and is more a person of action.

Her role in the drama starts when she sees a boy called David, who is staying at the hotel with his dog Rommel and his step-mother. There are several other guests, briefly described, but Charity finds herself drawn to David in particular. He’s polite, and friendly, but clearly has suffered and has some secrets which he’s not willing to talk about.

Charity over-hears some worrying discussions, and when she takes David out for the day to do some sight-seeing, he becomes very frightened when he spots his father, Richard Byron. Charity is nervous about him too because by this time she’s learned that David’s father was a suspected murderer, although there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. And it appear that he’s suffering some kind of breakdown… the word ‘mad’ is used, although it’s no longer politically correct or even helpful as a description of someone behaving in irrational and potentially dangerous ways.

Although it’s only eight years since I had read the book, I had entirely forgotten the people and the story-line. I had my suspicions from the start about who to trust, some of which were correct. But I had no memory at all of the back-story - the motive for the crime that David’s father was accused of - nor of the resolution. Nor did I remember that the middle of the book is taken up with a long and tense car chase.

The writing is excellent, as I expect with Mary Stewart, and the characters mostly well-developed. I didn’t empathise particularly with Charity - I’m more like her laid-back and essentially lazy friend Louise. But I liked her, and admired her. Unusually for a 1950s heroine she’s feisty, courageous, and an excellent driver. These traits stand her in good stead in what turns out to be a very dangerous situation.

It’s not an over-tense thriller, however. I don’t like books that pile on the tension; Mary Stewart, in my view, gets exactly the right amount. It helps that it’s interwoven with some light-hearted banter, and even a rather low-key (and very rapidly resolved) love story.

It took me about a third of the book to begin to feel any tension and to be involved in the storyline, but for the last two-thirds it was difficult to put it down. There is more violence than I like, and a very nasty end for a few people; but the ending is conclusive and satisfactory.

Recommended if you enjoy light romantic thrillers from the middle of the 20th century.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

The Gabriel Hounds (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I am glad I decided to re-read my novels by Mary Stewart. The somewhat tense adventure stories she wrote in the middle of last century are not my preferred genre. Yet I read some of her books as a teenager, and re-discovered them - and others - as an adult. She created believable characters and excellent stories, with the tension never quite turning into horror.

I last read ‘The Gabriel Hounds’ in 2006 and had entirely forgotten what it was about. The main character is Christy and the book is told in the first person from her perspective. We meet her first in a shop in Damascus, where she has lost sight of the touring party she is with. But she spots her cousin Charles and is delighted to be reunited with him. She knew he was in the Middle East, and it turns out that he has deliberately come to find her, so it’s not as much of a coincidence as it first appears.

Charles is of similar age to Christy, and they grew up together, the children of identical twins. They are best friends, but until now have seen each other in a sibling relationship rather than anything stronger. Christy has already made plans to stay in Lebanon, once she gets there, longer than the rest of her party, and Charles agrees to meet her there when he has finished some business.

They discuss their eccentric Great Aunt Harriet, who has been living something of a hermit life in a large house in Lebanon, not far from where Christy will be staying. She’s over eighty and known to be in somewhat failing health, but Charles, at least, remembers her with fondness and they agree to make a visit together a few days later.

But Christy decides, on impulse, to see if she can visit her great-aunt a day earlier. She’s been on a car tour of the area and happens to come close to her aunt’s home. She finds it remarkably difficult to gain entrance; there’s a surly guard who seems to have difficulty speaking at all, a resentful maid, and a young man who is apparently in residence, looking after the household. Everywhere seems dilapidated, even dirty… and Christy is beginning to feel that something suspicious is going on. But then it’s agreed that she can have an audience with her aunt so long as she’s prepared to wait until after 10pm. For one of Aunt Harriet’s eccentricities is that she sleeps in the daytime, and is awake only at night.

There’s a legend about some dogs that bay when someone is about to die; but although they give their name to the book, they don’t actually play that big a part in it. Unlike some of Mary Stewart’s novels, there wasn’t much tension in the early part of the book. And in the later part, while there’s a lot of action and excitement, there isn’t any of the underlying low-key trepidation that I’ve come to expect.

I found some of the description of Aunt Harriet’s home rather confusing. There are passages and different areas, inside and outside. More than once when someone was somewhere outside, I was a tad mystified that they had to get inside and then outside again by a different exit before they were free of the building. I’m not good at visualising and after struggling to make sense of the house, I gave up and just accepted the story. It’s meant to be something of a large and confusing house, but after some exploration, Christy becomes more familiar with it. It might have added to the story if I had been able to follow the geography of the house, but I don’t think it mattered over-much.

There are various revelations and twists to the story, one or two of which I saw coming, but not the majority. I don’t think I had remembered anything, at first. But both Christy and Charles felt somewhat familiar to me, and I did vaguely recall a couple of incidents, as they happened.

Overall I liked this book very much. It was a little slow to get started, but by the time I was half-way through it was very difficult to put down.

Recommended.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

Nine Coaches Waiting (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I do like the late Mary Stewart’s writing. I first discovered some of her gothic style romantic thrillers when I was a teenager. I found them somewhat frightening, but also compulsive. As an adult I acquired some titles I recalled, and some which I don’t think I had previously read. One of those is ‘Nine Coaches Waiting’, which I read, probably for the first time, in 2005. So it was more than time for a re-read.

As so often happens after a gap of more than a few years, I had entirely forgotten the plot and the characters. Linda Martin is the main protagonist, and her story is told in the first person. I quite like this style, as it ensures that the character must at least survive by the end of the book. It also enables the reader to get inside the character’s head and see things from their viewpoint.

Linda is on her way to a chateau in France when we meet her. She spent some of her childhood living in France, but was then orphaned at fourteen, and lived in an orphanage in England. She was happy enough, but she’s half-French, and is looking forward to her new job as governess to nine-year-old Philippe. She only met her future employer briefly, and did not admit that she speaks French as fluently as English, as her main role is to speak only English to her charge.

This omission grows out of proportion in the first half of the story. Linda has to speak bad schoolgirl French to attempt to make herself understood to some of the household staff, and to shop owners. Her efforts provide light-hearted episodes in what is otherwise a very tense story. Mary Stewart had a tremendous gift for creating an evocative, scary atmosphere in just a few words, and by the time I was about a third of the way in, I could hardly put the book down.

Philippe is staying with his aunt (who interviewed Linda) and uncle Leon, who runs the estate despite having been badly injured and disabled in an accident. He has an electric wheelchair and the house is adapted to his needs, although he is sometimes bitter about the things he cannot do. Linda doesn’t know if he likes her or not; sometimes they are worryingly in rapport. At other times she finds him terrifying.

Then she meets Leon’s son Raoul, who manages another family estate, and is rather devastatingly attractive…

Events happen rapidly once the scene is set, and Linda becomes more and more concerned. She doesn’t know who to trust - and, reading the book, I didn’t know either. Could she trust the stolid English housekeeper Mrs Seddon, for instance? And what about the forester friend she meets, who tries to educate her about trees? Most importantly, can Raoul be trusted? And what about Philippe’s favourite Uncle, Hippolyte, who is absent for most of the book?

I had, perhaps, some vague memories towards the end of the book as I was pretty sure I knew who were the ‘bad’ guys, but I couldn’t be certain. But I had no memory of the stressful escape and hiding that forms the lengthy climax to the book, nor of the outcome, once it’s clear who was responsible for some nasty attempts on Philippe’s life, and who was trying to help him.

I very much liked the character of Philippe, and his growing friendship with Linda is one of the nicest underlying subplots of the story. I liked Mrs Seddon, too, with her fluent but atrociously accented French (I had to say ‘oh dick alone’ aloud before I realised what her favourite scent was). And while I’m not usually a fan of such tense books, this one was so well done that I expect I’ll read it again in another ten years or so.

The book was written as contemporary fiction in the late 1950s so while it seems like historical fiction from the perspective of sixty years later, it also feels very authentic. The snippets of poetry used at the start of each chapter (and from which the book title came) went somewhat over my head, but that didn't matter at all.

Definitely recommended if you like this genre of mid-20th century fiction.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

Thunder on the Right (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I first read some of Mary Stewart’s novels when I was a teenager. I probably borrowed them from my school library. I remember finding them quite tense, and scary in places. But I also loved the underlying romantic threads that run through most of them. ‘Thunder on the Right’ was a title I recalled - although not the story line - when I acquired a copy of the book second-hand about fifteen years ago.

I last read ‘Thunder on the Right’ in 2005, and had entirely forgotten the story. I like it when that happens as it’s like reading a book for the first time, but with the comfortable knowledge that I liked it when I read it previously. It was written in 1957 as a contemporary novel.

Jennifer is the main protagonist in this book. We meet her in a dining room in the Pyrenees, eating alone, and thinking about her cousin Gillian, whom she hopes to see soon. There are two learned ladies at the next table, discussing archaeology, and Jennifer’s thoughts are inevitably interrupted; it. It makes for a light-hearted first chapter of the book, helped by the arrival of Stephen, a young man whom Jennifer recalls with fondness. She did not expect to see him, and has no idea that he is really rather keen on her.

Jennifer is a bit concerned about her cousin, as her communications suddenly ceased three weeks earlier. And when she finally reaches the convent where Gillian was supposed to be staying, she receives some very shocking news. She meets the convent bursar, a rather hard woman whom she does not take to, and a young girl who is clearly nervous.

Most of the action takes place in or around the convent. Jennifer is very suspicious about the things she has been told, and her suspicions become more and more concerning, as she uncovers more information. Stephen insists he is not a hero; during the course of the book Jennifer has to put aside some of her romantic ideas about heroism, and tackle some extremely dangerous situations.

While most of the nuns Jennifer encounters are genuine, kind-hearted and devoted, the bursar - Dona Francisca - is an extremely unpleasant woman, more and more terrifying as the book progresses. There are various other minor characters, some nicer than others, but I thought them all well-drawn and three-dimensional.

The viewpoint stays with Jennifer’s throughout the book; it enabled me to related to her well, even though she is rather more stubborn and considerably more adventurous than I am. The writing is excellent, fast-paced and atmospheric, albeit a tad too action-filled for my tastes. There are, of course, endless lucky escapes, but that’s expected in this kind of mid-20th century light thriller.

The romantic thread is so low-key as to be almost immaterial, but contributes to the mostly satisfactory ending, where the villains have been dealt with and it looks as though life will return to normal. I liked the way that the book came full circle, with the two earnest archaeologists reappearing, immersed in their academic world of research, with no idea of everything that was going on around them.

Recommended, if you like this genre.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

Airs Above the Ground (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s fifteen years since I first read the late Mary Stewart’s novel ‘Airs Above the Ground’. My only memory of the story was that it was related to horses, and involved some European travel. I also remembered that it was a light thriller, set in the 1960s. It was more than time for a re-read.

Vanessa is the viewpoint character of this book, which is written in the first person. She’s in her early twenties, happily married to Lewis March; but we meet her when she’s rather upset, as they have had an unpleasant argument. Worse, he went away on business without their resolving it. She’s feeling quite low, so agrees to have tea with Carmel, a friend of her mother’s whom she finds rather silly, just to have something to do.

Carmel asks Vanessa if she would be willing to escort her teenage son Timothy to Vienna. Timothy wants to spend time with his estranged father, and Carmel has seen film evidence that Vanessa’s husband is in Vienna, after seeing news of a fire at a circus there. This makes Vanessa even more upset, and rather angry too, as Lewis had said he was going to Sweden, and has sent her a couple of cables from Stockholm. So she agrees…

Timothy turns out to be a resourceful young man, once he gets over his resentment at having Vanessa playing nursemaid. His passion is horses, and he hopes to find a job working with the famous Spanish riding school. And since his father does not in fact know his son was arriving, and the timing is rather inconvenient, Timothy, who is aching for adventure, agrees to travel with Vanessa as she goes to find the circus where her husband has been spotted.

The story that follows is full of tension and excitement, and very well written. Modern books tend to have several different viewpoints, and sometimes that can be effective, but a first person single viewpoint allows for more depth of characterisation, and Mary Stewart was skilled in this. Vanessa’s integrity and courage shine through without her ever mentioning them. She struggles a little with society’s expectations of women - she qualified as a vet and had started working, but even in the 1960s was expected to give up her career when she married.

Amidst the tension there are some lighter moments too. There’s a lot of love and strong rapport between Vanessa and Lewis when they get together, and we also see, and develop alongside Vanessa, a growing affection for Timothy. We see him maturing and developing quite rapidly having escaped his mother’s rather tight apron-strings, and he proves, time and again, an excellent companion and support for Vanessa.

I don’t usually like thrillers, but the first person viewpoint meant that I knew Vanessa, at least, would remain alive even though at times this seemed to be unlikely. And while there’s some violence, it’s not gratuitous or gory. There’s a classic car chase, and several other somewhat cliched scenarios, but they’re so well done that it doesn’t matter.

There’s rather more information about the dancing horses than I wanted to know; the author did her research well, and it all feels authentic. It’s essential for the plot to understand some of the principles, but I admit to skimming a few passages that sought to educate me rather than advancing the storyline.

However, other than that, I enjoyed this novel very much. Reading for only the second time, after a space of fifteen years, meant that I really didn’t remember how it ended. I found the ending a bit too abrupt; there’s a short epilogue which clears up one important storyline, but I did wish the author had let us know what happened in Timothy’s life.

Recommended if you like light mid-20th century thrillers with a hint of romance, a good storyline, and some good characterisation.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews

The Ivy Tree (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

In re-reading books by some of my favourite authors, I’m trying to vary the genres somewhat. So after some modern light romances, I decided to re-read one of the books I previously enjoyed by Mary Stewart. She was a writer who helped to develop the ‘romantic mystery’ style in the mid-20th century, and her books usually contain some low-key tension, enough to label them as thrillers, but without overt unpleasantness.

‘The Ivy Tree’ is narrated by a woman in her late twenties whom we meet wandering around an estate near Newcastle. She is accosted by an angry young man who thinks he recognises her, although she insists that he is mistaken.

To say anything more about the plot would be to give spoilers. It’s a very cleverly written book, and although I have read it at least once before (fourteen years ago) I could not remember the outcome at all. There’s deception, and low-key blackmail, and threats to safety… and there’s also some great characterisation. The main story revolves around the potential inheritance of a house and some money, to be left by an elderly man who is in poor health after a stroke.

While there’s a tad more descriptive detail than I like, it’s very well-written, in a way that kept me guessing and even changing my mind several times until the last few chapters. Inevitably it feels somewhat old-fashioned; first published in 1961, it’s long before the era of computers and mobile phones. But there’s much that feels modern in terms of people’s emotions, and some surprisingly open discussions about intimacies and infidelities, given the era of writing.

I found it quite tense in places, so was glad that I spent much of Sunday reading it, rather than keeping it for bedtime reading. The climax is exciting and somewhat unpleasant, but there aren’t too many gory details.

All in all, I liked the book very much. Recommended if you like mild thrillers from the 1960s about strong-minded women who don’t object to a bit of deception.

Review copyright 2017 Sue's Book Reviews

Touch not the Cat (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I first came across one or two of the late Mary Stewart’s books when I was a teenager; I found them quite tense but very well-written with characters I cared about. Over the years I’ve collected quite a few more, mostly from charity shops or church bookstalls.

I first read ‘Touch not the Cat’ in 2003, so it was long overdue for a re-read. Happily I had entirely forgotten the story - at least, I thought I had. It’s written by a young woman called Bryony, who has been working abroad when she gets the news that her father has just died. 

She doesn’t get the news by normal means, however; it’s a kind of telepathic message from one of her male relatives. A little confusingly she refers to him as her ‘lover’, although she doesn’t know for sure who he is. And yes, this is totally bizarre but has to be accepted as a premise for the rest of the book.

The early chapters are somewhat mystifying in a different way, with several people briefly introduced. I felt a bit overwhelmed at first, and re-read paragraphs more than once when I lost track of where Bryony was, or who she was referring to. However, the story soon gets going, mostly based in the town where her family home, Ashley Court, is located. Due to an ancient entail, Bryony will not inherit it. Instead, her oldest cousin Emory will do so. She doesn’t much like Emory; she’s keener on his twin James, and rather hopes that he is going to be revealed as her secret lover…

The whole novel takes place over a very short period, as Bryony returns home, meets the family who have been renting the estate, spends time with local friends, and attempts to unravel the somewhat mysterious last words ascribed to her father. The pace is very good, keeping me reading well past my bedtime some nights, and becoming almost impossible to put down in the final chapters.

I guessed almost from the start who was going to turn out to be Bryony’s telepathic ‘lover’, so perhaps I subconsciously recalled this from my first reading. It seemed as if the clues were there, though, and she was being a bit tunnel-visioned. Yet I was never entirely certain who could be trusted. I also had a vague memory of the scene of the climax of the book, involving an old pavilion, which I found tense and thrilling the first time I read it, but this time I was pretty sure things would pan out in a positive way.

The phrase ‘Touch not the cat’ refers to a family motto, although cats appear now and again in the story in places that add to the tension. The practical details of the drama at the end of the book left me rather bewildered, but it didn’t matter that I could not picture the geography of the scene, nor exactly what happens. And as everything was told from Bryony’s perspective, perhaps it was deliberate.

Written as contemporary fiction in the mid 1970s it inevitably feels dated, yet some of the discussions and ethical beliefs are entirely current. As the 21st century progresses, books like this will probably be seen as valuable sources of social history.

All in all, I enjoyed this very much. Recommended to anyone, adult or teen, who enjoys light thrillers with a gentle romantic theme and a touch of mysticism.

Review copyright 2016 Sue's Book Reviews

Mary Stewart omnibus: Rose Cottage, Stormy Petrel, Thornyhold

(Amazon UK link)

Wandering around UK charity shops over a year ago, I was delighted to come across this volume. It contains three novels by the prolific Mary Stewart, who is now in her nineties. It's a little daunting, with well over 600 pages, so it sat on my shelves for some time until I picked it up about ten days ago.

I had not previously read - or even heard of - the first two books: Rose Cottage, and Stormy Petrel. I had previously read Thornyhold in 2006 but had entirely forgotten the plot.

All three of these novels are in themselves fairly short, light stories set in the middle of the 20th century. Each one has a first-person narrator, a touch of suspense, an extremely low-key romance, and some great characterisation. They all feature specific houses, too.

In the first book, 'Rose Cottage', Kate is asked by her grandmother to find some items (mostly documents) left in a cottage. Kate was brought up by her grandmother and wants to do all she can to help her - then discovers that the house was apparently broken into, and the safe where the documents were has been opened, by key, so they are all gone. 

Mysteries abound, not helped by some talkative elderly ladies who spread rumours, until all is resolved happily.

In 'Stormy Petrel', Rose, who is a lecturer in Cambridge, goes on holiday to a remote cottage in the Hebrides to do some writing. Her brother is supposed to join her after a few days, but is unable to do so. She is startled when two young men appear - separately - on her doorstep during a storm, and is caught up in various tensions. 

There's rather a lot of description about bird-watching in this book, most of which I skimmed, but the story is exciting, and I found it quite gripping.

In 'Thornyhold', Geillis inherits a house from her godmother, and it seems as if some of her neighbours think that she is a witch. Strange things happen, some of them surreal - or perhaps dreamed - and it's almost impossible to know who can be trusted. 

I particularly liked 11-year-old William, an intelligent and lonely child who makes friends with Geillis and helps her greatly.

In all three books, the writing is very good, the stories fast-paced, the main characters sympathetic. I was pleased to find that the people I felt were untrustworthy were in fact the not-so-good guys each time; Mary Stewart has a gift for unfolding a story so well from the protagonist's point of view that I felt almost as if I were living in each one's shoes, learning about new people and situations alongside them.

The tensions in all the stories come from not knowing who can be trusted, but unlike some of the author's other novels, none of them could be described as thrillers.

Recommended. This particular volume is not currently in print, and can be very expensive second-hand. But the individual books have all been republished recently. 

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 28th August 2011

Madam, will you talk? (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I've been reading books by Mary Stewart, off and on, since my teenage years. Most of them tend to be light thrillers with a romantic thread, written and set in the middle of the 20th century.

I'm pleased that several of them seem to have been re-published inexpensively in recent years, and was particularly glad to be given this one for my birthday a few months ago, as I don't think I have ever read it before.

'Madam, will you talk?' is set in France, and features Charity, a young woman who was tragically widowed some time before the story starts. She goes on holiday with her placid friend Louise, and is rather too quickly embroiled in mystery and intrigue. She meets a young teenager who seems lonely, and befriends him and his dog. His father was apparently involved in a murder, and the boy is afraid to see him.

The story is fast-paced, but in the early stages I found it hard to feel involved. I didn't feel tense, despite what should have been an exciting car-chase about a third of the way through the story; however I had guessed (correctly) what the outcome would be.

After that, I did become much more involved in the story, more from the light romantic element than the thriller part. But then, I always enjoy Mary Stewart's terse but highly readable style.

Recommended to anyone who enjoys books of this mid-century light romantic thriller genre.

Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 4th July 2011

Thornyhold (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

'Thornyhold' is a fairly short novel by Mary Stewart, an author I generally enjoy. She often writes fast-paced light thrillers with a romantic thread, and this is no exception.

It's told in the first person by Geillis, describing at first her lonely childhood which was enlivened a very few times by her mother's cousin, also called Geillis, who appeared unexpectedly when most needed, and paid her young relative the compliment of taking her seriously.

After the first few chapters, the story moves forward to Geillis's young adulthood, in the early 1950s, and her inheritance of the secluded home called Thornyhold. There she gradually gets to know the locals, who are under the impression that she might be a witch...

The book is cleverly written, describing Geillis's experiences as they happen, so we're not sure at first what is real, what is a dream, and what is more prosaic than it appears. It's also not immediately clear who can be trusted, and this leads to some suspense. This is never enough to be heart-thumpingly unpleasant, but sufficient to make it difficult to put the book down at times!

There are some delightful characters, including 11-year-old William whose manner and understanding are often more like those of an adult. The romantic thread doesn't appear until over half-way through, and is also tinged with a bit of suspense and mystery - it's very low-key but (as ever) all is resolved at the end. Perhaps a little rapid in its conclusion, but on the whole an enjoyable light read.

Recommended.

The Gabriel Hounds (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

Although I'm not a fan of thrillers in general, I do enjoy Mary Stewart's writing. This particular novel is set in the Middle East - primarily Lebanon, with some scenes in Damascus - and is fast-paced and exciting.

Christy and her cousin Charles want to visit their Great-Aunt Harriet. She is a reclusive eccentric lady, known to live in a rather ancient castle in Lebanon, which has become legendary amongst the locals.

Their attempts to speak to her thrust them into tension and drama. Perhaps the plot is a little far-fetched at times but nonetheless I found it enjoyable. It was tense without being terrifying, and from the little I know of the area, quite believable in context. I assume it was set in the 1960s, since it was written in 1967 and has the feel of a contemporary book of the time.

All in all, very enjoyable and worth reading. Recommended.

Nine Coaches Waiting (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I'm not a great fan of suspense or thrillers, but I do love Mary Stewart's writing. I always pounce on her novels when I see them in second-hand or charity shops, and 'Nine Coaches Waiting' was one of my recent acquisitions for a few pence.

Linda Martin, an orphan, goes to work as governess to Philippe. He is a French boy who is heir to a huge estate. He too lost his parents at a young age and is looked after by his aunt and uncle, who seem to care for him - but do they? Unexplained accidents start to occur, and Linda becomes fearful for his life.

The plot isn't particularly spectacular but it's so well-written that once I was half-way through I could hardly bear to put this book down. I had no way of knowing who Linda should really be trusting, and while I assumed it would end reasonably satisfactorily, I wasn't sure until the last chapter or two how that would work out.

Great characters, interesting setting in rural France in a period which I assume was the 1950s. This novel was first published in 1958 and has the feel of being contemporary rather than historical when written.

(You can also read my longer review of 'Nine Coaches Waiting', written after re-reading the book fourteen years later)

Thunder on the Right (by Mary Stewart)

(Amazon UK link)

I'm not keen on thrillers in general. But Mary Stewart's writing style is such that I find myself gripped and involved in her novels, without being terrified. So from time to time I re-read the ones in my collection. I've just finished 'Thunder on the Right'.

Jennifer and Stephen are the main characters in this book. They uncover mystery and intrigue in a small village in the Pyrenees, with the action mainly focussing around a convent. Jennifer comes to see her cousin Gillian but is met with shocking news which makes her very suspicious.

This book has high drama, chases, danger, and a low-key romantic thread to break up the tension. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish it could have been longer. It was very well-written and exciting with a most satisfactory (though admittedly somewhat clichéd) ending.

I read this first in my teens and found it a little scary; re-reading it now I am perhaps more confident than I was then and would recommend it to anyone.

(You can also read my longer review of 'Thunder on the Right', written over fourteen years later when I re-read the book again).