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