Mary Stewart Novels blog

Article in Mystery Scene Magazine

2012-01-31T13:37:00.000-08:00

I just came across a nice article that appeared in Mystery Scene Magazine last summer. Not too much new information, except that it shares a little about Mary Stewart's reaction to getting an honorary degree from her alma mater, Durham University:

In a letter to me that same year, Lady Mary Stewart said of the experience, “It was indeed wonderful to be remembered—and in such a way—by my old University.”

And apparently the author of the article asked her if she would write another book:

“No new book! I know better than to try at (nearly) 93!” she wrote me in 2009.

Hi Meg Cabot fans!

2011-11-26T07:37:00.001-08:00

So I was looking at the blog's stats today and realized that Meg Cabot linked to us from her blog! YAY! I love Meg Cabot, and I'm very very honored that she likes our blog. And she has about a bazillion million fans -- especially younger readers, which is awesome because she is getting the word out to younger readers about Mary Stewart.

So, Meg Cabot fans, welcome! Here are a couple links for you:

A complete listing of Mary Stewart's books
A blog post with suggestions for which Mary Stewart book you might want to read first.

Anyone have a favorite Meg Cabot book? I really loved the Princess Diaries books (come on, who doesn't?), but I also really liked her Mediator series. They're about a girl who sees ghosts, but not in a scary way like the movie. She sees the ghosts when they need her help resolving some unfinished business here on earth. They're really funny.

Mary Stewart's signature?

2011-11-16T08:40:00.001-08:00

Hi Mary Stewart fans! I am hoping someone can help me out here -- does anyone have a copy of Mary Stewart's signature?

[Sidenote: I've always meant to write her a letter, but honestly it's a little intimidating. I mean, what do you write to your favorite author of all time? Hi. I really really like your books. I don't want to be lame! It's MARY STEWART!]

The reason I'd like to have her signature is because I am getting married in April, and instead of plain old table numbers for the reception, I'm going to name each table after one of my favorite authors. (Plus a couple of my fiance's favorites.) I'd like to incorporate images of their signatures somehow (either on the table number signs or the escort cards).

Here are the other signatures I've found so far:

Can you read that last one? I'm struggling with David McCullough too -- he's my fiance's favorite, but his signature is totally illegible!

So, if you've ever gotten a letter from Mary Stewart or have a book autographed by her, would you consider scanning it and sending it to me (jenniesizemore@gmail.com)? I'd really appreciate it!

If I get anything, I'll share it with everyone. :)

Off the Page -- Video interview with Mary Stewart

2011-10-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

Myrna-nora left a comment on the blog ages ago directing us to a YouTube video of Mary Stewart! It's a great interview from a TV program called Off the Page, which apparently featured a different Scottish writer every week. It's about a half hour long and so lovely! It was filmed in 1992, just after the release of The Stormy Petrel.

One tidbit that I thought was interesting -- Mary Stewart says that when she was writing the scene in The Moon-Spinners where Nicola swims in the Bay of Dolphins, she decided that her next book would feature a dolphin as a sort of hero. Of course, This Rough Magic was next (and is my absolute favorite Mary Stewart book).

I really hope that the interview was set at Mary Stewart's house in Scotland. Because I like to think of her enjoying her retirement in such a beautiful place!

Mary Stewart ebooks

2011-07-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

I've recently fallen in love with my Kindle. I never thought I'd jump on the ebook bandwagon, but in the last year or so it has seemed more and more inevitable. And I'm astonished by how pleasant the reading experience is on my Kindle. I still miss the idea of having all my physical books around me -- though even this seems less important now that I am approaching yet another move to a new city.

Every so often I cruise Amazon's Kindle Store to see if they've released Mary Stewart's books in ebook format. There's still nothing in the U.S. store, but the U.K. seems to have the full line of her romantic suspense books! Hopefully this means that the U.S. editions are on their way.

I couldn't find any of the Arthurian series on the U.K. Amazon. Surely they are working on those?

Anyone have any info about Mary Stewart ebooks in other formats besides Kindle?

New UK covers!

2011-01-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Emily, a fellow Mary Stewart fan, let me know about these beautiful new editions that Hodder is publishing in the UK in March. Oooooh, LOVE! The illustrations are great -- especially because the women are wearing such fabulous clothes and looking as posh and capable as any Mary Stewart heroine should.

If I had the money, I'd buy the whole set! You can get them on Amazon UK.

A Mary Stewart appreciation

2010-10-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

Writer Unboxed has a lovely post up about Mary Stewart. Sophie Masson, the author, marvels that though she first discovered and loved Stewart as a teenager, the magic of Stewart's books is undiminished as she re-reads them as an adult. I absolutely agree! Her stories are timeless. Here's a quote from the post:

I was struck by the clarity, beauty and intelligence of her style, and the way it manages to wear its learning so lightly. For there are many, many literary and historical allusions in Mary Stewart’s books; her love of Shakespeare and of Greek and Roman classics and Celtic myth, especially, shines through, enriching the books whilst never being overbearing. Her evocation of place, of landscape and architecture and atmosphere, is superb. She effortlessly bridges the so-called gap between ‘literary’ and ‘genre’ fiction, proving you don’t have to use tortured ‘literary’ constructions to write well, and neither do you need to write ‘down’ in order to tell a rattling good story.

The comments on the post prove again to me how many people were given Stewarts' books as a teenager by their mothers (as I was), and have read and reread them for years. Also striking is how many authors quote her as the inspiration for their becoming writers themselves.

Photo Gallery: This Rough Magic

2010-10-14T18:14:00.001-07:00

Finally a second installment of our photo gallery feature, where we bring you pictures of the fabulous settings from Mary Stewart's novels! (Our first photo gallery was for Madam, Will You Talk.) Today we're showing photos of Corfu, the setting of This Rough Magic.

Corfu Island
photo by Robert Louden

"Perhaps I should explain (for those who are not so lucky as I) that Corfu is an island off the west coast of Greece. It is long and sickle-shaped, and lies along the curve of the coast... At its northern end the island is broad and mountainous, tailing off through rich valleys and ever decreasing hills into the long, flat scorpion's tail of the south from which some think that Corfu, or Kerkyra, gets its name."

photo by Helen Parker

photo by Marite2007

"The bay was small and sheltered, a sickle of pure white sand holding back the aquamarine sea, and held in its turn by the towering backdrop of cliff and pine and golden-green trees."

The Albanian coast
photo by theoldsmithy

"Away northward, across the dark blue strait, loomed, insubstantial as mist, the ghostly snows of Albania."

Corfu Town
photo by whl.travel

Palm Sunday procession in Corfu Town
photo by mbavinton

"Presently, from somewhere, a big bell struck, and there came the distant sound of the bands starting up. Thevast crowd fell almost silent, all eyes turned to watch the narrow mouth of Nikephoros Street, where the first banners glinted, slowly moving up into the sunlight of the square. The procession had begun."

Keeping Godfrey entertained at the Achilleion
photo by Ava Babili

"I remember very little now of my tour of the Achilleion. I am sure Godfrey was a good guide; I recollect that he talked charmingly and informatively all the time, and I must have made the right responses; but I was obsessed with my new hatred of him..."

Lucy's dolphin
photo by fotolen

"Far out in the bay a curve of blue fire melted, rolled in a silver wheel, and was lost under the light of day."

*All quotes are from This Rough Magic, copyright 1964, by Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart on success

2010-09-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

"I can sit and talk happily to people about books and authors without realizing that I am myself the author of nine books... As a matter of fact, it still startles me to see my name on books, or to realize that it means anything to anyone. Yet, judging by the letters I receive from readers, it does."

Quoted in:
Smaridge, Norah. Famous British Women Novelists. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1967. Page 122.

Apologies

2010-09-21T16:23:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the long, long, long time between posts! I haven't given up on this blog, I've just been too busy to give it the time it deserves. But I get so many nice comments and emails that I really want to keep it up better. So I will try!

This Rough Magic in the Chicago Tribune, 1964

2009-12-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

I just came across a condensation of This Rough Magic that appeared in the Chicago Tribune! They published the story in 18 installments running from Nov. 8 - Nov. 24, 1964, which must have been just as the book was released in the U.S. The illustrations are very 1960-ish.

The quality of the images isn't that great, seeing as they're from a newspaper, but it's still fun. I especially love the taglines that they put at the top of each installment: "Bullets Shatter a Peaceful Vacation," "Spiro Tells of His Brush with Death," "Keeping a Killer off his Victim's Trail." And the best of all: "Suspense Winds an Ever Tighter Coil as Lucy Waring Creeps up like a Ghost from the Sea on the Spy who Tried to Kill Her".

I'm posting the first two pages, as I think that's all I'm allowed due to copyright. I located these images using the ProQuest Historical Newspaper database.

Click on the images to view them larger.

Links of interest

2009-12-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to author Dee Davis, we finally have a blurb for Wind Off the Small Isles! I've been searching for years for a copy of Wind that had the jacket intact and have never been able to find one. It's Mary Stewart's only novella, which was published in the UK but not in the US. I read it just recently and will try to post a review soon.

Check out Dee's website -- she's an author of romantic suspense who cites Stewart as a source of inspiration. As a tribute, she included references for one of Mary Stewart's books in each of her first fifteen books.

Niranjana Iyer has written a great post about Mary Stewart on her blog. My favorite bit: "Stewart’s heroines are never passive—they usually tumble into adventure in the course of aiding the vulnerable (a child or a wounded animal are favorite hooks). The trouble they land in is never of their own making, but they are nonetheless eager to help. They are also resourceful and practical and don’t care too much about their appearance. A Mary Stewart heroine would always have spare batteries in the kitchen drawer and sheets flapping whitely on a line out back, and her hair would never fall in her eyes."

And AAR has posted several great reviews for Mary Stewart books in the last few weeks: My Brother Michael, Madame Will You Talk, and Wildfire at Midnight.

The winner is....

2009-09-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Rylie! I'll be emailing you shortly to get your mailing address.

Thanks to all who entered! I wish I could send out copies to you all. For those of you who haven't read Mary Stewart, get to your local public library! Most libraries of decent size should have some Stewarts.

Happy Birthday to Mary Stewart!

2009-09-17T07:14:00.001-07:00

Today is Mary Stewart's 93rd birthday. We send our best wishes to her for a happy day!

In honor of the event, we'd like to do a little GIVEAWAY! Chicago Review Press has been reissuing some Mary Stewart titles in trade paperback editions with lovely covers. The lastest is The Ivy Tree.

The publisher was nice enough to send us a review copy -- we, in turn, will pass it along to one of you. Simply leave a comment and you'll be entered in a drawing to win it. (International is fine, but please be aware that I will send it by the cheapest, slowest delivery method available to me. I'm a poor grad student, you know.) We'll pick a name out of the hat this Sunday.

Don't know what The Ivy Tree is about?! Read the blurb! It's so fabulous. Believe me.

Contacting Mary Stewart

2009-09-12T20:08:00.001-07:00

We've gotten several emails from people asking if we know how to get fan mail to Mary Stewart. I'm afraid I don't have a very good answer. I've never tried to write to her. Has anyone ever been successful in getting mail to her?

The only suggestion I have is to write to her c/o her publisher. Her American publisher is HarperCollins. Their contact page says that they will forward fan mail on to their authors. You should address the envelope as follows:

Mary Stewart
c/o Author mail, 7th Floor
HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

Her British publisher, Hodder, does not have any info on their website about contacting authors. They might forward mail as well, but I'm not sure. I've written emails to them a couple times about it, but haven't gotten any response.

If anyone has any other info to share, please do!

Better scans from LHJ!

2009-08-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I posted about the Nine Coaches Waiting condensation that was published in Ladies Home Journal in 1958. I'd scanned some images from a microfilm copy, and the quality was really sad. I have a wonderful mother who loves to shop online (she can find anything!) and who also loves Mary Stewart. So I was surprised by a package on my stoop -- a print copy of the September 1958 Ladies Home Journal. Yay! Here are much improved scans (in color!). They're so pretty.

The table of contents page has a little biography of Mary Stewart. It says that in her spare time she "directs college plays and exercises race horses." I knew about her passion for drama, but exercising race horses? So glamorous! I guess that's why The Ivy Tree's horse-whisperer heroine seems so authentic.

Thanks, Mama!!

Congratulations to Lady Stewart!

2009-07-10T09:43:00.001-07:00

On July 3, Mary Stewart was awarded an honorary degree (a Doctor of Letters) by her alma mater, Durham University. This news release states that she is one of six to be honored this summer, though the article is sadly almost entirely about some British newscaster who I don't care about. However, I was able to find a copy of the speech that was to be read at Mary Stewart's ceremony, which includes a nice biographical sketch. Stewart attended Durham University as a student from 1935 to 1938, and then returned in 1941 as a Lecturer of English, during which time she also received her MA. She taught at Durham until 1945, when she married.

Durham Cathedral, where the ceremony took place

The speech doesn't really provide any new info that I haven't found previously in other sources (and I think my biography is a little better!). But it does mention that Stewart currently still resides in her home on the shores of Loch Awe in Scotland. I love the idea of Mary Stewart enjoying her retirement in a picturesque Scottish house on the shores of a beautiful lake.

Loch Awe

I'll keep an eye out for any photos or info that surface on the Internet about the ceremony.

Charles Geer retrospective at Mulford Gallery

2009-06-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Charles Geer is a children's book and cover illustrator who did the beautiful drawings for many of the William Morrow editions of Mary Stewart's hardcovers. I've tried to do research on him, but have been unable to find too much. Here are a couple of his Stewart covers:

I came across an announcement for a show of Geer's work at the Mulford Gallery in Rockland, ME. From the announcement, it sounds like there will be drawings from his Stewart covers there, though I'm not sure. Anyone live near Rockland who can go check it out for us? The show runs through June 15.

Coronet covers

2009-05-30T17:00:00.001-07:00

A couple of kind Stewart fans have sent us a few more covers that we'd never seen before, including these two Coronet paperback covers. I've seen other Stewarts in this style and have loved them. They're obviously done by the same illustrator, and I think they really capture the feeling of Stewart's books, with a certain 1970s flair.

Look how glamorous Gianetta looks!

I have to say this one is less attractive than the others. I suppose that man must be Con? He looks so angry and mean he just couldn't possibly be Adam! And in Kelly's words, Annabel looks vapid.

Here are some more that we already had in our collection. This Madam, Will You Talk is my absolute favorite! We loved it so much that we used the illustration on the header of the website. Richard is looking very James Bond with his pistol.

I love that you can see the dead body washed ashore in the background. And Lucy looks so unconcerned.

Beautiful! But why is Jennifer wearing a Grecian outfit? And what is to the left of her? Is that a boat? There are no boats in Thunder, are there?

Nine Coaches Waiting in Ladies Home Journal, 1958

2009-05-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Many of Mary Stewart's novels were condensed and published in women's magazines around the time that the novels were first published. Though this sort of thing is done infrequently now, back in the day I think it was a fairly common way to publicize a new book by a well-known author. I was unable to find print copies of any of them (I guess women's magazines weren't considered worthy of preservation), but my local university library has many of them on microfilm.

The image above is the illustration by Harry Anderson that accompanied the condensation of Nine Coaches Waiting in the September 1958 issue of Ladies Home Journal. I'm sorry the quality isn't great -- the microfilm was black and white and a bit fuzzy. But it's a lovely picture. It must depict the scene when Linda is in Madame de Valmy's room trying on the ballgown she'd made. Raoul finds her there and they have a nice little interlude. ;)

I pushed away from him at last, both hands against his chest. "But Raoul, why?"
"What d'you mean why?"
"Why me? Your father called me 'Jane Eyre,' and he wasn't far wrong. And you--you could have anyone. So ... why?"
"Do you want to know why?" His hands turned me around to face the mirror again, holding me back against him. I could feel his heart hammering against my shoulder blade. His eyes met mind in the glass. "You don't have to be humble, ma belle. That's why."

*sigh*

The title page is below -- the typography is so, so pretty. If you click on the picture it'll take you to a larger version, though I'm not sure you'll be able to read the text. The condensation is quite long -- I think around 15 pages or so. I found it sort of odd that they decided to condense the whole thing rather than just print an excerpt (and who did the condensing, I wonder, and what did Mary Stewart think of it?!). It was discomfiting to read an abridged version since I'm so familiar with the original text.

I've only had time to locate this one article so far, but I'll try to scan the others soon. If anyone has an attic full of Ladies Home Journals or Good Housekeeping from the 1950s and 60s, let me know! I'd love to see color scans of these!

New Favorites Poll

2009-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

We've had a poll running over on the sidebar since we put the blog up -- asking what people's favorite Mary Stewart book is. I've just posted a new one, since someone noticed that not all of Stewart's books were listed as options. Sorry! I think I'd only put my favorites on there, which was very egocentric of me. :)

So go vote! (Again, or for the first time.)

Here are the top results of the previous poll. 107 people voted.

Nine Coaches Waiting -- 19%
This Rough Magic -- 14%
Madam, Will You Talk -- 13%
The Crystal Cave -- 9%
Airs Above the Ground -- 9%
My Brother Michael -- 9%

Madam, Will You Talk giveaway!

2009-05-06T08:35:00.001-07:00

Angie has posted a lovely essay about how she discovered Mary Stewart's books. She's also giving away a free copy of Madam, Will You Talk. So head over there and comment -- you could win! The contest closes tonight (May 6) at midnight.

Covers from Susanna Kearsley!

2009-05-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Susanna Kearsley (an author whose books I love and which are very reminiscent of Mary Stewart) scanned a bunch of her Mary Stewart covers and sent them to us. Yay! Thanks, Susanna!

I've added them all to the cover gallery on the website. Here are some of my favorites:

The Gabriel Hounds, original UK hardback, Hodder & Stoughton, 1967. I love the colors on this one.

Touch Not the Cat, UK hardback, Hodder & Stoughton, 1976

Thunder on the Right, US Fawcett paperback. I like this one, but why on earth is Jennifer Silver wearing a medieval costume??

Literary Guild Review -- This Rough Magic

2009-04-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I was at the Strand (a great used bookstore in NYC) and found a beautifully preserved hardcover copy of my very favorite Mary Stewart book, This Rough Magic. When I opened it up a little pamphlet fell out--the Literary Guild Review that came with the book when the original owner received it in 1964. I did a little happy dance right there in the store. It contains an interview with Stewart and a summary illustrated with these fantastic drawings. I had some fun with Photoshop and added in little excerpts of the text.

Lucy meets Sir Julian Gale.

Oh, Max. *Swoon*

Such great adventures.

Wings: The Literary Guild Review, August 1964. Garden City, NY: Literary Guild of America, Inc., 1964.

Susan Wiggs likes Mary Stewart too

2009-04-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Bestselling author Susan Wiggs has posted a list of her five favorite authors. Mary Stewart didn't quite make her top five. But she had such trouble narrowing her list down, she added a few more, one of which was Mary Stewart.

Nice list, Ms. Wiggs!

The mighty Google recognizes us.

2009-03-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Again, we have to apologize for the long, long wait between blog posts. Infrequent updating is a cardinal sin in the world of blogging, but time has gotten away from us. We've got lots of good stuff to post, so hopefully we'll get some interesting things up in the next couple weeks. We've also received lots of emails lately, which we have not answered, but hope to get to very soon. Several people have sent some great old covers -- we'll post them soon.

Today's good news is that I've realized that Mary Stewart Novels now comes up as the third hit on Google when you search for Mary Stewart. Woo hoo! We used to be down on the third page somewhere. Thanks to everyone who has linked to us and let the Googlebot know we're here! And welcome to everyone who has found us recently.

Also of note today -- the blog Romance Vagabonds did a post called "Celebrating Women in Romance" this week, which lists Mary Stewart along with Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Georgette Heyer, and others. Very nice company for the "mother of the modern romantic suspense novel."

Merlin of the Crystal Cave

2008-09-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long lag between posts! I've been busy starting graduate school. But I'm determined to keep the Mary Stewart blog alive. Updating marystewartnovels.com will probably have to wait until winter break!

LadyTink has brought this movie to my attention. I thought that The Moon-Spinners was the only Mary Stewart book that had been made into a movie. I was oh-so-wrong. The Crystal Cave was apparently adapted into Merlin of the Crystal Cave in 1991. Here's the imdb page.

I've looked around at all my local libraries and no one seems to have a copy (not too surprising, I guess). Has anyone seen it? There appears to be a used copy on Amazon for $3. Is it worth it?

More covers!

2008-06-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

I decided I needed to own every Mary Stewart book in hardcover. So I did some shopping on Alibris. :)

William Morrow, 1956 edition

William Morrow, 1963 edition

William Morrow, 1965 edition

The only one I'm missing in hardcover is Thunder on the Right, which seems to go for over $75 for the old William Morrow edition. Anyone know why it's so much more expensive? It's my least favorite book, so I won't be spending that much money on one.

I also had to buy this old mass market copy of This Rough Magic. Because you can never have too many copies of This Rough Magic. :)

More fans of Stewart

2008-06-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have converted my friend Li to the greatness of Mary Stewart. MWAHAHAHA! She loved Nine Coaches Waiting so much that she's now rushed to order more Stewart. I've told her she has to read This Rough Magic next. :)

And Alicia Paulson, creator of the very popular craft blog Posie Gets Cozy, has been reading Rose Cottage and Thornyhold. She loved them, of course. She says Rose Cottage "was the perfect book to read on a blanket under the shade of a tree in the Shakespeare Garden (which is where I read it). Good one."

Similar to Mary Stewart

2008-05-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm always interested in finding authors whose books are similar in some way to Mary Stewart's. Same sort of tone, similar plots or settings.

Here are some authors that I've tried and can recommend as very good:

Barbara Michaels is a pseudonym of Barbara Mertz, who also writes historical fiction under the name Elizabeth Peters. Under the Michaels name she writes gothic suspense novels, which often have romantic threads running through them.

Daphne du Maurier is most famous for Rebecca, which is an amazing book. I haven't read any of her others but mean to in the future.

M.M. Kaye wrote a series of "Death in" books. Death in Kashmir, Death in the Andamans, etc. All feature young English women in exotic settings caught in dangerous situations. (She also wrote my favorite children's book of all time, The Ordinary Princess, which is not at all like anything Mary Stewart ever wrote but still fabulous.)

Susanna Kearsley writes lovely suspense novels, some contemporary and some historical (and some a combination of both!). My favorites are The Shadowy Horses and The Winter Sea.

And a few other authors I've seen mentioned as similar to Stewart but haven't read:
Victoria Holt, Dorothy Eden, Phyllis Whitney

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Mary Stewart on Happy Endings

2008-05-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

A quote from the preface to the 1969 Hodder & Stoughton Mary Stewart Omnibus I:

But one convention of the mainstream of adventure fiction I have kept right through my novels, the convention that the good ends happily, the bad unhappily. "That is what fiction means," said Oscar Wilde. We can laugh at it, but it is sound tradition. A complicated plot rounded off with the reader's imagination projected willingly into the future, is a deeply satisfying reading experience. It is also much more difficult to write effectively than the unresolved or the tragic ending.

Mary Stewart in translation

2008-05-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

I came across a 1977 article on Mary Stewart in Something About the Author* that says that "Mary Stewart's novels have been translated into sixteen languages, including Hebrew and Icelandic and Slovak." I'm assuming her books have spread even further in the last 25 years, but I'm not sure how to find out the exact number. I cruised the web for cover images and was able to find The Crystal Cave in French, Spanish, and German. Very interesting to see the different cover art used in different countries. The cartoon cover on the Spanish edition is pretty cool.

The National Library of Scotland has an extensive collection of Mary Stewart novels, including many translations. If you search in their catalog, you'll come up with 458 hits for Stewart, Mary, 1916-. That's a lot of different editions. Kasteel in de Alpen is Nine Coaches Waiting in Dutch. Manadisirnar is The Moon-Spinners in Icelandic. Okami mori no noroi is A Walk in Wolf Wood in Japanese.

Of course, it's not at all surprising to me that Mary Stewart is read all over the world. Her protagonists may be perfectly English women, but a good story is a good story the world over.

*Something About the Author, v. 12: 217-219. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1977.

Site updates

2008-05-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

I've made some updates to the Mary Stewart site:

**I figured out how to put an RSS feed on the index page, so the three most recent posts here on the blog show up there at the bottom. My coding skillz, they are growing.

**MaryK was fabulous and sent us the William Morrow blurbs for Madam, Will You Talk, The Moon-Spinners, and Airs Above the Ground. So we now have the expanded summaries there. Thanks, MaryK!

**I've updated the Madam, Will You Talk page. I put some extra info at the top (including links to various posts here on the blog) and added an excerpt. An excerpt--yay! I hope I'm not infringing any copyrights. Eek. It's pretty short, I very clearly state what it is, and I added links to buy the book on Amazon and other places. So surely the publishers couldn't mind. I'm doing their advertising work for them. :)

Eventually I'll update all the novels pages to look like this. But it'll take some time. :)

Reader review index: Madam, Will You Talk?

2008-05-06T20:04:00.001-07:00

I'm going to keep updating this post with links to all the reader reviews I can find for Madam, Will You Talk? So far, I haven't found too many, but I'm sure the list will grow. :)

Road to Romance
Rosario's Reading Journal
Amazon reviews
Jennie's B(ook)log

If you've talked about this book on your own blog or website, send me the link and I'll add it to the list!

And I wanted to let you all know that if you would like to write a review for any Stewart novel but don't have your own site, I'd be more than happy to post it here on the blog. Just email us at contact@marystewartnovels.com.

Photo gallery: Madam, Will You Talk?

2008-05-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

Since Mary Stewart's books are so famous for their exotic and well-described settings, I thought it would be fun to find photos of those settings and post them here on the blog. I hope eventually to make my way through all the novels. I'm starting with Madam, Will You Talk? The book's heroine, Charity Selborne, makes her way through much of southern France.

Le Pont d'Avignon
photo by Navas
"...presently, round a curve in the city wall, the old bridge of the song came into view, its four remaining arches soaring out across the green water to break off, as it were, in midleap, suspended halfway across the Rhone."

The Pont du Gard
photo by Wolfgang Staudt
"I suppose the ten or twelve minutes that David and Rommel and I spent gazing at those golden arches spanning the deep green Gardon were like the last brief lull before the thunder."

Nimes, the Temple of Diana
photo by smithco
"I left my chair and went through the crumbled arches into the tiny square of the temple. It was like being miles from anywhere. Behind me, back through the crumbled archway, was the hot white world with its people and its voices; here, within, was a little square of quiet and green coolness. Trees dripped over the high broken walls, shadows lay like arras in the pillared corners, fronds of ferns lent softness to every niche and crevice."

Les Baux
photo by kahala
"The deserted town of Les Baux, in medieval times a strong and terrible fortress, stands high over the southern plains....The prospect is wild enough, and strange enough, to satisfy anyone who, like myself that evening, felt so pressingly the need for quiet and my own company."

Marseilles, Chateau d'If
photo by Axel13000
"I sat on the low parapet of the turret of the Chateau d'If watching the white stone slowly flush to a tender rose. I watched the softly breaking water of the tideless sea wash and wash cross the whispering white pebbles, aquamarine rippled through with liquid gold."

The port of Marseilles
photo by bfalk
"Presently we found ourselves in a cobbled street which slanted along the sea front, with tall houses to the left of us, and a low sea-wall to the right. Away ahead, floating in the starlit air like a vision, glimmered the gold statue of Our Lady who stands on the high summit of Notre Dame de la Garde."

*All quotes are from Madam, Will You Talk? copyright 1955, Mary Stewart
**A note about the photos. All photos are from flickr--each attribution has links to the photo and the artist's profile. If you own one of these photos and would like it removed, simply let us know in the comments. Thanks!

Friday trivia

2008-05-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Only one of Stewart's suspense novels is told in the 3rd person, rather than the 1st. Which is it?

EDITED TO ADD:
MaryK got it right! It's Thunder on the Right. Here's a quote from an article that Mary Stewart wrote in 1970:

With Thunder on the Right, I tried a technical change of approach, from first person to third. I had dropped naturally, without calculation, into the first person ... but now thought it right to experiment. Of course writing in the first person has certain drawbacks, especially in "danger" and "suspense" situations--certain elements of surprise are cut out, the viewpoint is limited, and direct action is also limited to scenes where the protagonist is present--but for me the advantages far outweigh the losses. The gain in vividness, personal involvement and identification is immense.

In Thunder on the Right, with the third-person approach, I found I had more freedom of action and viewpoint, but in my next novel, Nine Coaches Waiting, went back with a kind of relief to the first person, and have used it ever since.
---"Teller of Tales" in The Writer, Vol 83, p.11

Reader review: The Crystal Cave

2008-04-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

I finally read The Crystal Cave! For years I've meant to, and been slightly ashamed that I haven't before. I mean, I love Stewart so much that I've spent many, many hours creating a website about her, and I haven't read her most critically acclaimed novel? (We won't go into an argument now about why her suspense novels did not receive the literary attention her Arthurian books did.)

What kept me from reading the book for so many years is the fact that it's about King Arthur. I know that story, and I know it doesn't end well. I have very little patience with tragedy. But I should have known that Stewart would still deliver an enjoyable tale. And actually we don't even get to meet Arthur in TCC--it is wholly Merlin's story.

The book opens when Merlin is six years old. He is the bastard son of the daughter of one of the lesser kings of England, in Wales in the 5th century. His mother kept his father's name an absolute secret, even from Merlin, and the rumor has started that he is the son of the devil or a demonic spirit. And we soon learn that Merlin does have a bit of magic about him: he has the Sight, which occasionally gives him visions. He is taught by a local wise man, not only about things mystical, but also about science and medicine.

When Merlin is twelve, his grandfather dies and his uncle comes to power. The already precarious political situation crumbles further. Merlin has always had some protection in the fact that as an illegitimate child his claim to the throne (something he has no interest in) has never been good. But his uncle sees him as a threat, so Merlin has to run for it. He goes to Brittany and joins Ambrosius, a Roman Briton who is preparing to invade England. Ambrosius takes Merlin in as a trusted advisor, and Merlin is instrumental in Ambrosius's successful campaign and his eventual crowning as the first King of all England.

If anyone is wondering where in all this is the Arthurian story you know, at the end of the book Merlin is advisor to Ambrosius's brother Uther, who fathers Arthur. TCC is the first book of a trilogy, followed by The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment. I'm assuming we see more of Arthur in those two.

I admit I have little experience with Arthurian stories, but this felt much more like historical fiction than fantasy to me. The historical detail is so interesting, and Stewart obviously spent a lot of effort on research. It's a time period I know very little about, after the Roman occupation when Briton and Saxon leaders were fighting it out. The Roman names are a bit confusing (esp. Vortigern and Vortimer--I couldn't keep them straight), but all the history is presented very clearly. It's all fascinating, and though complex, never overwhelming.

So while the history is realistic, the fantastical and mystical elements are still very present, though they are wrapped up discussions of the many religions of the time. Much like the political situation, religion too was a fragmented matter--a kind of smorgasbord of British druidism, Christianity, and the eastern cult of Mithras that the Romans adopted and brought to England. Merlin is very sure that his power comes from god--one god, a single power, whatever you call him--but he dabbles in whatever religious experience comes his way in order to learn all he can. Really interesting.

Merlin is a fascinating character. A bit of a loner, keenly intelligent and curious. TCC is a coming of age story more than anything else, and we see him develop his intelligence and his powers. And that is his total ambition; he has no dreams of ruling himself. He is self-effacing and humble, though his story is such a big one. One of my favorite lines in the book is when Ambrosius says to him: "No, Merlin, you will never make a king, or even a prince as the world sees it, but when you are grown I believe you will be such a man that, if a king had you beside him, he could rule the world."

I admit I was hoping for a bit of a love story tucked in somewhere, but Merlin is really almost asexual. Not that he doesn't feel the natural urges, but he suppresses them because he just knows that that type of relationship would interfere with his destiny, though that sounds overly grandiose. But his other relationships (with his mother, Ambrosius, teachers, and friends) made up for the lack of a traditional love story and served to personalize and warm up the story.

The style of this book is very different from Stewart's suspense novels, but one element that is the same is the vivid description of setting. It's one of the things she's most famous for and for good reason. And the language is simply beautiful.

Final thoughts: I still like Stewart's suspense novels better, though this has nothing to do with the quality of the books. They are just more my style--a love story satisfies me like little else. ;) But this was a great read. If I had any doubt, I would know it was good by the length of my review. The Crystal Cave gave me lots of talk about and lots to think about! I'll be reading The Hollow Hills soon.

Friday trivia

2008-04-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Which Mary Stewart novel's original working title was Murder for Charity?

Full blurb for The Crystal Cave

2008-04-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Most of the blurbs we've posted on the Novels page for each book come from the jackets of the William Morrow hardcovers, the first editions published in the US. They're much more complete than those put on paperbacks and reissues, and I think they're very nicely written and do an excellent job of matching the tone of the books.

Of course, that meant we had to locate a copy of each edition with dust jacket intact, not always an easy thing to do. A few weeks ago I finally located a hardcover copy of The Crystal Cave with a jacket, so I've posted the fuller blurb to the website. Yay for library sales. Here it is:

Almost everyone knows Merlin as the dark, brooding figure mysteriously associated with Camelot and King Arthur’s court.

But who, really, was Merlin? Was he the enchanter of fairy tales, the magician in the black robe and pointed hat and wand? Or was he the king and prophet of old legends of Brittany and Wales? How did a man reputed to be the bastard son of the Prince of Darkness, and condemned to death as a child of the Devil, become the chief architect of the first united Britain?

Mary Stewart’s answers to these provocative questions form a spell-binding novel that catapults the reader into fifth-century Britain – a land uncertainly emerging from Roman rule and divided by conflicting loyalties, political and spiritual; a land riddled with rumor real and planted, and spear-alert with superstitious fear.

Into this strange world was born Merlin, bastard son of Niniane, daughter of the King of South Wales, and an unknown father. The novel opens in Wales when Merlin is seven, and closes in Cornwall, at Tintagel, with the begetting of Arthur.

Mary Stewart is one of the most widely read novelists writing today. Her great gift as a storyteller, her enviable flair for making places and action come alive have never been more clearly defined than in The Crystal Cave.

This is not a story to be read once, however eagerly, and then forgotten. Its imaginative truth will stand the test of time.

We are still missing Morrow blurbs for Madam, Will You Talk, Thunder on the Right, Airs Above the Ground, and The Moon-Spinners. If anyone has hardcover copies of any of these and wants to transcribe the blurb and send it to us, we'd greatly appreciate it.

More fab old covers

2008-04-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Fellow Mary Stewart fan Kerry sent me a whole slew of great old covers that I'd never seen before. I've added them to the cover gallery. A couple of my favorites:

A Coronet mass market edition of This Rough Magic from the early '60s. I love this style of cover--though that girl looks a bit too passive to be Lucy. And that's a dead body washed ashore right behind her. Shouldn't she be doing something about that? And she looks like she's wearing a toga. Maybe it's supposed to be the outfit she borrows from the Corfuote (?) lady who takes care of her after she washes ashore?

And look at this copy of The Ivy Tree! I'm not sure of the date on this one, but look at Mary/Annabel's hair. It's like a helmet. Maybe early 70s?

Many thanks to Kerry for scanning these for us!

Slightly appalling, but mostly impressive

2008-04-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

I got a laugh out of this: a craft blogger, LazyTcrochet, has taken an old copy of The Moon-Spinners, torn out the pages (gasp!), and made it into a purse. She asks book-lovers not to be offended, saying that the pages were torn. I told her in the comments that I think it's a sort of tribute to Mary Stewart. It is a very pretty object she's made, though I don't think I'll be giving any of my copies similar treatment. :)

Where to start...

2008-04-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

Never read a Mary Stewart book? You might look at her list of books and wonder which one to start with. I could just say that they're all so good you could start with any of them. But that probably doesn't help much.

First thing to decide is, do you want Arthurian historical fiction or romantic suspense? If it is the former, then your answer is easy. Start with The Crystal Cave -- it's the first in the series.

Now if you want a romantic suspense things get a little trickier. They are all stand-alone novels, so you really can start anywhere. We created this little quiz, which is not at all scientific, but might be a fun way of telling you which to start with. Here are my results:

Which Mary Stewart novel should you read? Your Result: This Rough Magic British actress Lucy Waring believes there is no finer place to be "at liberty" than the sun-drenched isle of Corfu, the alleged locale for Shakespeare's The Tempest. Even the suspicious actions of the handsome, arrogant son of a famous actor cannot dampen her enthusiasm for this wonderland in the Ionian Sea. Then a human corpse is carried ashore on the incoming tide ...
Madam, Will You Talk?
My Brother Michael
Wildfire at Midnight
Nine Coaches Waiting
Touch Not the Cat
Airs Above the Ground
The Ivy Tree
Which Mary Stewart novel should you read? Make Your Own Quiz

You might look at which books are people's favorites. My personal favorite is This Rough Magic. Julie's favorite is Wildfire at Midnight. AAR's poll of people's favorite Mary Stewart books is here -- Nine Coaches Waiting got the first slot there, as well as being the current winner in our poll here at the blog.

You can look at our settings map and decide where you'd like to read about. I especially love her books set in Greece.

And my last word of advice is to consider when the book was published. Mary Stewart published for over 30 years -- those published earlier I've found to be more suspenseful and exciting. Those published in the 80s and 90s are a bit more tame and gentle. Thornyhold is my favorite of her later books.

Any visitors -- what was your first Mary Stewart book? I have to say that I don't remember which one I read first. Might have been The Ivy Tree.

This Rough Magic newspaper ad

2008-03-31T14:08:00.001-07:00

While roving the Internet today, I came across this webpage, which contains a lot of good info about This Rough Magic. It's part of a database on 20th century American bestsellers compiled by Library Science students at the University of Illinois. One thing I had never seen before was this newspaper ad that ran in the New York Times in 1964 when This Rough Magic was first published.

Were hardcovers really only $4.95 in 1964? Wow.

Meg Cabot's foreword to Thornyhold

2008-03-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Meg Cabot posted on her web diary that she's just finished writing a foreword to Chicago Review Press's upcoming trade paperback edition of Thornyhold.

She says:

I’ve spent this past week writing about one of MY favorite heroines (by someone else)–Gilly Ramsey, the heroine of Thornyhold, by the author Mary Stewart.

In case you don’t know, Mary Stewart is one of my favorite romantic suspense writers. Actually one of my favorite writers, period. Her books are so compulsively readable!

Meg Cabot is a really popular author, among tweens, teens, and grown women, so this should be great way to bring attention to Thornyhold. Cabot is best known for her Princess Diaries series -- I read the first few of them and would say that they are compulsively readable too.

The new edition of Thornyhold doesn't appear on Amazon yet. But the same publisher has recently put out Nine Coaches Waiting and The Ivy Tree. Very gothic covers.

Thanks to Vickie for the tip!

Welcome!

2008-03-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Mary Stewart Novels blog! This is a companion blog to the fan site my sister, Julie, and I just created for our favorite author, Mary Stewart. There was a sad lack of info on the web about Mary Stewart's books -- there weren't even any decent book synopses out there. So we built our website, because everyone should know about Mary Stewart.

We wanted some way to communicate with visitors to the site, and we didn't like any of the guestbooks that we could find. So we decided to try this blog. Because we like to talk about Mary Stewart and want to meet other fans.

Posts probably will not be published all that frequently. We both have other blogs (Jennie's book blog and Julie's craft blog), plus, you know, jobs (that pesky need for food and shelter, I tell you). ;) But we hope to get a post up once a week or so.

A quick tour of MaryStewartNovels.com. We have a biography, synopses of all her books, reviews, and some quotes from interviews we've found with Ms. Stewart. The extras page has some random features, including a cover gallery and a map of settings.

What we need now is feedback! Please let us know what you think of the site and how we can make it better. This is our first website, so we're still trying to figure it all out. Any suggestions are welcome. If you see any typos or broken links, please let us know. Comment here or email us at contact (at) marystewartnovels.com.

Thanks!