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Of the four, Nine Coaches Waiting is my favorite, Followed by The Ivy Tree, Madam, Will You Talk and then, finally, The Moonspinners. The fact that the "bad guy" is in a wheelchair is almost an afterthought. Rather flat. This bad guy's main assistant is also horrible, but he has no scars or physical impairments of any kind. See 1 question about The Moonspinners/Nine Coaches Waiting/The Ivy Tree/Madam, Will You Talk?…, Mystery/Suspense that's So Much Fun You Want to Be a Character, John Grisham's Recommended Thriller Reading List. It reads a bit like a NA version of Nancy Drew.. or maybe a cross between Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie.Anyway, it’s a bit of mystery, and a bit of romance written in a very decadent and descriptive way. So happy I've read these all. Some serious themes (position of women/class distinctions/treatment of the mentally ill) were touched upon but never thoroughly examined – not really to be expected in this sort of light novel. The Byronic boyfriend? Bentley Rumble (Ha! If so, I read it when I was 18 and laughed aloud after the third time Ms Stewart repeated those words. Ahhh... summer! Do I dedict a technically-minded male slant in – just one example – the inclusion of the details about construction of gondolas which allow them to be operated from one side by a single person? Well, they are fun to read about, but I wouldn't marry one. The Captive Reader The imagination of this reader was boggled regarding the possibility of a happy future for the heroine and hero with that sort of emotional baggage to deal with. by Octopus/Heinemann. She still had them at the end of the book when he proposed to her and I don't think it's addressed again except for a comment where it mentions Richard's "rueful grin" which is not a proper apology. The plot was (predictably) groaningly predictable, but my interest was held despite the lack of surprises. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. This book combines four into one and seems like a lot of Mary Stewart at once. So, cribbing from the article and adding some of my own descriptive notes to those provided, we generally must have: So, let’s see how these measure up. They are set in the 50s/60s so one has to accustom oneself to the lack of modern technology and references. We’d love your help. He is a well-written, complex character with a very powerful per. 5 STARS Nine coaches waiting - hurry-hurry-hurry… What a blast from the past. Such a fun anthology.

Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart All of these are velvety dark, thrillingly romantic (for the most part), highly predictable (ditto), and guiltily enjoyable tales. The parallels between the Tourneur scenario and the Mary Stewart gothic are not particularly apt, but as a poet’s daughter herself (did I mention that bit? Any recommendations for more reading just as good? Decidedly well written, with abundant clever humour, and an ongoing literary thread as revealed in the title, for the Nine Coaches Waiting reference comes from a rather obscure Renaissance play by Cyril Tourneur, The Revenger’s Tragedy, in which a poor but pure and beautiful young woman is tempted with the luxuries of palace life to yield up her virtue. Books Anonymous Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Whether he thought she was involved or not, he shouldn't have hurt her. Philippe’s uncle, Leon de Valmy, is the epitome of charm, yet dynamic and arrogant—his paralysis little hindrance as he moves noiselessly in his wheelchair from room to room. The last was gripping, made me doubt the integrity of the hero (Raoul) up to the reveal and it did not involve supernatural elements.

[I have read three of Mary Stewarts novels, The Ivy Tree, The Stormy Petrel, and Nine Coaches Waiting. Refresh and try again. O’Donnell’s authorship was kept secret until after the publication of the last one, Golden Urchin (featuring a Caucasian girl raised in isolation from mainstream society among Australian Aborigines), in 1986. Ask the Author. I am merely a reader, a consumer of books for amusement and personal instruction, not a professional reviewer - and that is indeed a worthy profession, an important literary craft - so these posts are merely meant to be one person's reading responses, not scholarly reviews. My verdict: Hands down, Nine Coaches Waiting was the best of these three novels, but they all had their moments, and are all nice diversions for those times when one doesn’t want to think too hard, and wishes to recapture those long-ago (for many of us – I know a number of my regular readers are my generational compatriots) days of teenage summer reading, wrapped up in these darkly sensuous – but really quite chaste, kisses being as far as our heroines go – gloriously suspenseful, absolutely predictable romances. Then when it was revealed she'd lied about Richard dying to David I realized what a monster she was.). Warning: There may well be some significant spoilers here and there, but as the plot twists are all highly predictable by anyone with the least bit of experience with the genre, I doubt if having these confirmed ahead of time will lessen one’s reading pleasure. The Indextrious Reader Welcome back. or ask your favorite author a question with Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

I rated Cousin Kate at 6 because of Heyer’s competent handling of her setting and the quality of her writing. Willow House Chronicles, ACOB ~ A Century of Books Project – 2014/2017/2018, Gothic Concoctions – Mary Stewart’s French Chateau Drama Trumps Georgette Heyer’s Boring Cousin Kate & Madeleine Brent’s Spunky Cornish Fishergirl, A postcard from my neighbourhood, and a note on reading from CBC’s Ideas, A slightly unfinished business: Table Two by Marjorie Wilenski (1942). (Perhaps because a similar character plays a major role in Heyer’s Cousin Kate?). Good clean, intelligent fun. When an accident deep in the woods nearly kills Linda’s innocent charge, she begins to wonder if someone has deadly plans for the young count. TBR 313 This is a very well-written, intelligent and suspenseful novel. Great details in the setting throughout, and the action was well maintained. No, the only one of Mary Stewart's suspense novels to be made into a movie is The Moon Spinners, which starred Hayley Mills.

His Futile Preoccupations My verdict: A better-than-average modern gothic, and an excellent first-novel-in-the-genre by – drumroll!

The stories are admittedly improbably but provide a very nice escape. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Château Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems like a wondrous, ecstatic dream.

Welcome back. These are merely meant to be a measure of the book's success in meeting my hopes and expectations as a reader.

Nonsuch Book

[ when Richard actually hurt Charity badly enough to leave bruises on her wrist that she later had to cover up with a bracelet. 20 Comments ». The Madeline Brent novels were a decided success, and Peter O’Donnell eventually wrote nine.

And the little boy was very convincing. The Book Trunk

I know I said “boring” in the header, and that seems to be my ultimate feeling. Good job, Mr. O’Donnell! And, a little romance never hurt a good story... i only read the moonspinners. I'm going to read them all (again) start to finish. I think your question should have been marked as a spoiler. Perhaps this won’t be the most sober-minded book discussion, which would indeed be fitting, for these books are not High Literature in any sense of the term, and are therefore free game for a little bit of mild mockery, all in good fun, because I did read them willingly and with general pleasure, though occasionally that pleasure was all about their fulfillment of stereotypical Gothic Romance Scenarios. The prolific and beloved author John Grisham, known for his courtroom thrillers, is back this month with a new pageturner, A Time for Mercy,... To see what your friends thought of this book. Then when it was revealed she'd lied about Richard dying to David I real, [ (and I could tell from the very first pages something was off about her. Did they make a movie based on this book??

All are tales of suspense, with very romantic undertones and an old-fashioned quality that I rather liked. All are tales of suspense, with very romantic undertones and an old-fashioned quality that I rather liked. This book combines four into one and seems like a lot of Mary Stewart at once. I bumped it down just a bit because of the inclusion of Young Man with Symptoms of Insanity, a plot strand which I found exceedingly annoying for some reason. While I do not sympathize with his motives, I can certainly understand his perspective and why he took the actions he did. Mary Stewart, after her previous year’s rather dire first attempt, 1957’s Thunder on the Right, pulls up her authorial socks and takes another run at the genre, this time succeeding brilliantly. The last was gripping, made me doubt the integrity of the hero (Raoul) up to the reveal and it did not involve supernatural elements.