Mary Stewart: The Ivy Tree

Mary Stewart's gothic romance The Ivy Tree was published in 1961. Many readers of this blog say it's their favorite novel by her. So far, I'd have to agree it's mine, too, of the ones I have read.

When Mary Grey meets Connor Winslow on the Roman Wall when she is sightseeing, he makes an offer she wants to refuse... but strangely, she is drawn to the job of impersonating Annabel Winslow, an heiress who disappeared eight years before from the family estate, Whitescar. Secrets and threats to Mary's life make the job fraught with peril. Someone wants Annabel dead for good.

Plot: 4/5  I was surprised by one major plot twist and not another. I will say that the novel drags after the first twenty pages which are riveting until around page 60. I know some won't agree, but there is one scene in particular that seemed way too drawn out (in Mary's boarding house with Lisa). Overall, though, the premise of the novel is intriguing, and the suspense and tension mounted until I didn't want to put the novel down. I was kept guessing for a while about a couple aspects of the plot.

Characterization: 5/5 Each character was well drawn. I could see Connor Winslow played by someone I can't quite grasp. He is that much his own character to me. Adam Forrest, the other love interest in the novel, is also compelling. I am not sure that any author does a love scene bathed in moonlight better than Stewart, and there are at least two in this novel that the heroine shares with both men in a parallel fashion. Some of the characters' names are also enviable in the novel. Stewart infuses them with symbolism and meaning.

Spooky elements/atmosphere: 5/5  For the sheer beauty of Stewart's description, I have to give this a 5. Mary Grey's walks in the moonlight took my breath away as did the world that exists in the novel. Stewart's prose is lush.

Literary elements: 4/5  Stewart has a snippet of a poem, often a ballad at the start of each chapter. In general, too, the writing is just intelligent.

Romantic elements: 5/5  This one is hopelessly heady and romantic. If you are a fan of studying how fate, choice, and chance intersect and the impossible love story comes to fruition, you will enjoy this one. I admire the way Stewart leaves doors open and explores nuances of feeling in each character. She focuses on the gray of emotions and relationships as well as the tension. One of my favorite set of lines in the novel is this, and I won't spoil any plot details by tagging them. The dark romance of these lines ranks up there for me with Wuthering Heights and some of the dialogue between Cathy and Heathcliff. From The Ivy Tree:

"Life does go on, and you change, and you can't go back. You have to live it the way it comes. You know that."

"Yes, of course. But it would be very much easier to be dead."


Rating: 4+ stars  ****+

If you want to know why Mary Stewart is so loved, this novel can help... :) "Time was. Time is... time is to come."

Mary Stewart: Thornyhold

This novel is one of Stewart's later ones, published in 1988, and might be called a cottage novel or cozy, but I think with its focus on witches and a woman alone and in danger, it is close enough to a Gothic Novel to end up on the blog. :) I know a lot of my readers do or would like this novel, so I wanted to post a review. My copy is the Fawcett Crest edition, and it's really gorgeous, though the cottage looks huge. ;)

Geillis Ramsey has inherited her witch-like, mysterious older cousin and godmother Geillis Saxon's cottage in the woods. For her, penniless and bereft of father and mother at age 27, the new home is a gift. Having known little happiness in her life, Geillis is elated at her new surroundings.

From the start, Thornyhold is lovely but mysterious. Geillis has left all manner of herbs and other tools of a witch or at least an herbalist, and her cousin young Geillis soon has a dream about flying and being part of a coven. Indeed, the cottage has a long history of its mistresses being white witches. Are the dreams and inklings Geillis has of being a witch or of having power to heal real, and what danger lurks near Thornyhold? Can the housekeeper and neighbor Agnes Trapp and others be trusted? Will Geillis be able to realize the fulfillment of a budding love affair and be happy at last?

Plot: 4/5 [This novel is lovely-- pastoral and bucolic. It's not a fast moving thriller, but it is quite satisfying as it spins out in descriptions of a sad childhood and of daily life as a young woman finds her way.]

Characters: 5/5 [Both Geillises are delightful. I pictured someone like Natalie Portman (brains and a certain fey and tentative quality she has fit to me) as young Geillis, and Helena Bonham Carter with her hair colored red as older Geillis. I also like Geillis' love interest and man of many talents-- Christopher Dryden-- (what a magical name that evokes dryads and all manner of lovely things, don't you think?), and picture him as a younger Robert Redford. A passage that describes him as a "lodestone-- a bright particular star" and as a "homme fatal" is one of the best descriptions of a hero I have seen, and I have read a lot of novels (168-69).]

Atmosphere/spooky elements: 4/5 [The cozy atmosphere really works in this one, and there is a hint of danger as well. Some Gothic touches are the witchcraft elements, Hodge the black cat, dead pigeons in the house, a crystal ball, visions, Jessamy who is a little off, howling dogs in the night, and an enigmatic housekeeper.]

Literary elements: 5/5 [Yes, this is a smart and even dreamlike novel, well written and evocative of novels many of us probably love starring children and young women in bucolic places.]


Stars: 4+ stars   ****+

I recommend this one for all fans of Mary Stewart. If you're a fan of pastoral scenes, cottage cozies, masterful description and mild Gothic elements, you will also love this novel. I found it a nice break from the horror type or spookier novels I have been reading of late.

Mary Stewart: Wildfire at Midnight

In Wildfire at Midnight, published in 1956, Stewart weaves a Gothic novel full of mystery, menace, and suspense.  Gianetta Brook needs to get away from it all, and she chooses Scottish Isle of Skye as her getaway. Little does she know that her ex-husband, Nicholas Drury is also vacationing there. She is also unaware until she meets some of the people she is staying with that there has been a brutal murder on one of the mountains, Blaven, there.

A full cast of characters makes this an intriguing and likable novel from the outset. When two climbers go missing, spooky threats are made, storms pound the Isle, and other murders are discovered, the tension rises. Who is the murderer? Can Gianetta even trust her ex-husband?

Plot: 5/5 [The pace moves quickly, and the novel doesn't get bogged down by too much lengthy description. The reader is there in the mountains with the panoramic views, but the action moves along well.]

Characterization: 4/5 [I had a little trouble keeping the many characters straight for the first 100 pages or so, but overall, Stewart does a nice job of painting the main characters and many secondary ones. I could see Gianetta as Maggie Gyllenhaal and Nicholas as Clive Owen. Mr. Hay I pictured as Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Marsha Maling played by Marcia Cross. Roderick brought Robert Redford (when he was younger) to mind.]

Atmosphere/spooky elements: 4/5 [It took a while for these elements to build, but the murder, when Gianetta hears about it, is shocking, and the theories about it are even more shocking. I got a chill thinking about the fire and about the true intent of the murderer. Other chills and thrills follow; this novel reads especially well in gray, stormy weather like we've been having these past few days.]

Literary? 5/5 [Yes, references to pop icons as well as to current events are sprinkled throughout along with philosophy and other tidbits from history and art.]

Romance? Yes, of several types. Stewart definitely tests the bounds of conventionality for the time with portrayals of divorce, promiscuity, and borderline lesbianism, but she does it in context of the London jet set of the time.


4+ stars  ****+

** I recommend this one. It just might be my favorite of the Mary Stewart novels I have read thus far, in fact. It has the feeling of a Gothic, of a whodunnit and of a cozy mystery with an edge.

Mary Stewart: My Brother Michael

With this novel, I finally, truly get what all the Mary Stewart fuss is about. I felt like I was in Greece-- in the ruins of Delphi, driving through the small towns and villages, and I fell in love with Simon myself, just as Camilla did. I have not warmed to other heroes of Stewart's making (the hero in Thunder on the Right or in Nine Coaches Waiting, for example), but this novel changed that for me.

What is not to love? Camilla takes someone's rental car-- not hers-- to Delphi after a mix-up. She is looking for Simon and his girl-- the ones who should have the rental car. She quickly finds Simon and gets involved with his search for his brother Michael's killer. The novel is suspenseful, but it is the kind of suspense you want to live in for a while. If you are a WWII history buff, you will love this one as well since Michael died during war time in a deft tale of intrigue.

I do have to say that this novel has some Gothic elements, but it is not the ancestral castle type of Gothic. It is a Gothic romance. It has a hero (and his dead brother) with secrets, murder, buried treasure, mysterious letters, villains, Greek tragedy, exotic locales... and more.

Characterization: 5/5 [I loved Camilla; she is modern yet demure while still being sassy when it counts. Simon, as I mentioned before, I fell in love with. He is intelligent and wise as well as kind. Stephanos, Niko, Danielle, and Nigel were also round characters.]

Plot: 4/5 [I only have one plot issue: the car mishaps that went on for pages to show readers that Camilla cannot drive. They were a little funny, but they went on for too long. Otherwise, the plot moves steadily, inexorably to its brilliant conclusion.]

Atmosphere/spooky elements: 4/5 [The ruins themselves were ghostly; I felt removed from the here and now as I read. Of course, quoting from tragedies and dramas also lends to that atmosphere. When Stewart mentioned the "wine-dark sea," she had me at Homer.]

Literary? 5/5 [Oh my yes. Homer, Euripides, John Donne, the gods-- especially Apollo-- and more are  invoked, and there is a particularly arresting philosophical discussion between Nigel, Camilla, and Simon about whether the means justify the ends and how no man is an island ala Donne. I would even argue that Camilla fulfills the role of the heroine on a Homeric sort of journey, and Simon fulfills his role of avenger of his brother's blood. The novel is just brilliant that way.]

Romance? Yes, and it felt so believable. I suspended my disbelief throughout this novel and found it credible that Camilla and Simon would be together.


Rating: 4+ stars ****+

** I recommend this one. If you have struggled with Stewart, give this one a try (though I doubt many of you have struggled with her). I bow to her genius... :)

Mary Stewart-- Observations and "Tin Soldier"

I often notice interesting phrases or outdated phrases in novels, and then I want to hunt them down. This blog will be boring you with some of them from time to time. I have a feeling some of you might be interested in such things too; after all, interest in what came before is one reason for reading older novels.

I'm reading Nine Coaches Waiting, and I have run across some lovely language and some puzzling phrases. This sentences contains one from the heroine, Linda Martin, as she reflects on her loneliness (from the Fawcett Edition of the novel):

"but there are also times when a desperate self-sufficiency doesn't quite suffice, and then the search for the anodyne begins . . . the radio, the dog, the shampoo, the stockings-to-wash, the tin soldier. . . "(74).

The puzzling phrase is that one. I did some research, and I think Urban Dictionary might have pegged it in its entry for "tin soldier." I have left out the obscene parts of the definition:

	1. A girl who is inactive during sex. 2. A girl who is hard to get into bed. That might make sense in light of the context of the heroine's loneliness as an orphan and a woman. I also found a similar reference in a commentary about a Hans Christian Andersen tale called "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." The argument is that the tin soldier stands as a metaphor for sexual repression. Any other ideas, readers?

http://dictionary.sensagent.com/the+steadfast+tin+soldier/en-en/

It makes sense to me, and it's a fascinating tidbit and glimpse into the mind of the heroine in this novel.