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Good Reading : November 2007
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NOVEMBER 2007 ı goodreading 9 Iremember the first time I picked up a Mary Stewart book. It was a grey, rainy lunchtime in the school library and I was about 15. I’d been looking for a Rosemary Sutcliff book, but I’d read all the ones that were on the shelf. Suddenly, my eye was caught by a title along the ‘S’ row: Madam,Will You Talk? What an intriguing title, I thought, and picked up the book. I opened it at the first page, and was immediately hooked: The whole affair began so very quietly.When I wrote, that summer, and asked my friend Louise if she would come with me on a car trip to Provence, I had no idea that I might be issuing an invitation to danger. I took the book out, and spent the rest of lunchtime curled up with it, and fretted through the next couple of school hours till I could go home and get back to the story. I managed to finish the book that night and immediately re-read it the next day, bowled over not only by the exciting story but also by the sophis- ticated, graceful elegance of the writing and the vivid, passionate characters. I had fallen in love with the handsome, brooding, suffering hero, who at first we think is a villain, and felt a sense of kinship with his bewildered teenage son. But most of all, I adored the heroine and narrator of the story, Charity Selborne, an independent, intelligent, spirited woman, young and courageous widow of an airforce ace. I longed to be like her, able to toss off witty asides, outracing the hero’s fast car on mountain roads with her own speedster, taking difficult deci- sions, effortlessly elegant and feminine, with a trace of melancholy and quite without arrogance. Mary Stewart had cast her spell over me. Over the next few weeks, I read every romantic thriller of hers I could lay my hands on: This Rough Magic, The Ivy Tree, My Brother Michael, The Moon- spinners, Nine Coaches Waiting, Wildfire at Midnight, Thunder on the Right, The Gabriel Hounds, Touch Not the Cat, Airs Above the Ground. Each of them had those delicious Stewart pleasures: the wonderful settings, lyrically rendered; the dashing, unpredict- able heroes; the mystery and danger; a touch of real-world magic; limpid writing and fantastic, vivid heroines. Her novels filled many a dull day with life and sunshine. Later, I discov- ered her Arthurian novels too: The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, The Wicked Day.Though I loved them too, it wasn’t with quite the same passion as the roman- tic thrillers.Those really, really spoke to my passionate teenage heart, craving the excitement of both love and adventure, all in one gorgeous package. It can be a dangerous thing, returning to the novels you loved as a young person. Sometimes the passage of time blights beloved books, so that you see the faults you didn’t notice in the past and cringe at the infelicitous turn of phrase or the unpleasantly dated sentiment.That’s especially so when you’ve grown up to be a writer yourself and can see the ropes and pulleys behind the stage magic. Not so with Mary Stewart! A year or two ago I began on a major re-read of her romantic thrillers, discov- ering to my delight that the spell was as potent, as fresh as ever. Indeed my admiration of her work only increased now that I knew more about the art and craft of writing myself. 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 literary and histori- cal allusions in Mary Stewart’s books: her love of Shakespeare nd of Greek and Roman lassics and Celtic myth, espe- ially, shines through, enriching he books while never being verbearing. Her evocation of place, of landscape and architecture and atmosphere, is superb.The books haven’t dated at all, despite, or perhaps partly because of, their lack of graphic sexual or violent content. And that’s borne out by the teenage girls to whom I’ve introduced the novels; they are immediately captivated by their glamour and excitement and do not care at all that the books are set in the 1950s and ’60s. Born in Sunderland in 1916, Lady Mary Stewart (as she now is) took a degree in English at Durham University, then became a lecturer there. She held he post till her marriage in 1955 o FH Stewart, who became the Regius Professor of Geology and Dean of Science at Edinburgh University. She travelled widely as a young woman, especially in France and Greece. Her first novel, Madam,Will You Talk? was published in 1955 and was an immediate bestseller. All her novels have been bestsellers, and all are still in print. She also wrote three successful novels for children: A Walk in Wolf Wood, Ludo and the Star Horse and The Little Broomstick. Lady Mary Stewart now lives in the Western Highlands of Scotland. Last year I wrote to her to thank her for the many years of pleasure her books had given me. Back, to my huge excite- ment, came a characteristically graceful letter, written in legant blue script. It is a letter will treasure, along with her orgeous books. mary, queen of hearts The novels of MARY STEWART, written up to half a century ago, still speak to modern readers — especially to her number one fan, SOPHIE MASSON. shelf life
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