ot: R. I. P. Mary Stewart

[filkferengi]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/15/romance-suspense-novelist-mary-stewart-dies

I'm a bit late with this, as I just found out. Her Merlin trilogy was a pivotal formative influence, as were her romantic suspense novels. Lots of intricate plotting, engaging characters, and an author's voice I enjoyed spending lots of time with were among her appeal.

Besides the Merlin Trilogy, I'd cite _Touch Not The Cat_ and _The Ivy Tree_ as particular favorites.

How about y'all?

Comments

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

The Ivy Tree is straight-up AMAZING. I didn't love the book when I first read it in my early twenties, but it's the one I've come back to most often (and most admiringly) since. MADAM, WILL YOU TALK also has a fantastic twist that I enjoy even now that I know what it is (sound familiar?).

I also have a deep fondness for THIS ROUGH MAGIC, AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND and THE GABRIEL HOUNDS, but they're all good really (except for THUNDER ON THE RIGHT, which is so cliched, sexist and generally terrible that I can hardly believe Stewart wrote it. I suspect editorial meddling on a massive scale).

But generally speaking: MARY STEWART, YES. And also Susanna Kearsley, who is basically her modern heir only with lots more history.

[filkferengi]

_The Ivy Tree_ definitely had the Best Twist Ever. It's so vivid. But then, Mary Stewart often wrote good movies, didn't she?

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Ivy Tree does have a good twist, but for some reason I just don't like it that much. (A missing-heir-returns-or-maybe-not book that I do like is Brat Farrar (by Josephine Tey).

I like Madam Will You Talk, but more than that I like Nine Coaches Waiting. And in both cases it's partly because of the vivid descriptions of truly luscious-sounding food... :)

Never read her Merlin books. Never wanted to.

[filkferengi]

_Brat Farrar_ is excellent. Of Tey's books, _Daughter of Time_ is the only one I like better.