It occurred to me the other day that I’ve really neglected the authors Mary Stewart and Madeleine Brent on this blog. I won’t bore you with a biography of them, but I will tell you why I like their stories.
I discovered Mary Stewart’s books by accident, which is probably how I find most authors I love. I’ve loved the legends of King Arthur and Merlin for years, and came across her novel The Crystal Cave. I discovered this was part of a series which I devoured over the coming months when I could find them. Many Mary Stewart books were out of print at this time, but fortunately you could then and can now find them fairly easily second hand.
Of course, once I had completed this series, I had to try her other novels. I’ve read a handful of these, but my favourite of these and my most favourite of all these books is Touch Not the Cat.
Old country houses, spooky Gothic romance, genealogy and psychic links – not to mention the romance – what’s not to love?!
Just recently I’ve managed to get my hands on a copy of Nine Coaches Waiting, which I’ve had on my list to read for many years. This is a fairly hokey 1970s edition and is a bit tattered, but for 20p you can hardly complain…if I love it as much as I think I’m going to, I’ll treat myself to a copy in one of the new editions that have come out recently with snazzy new covers.
Perhaps I should get a new Touch Not the Cat one too, eh? You can read more about Mary’s novels here.
I’ve mentioned Madeleine Brent at least once before here, about my favourite (at least so far) of ‘her’ novels Tregaron’s Daughter. It’s set in Venice! It’s romantic and Gothic! Needless to say I first read that one in my late teens, but it is so rare to find these novels even second hand (perhaps not quite so difficult on the internet) that I am still trying to track down all of the novels and enjoy them. As I’m sure I will as they have all been most excellent so far…
As there isn’t a website as snazzy as the Mary Stewart one for Madeleine Brent, here are the known novels:
- Tregaron’s Daughter
- Moonraker’s Bride
- Stranger at Wildings
- Merlin’s Keep
- The Capricorn Stone
- The Long Masquerade
- A Heritage of Shadows
- Stormswift
- Golden Urchin
I’ve only got Tregaron’s Daughter, Merlin’s Keep and The Long Masquerade – so if you’re getting rid of yours, you know where I am…
Which Grand Duchess Would YOU Be?
I love Mary Stewart! I read all her books as a teenager. My favourite Mary Stewart was This Rough Magic, which I must re-read! I also loved Jean Plaidy’s alter ego Victoria Holt, I think you’d really love her gothic romances…Bride of Pendorric is a good one.
Yay! More Mary Stewart fans! I’ve just got This Rough Magic and some others, so I’ll have to review at some stage…knew about Madeleine Brent, it’s a great contrast in writing eh?
Apparently Madeleine Brent is actually Peter ‘o Donnel, who wriote the Modesty Blaise books (which I used to secretly read my Dad’s copies of as a teenager, because they were quite racy…)
I love Mary Stewart – or I did when I read them in my late teens/early 20s, when they were a welcome escape from the stuff I had to read at uni. This Rough Magic was a fave, but I had them all. Your blog has made me want to read one again, just to see what I think after all these years, thank you.
So glad you did Marguerite! I need to have a Mary Stewart love-in more often
I love both, though Madeleine Brent is my absolute favorite. Gothic adventure romances set across the British Empire, and the heroines were always intelligent, resourceful, and independent!
Oh Brent is awesome – and those stories are standing the test of time a bit more I think. Do you have a favourite adventure?
It’s a tie between Moonraker’s Bride and Merlin’s Keep!