REVIEW: The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
B+ Reviews1960s / First-Person / Greece / mystery / romantic-suspense24 Comments
Young, beautiful, and adventurous Nicola Ferris loves her life as a secretary at the British Embassy on Greece. On leave from her job as a secretary in Athens, has been looking forward to a quiet week’s holiday in the lush island of Crete, enjoying the wild flowers and the company of her cousin Frances. Then on her day off, her impulse led her on a little-used path into the foreboding White Mountains. She links up with two hiking companions who have inadvertently stumbled upon a scene of blood vengeance, that involving a young Englishman and a group of people tied together by blood and the bonds of greed.
For the first time in her life Nicola meets a man and a situation she cannot deal with… A man in hiding — for reasons he could not explain. Warned to stay away, Nicola was unable to obey. And before she realized what she had uncovered, she found herself thrust into the midst of an alarming plot in which she would become the prey… And suddenly the life Nicola adores is in danger of coming to an abrupt, brutal, and terrifying end….
Dear Readers,
As with many Stewart books, this one starts off innocently enough with young Nicola happily on her way to a vacation amide the Cretan countryside. Descriptions of the lovely landscape lead her quietly on her way to destiny which meets up with her, in an almost quiet and tranquil way, before she realizes what she’s got into.
Very quickly, Nicola turns from a happy tourist on holiday into that amazing creature, the managing Englishwoman. Once she gets a head of steam going she’s formidable enough to get not one but two young men to do her bidding even though both initially balk at any involvement on her part.
Nicola is a sensible young woman – she immediately realizes that whatever Mark and Lambis have got themselves into, it’s deeper than she wants to go and sensibly tries to back out once she’s done her bit and helped save Mark’s life – twice. But it’s her innate sense of of decency that won’t allow her to let go of the situation and causes her to stick her oar in where she can see it’s needed and she can actually do more good than harm.
The story is a wonderful mix of carefree and tension which all turns on a dime. I’m glad to see Nicola actually doing something productive, saving Mark the first day by moving him, saving him again by diversion in the village and then putting all the clues together for the ultimate find. The group conference after that does get a bit “boy’s own adventure” esque. But at least Nicola takes full part in it.
I did wonder at the fact that the murderers would have done the initial deed and shot at Mark then hesitated on the rest. It doesn’t add up even if it gives the happy ending needed. But then Stewart seldom kills off characters with an exception I can remember in “Nine Coaches Waiting.”
Frances is a doll and not to be messed with either. What is the difference between a proper lunch and the “thumping good” one she orders from Tony? Perhaps our English readers could chime in here. She truly is a dear with her “your Mark” to Nicola, comments on Tony from London as Little Lord Fauntleroy and efforts with a rock to even the odds during the pitched water battle. Am I the only one who reads Tony as a bit of Roddy McDowall?
The way the crooks catch on to what Nicola and Co know is, again thankfully in a Stewart novel, not due to incompetence on her part but rather just an unfortunate oversight. Nicola isn’t made to be momentarily dense just to get the plot where it needs to go.
I have to repeat that the English are just so managing here. Even when Frances goes down for the count with her gimpy ankle, she’s still muttering orders and soothing things over. She and Nicola are pluck to the backbone and not ones to let any foreign types get away with any such nasty things as murder or kidnapping. All alone in a Cretan village? Fleeing from villains in the middle of the night? Staggering along under the weight of suitcases along a rocky coastline? Lost the easy means of contacting the rescuers? Never fear and “press on regardless.” I also love that while Nicola dashes on with her heroic attempt to contact Mark, she keeps demurring that it isn’t heroic at all. Just necessary, damn it but not heroic at all. One just does what must be done and passes it off as a way to cool down after a sticky walk.
But heroics are exactly what Nicola does as she is thrust into a fight for her life in a way unique to the story. I’ll try not to spoil it but I’ve never before or since read anything like this desperate escape from death. Mary Stewart had a knack for not only making the final, heart stopping climax of the book gripping and suspenseful but also making it a one of a kind to the book setting and characters.
Stewart’s heroes are usually the strong, quiet types who refrain from excess emotion until pushed to the edge and then they nobly step up and go far beyond uttering sharp words straight to, in this case, “surging” into the fray to defend and protect their heroine. Mark is no exception to the rule and hurls himself right at the danger – along with his backup squad, some patio furniture and a pot of carnations. I still love it, though, that Nicola plays the final card in catching the main villain. Very neatly too.
Stewart does marvelous visuals. And it’s not only the landscape that springs up before you but the heat, if it’s hot, or damp, if it’s wet, or wind or the noble procession of every boat from the Cretan village out to rescue Frances stuck on a rock like Andromeda. I also love that Colin’s schoolboy Greek actually came in useful for him!
There’s also such a down-to-earth feel about the story. Mark and Nicola meet, spend the night in shared warmth and then – wait, there’s no great bolt of lightning romance that quickly follows. Instead he looks like “a rather badly off tramp” and she thinks she probably looks like “pretty suitable mate for him.” No instalurve with perfect morning breath here. I do like that she let’s Mark verbally have it when he defends not telling her a few things. By gosh yes she is involved and up to her eyelids and he better appreciate it. And by gosh he does. And acknowledges her share in saving the day and catching the crook.
The book is period as I doubt there are enough isolated Greek islands now to allow for English vacationers to escape their fellow day trippers as Frances and Nicola tried to do. And today would a young woman traipse about the countryside, clambering over rocks, while wearing a frock? She also has memories of the blackout during the war to compare to their hurried flight from danger in the end. But I love the early 1960s feel that this was an out of the way place, steeped in time, with a people proud of their heritage and that the Moonspinners truly do look out for Our Intrepid Heroes on their missions during the course of the book – making the night safe for the hunted. B+
~Jayne
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THE MOONSPINNERS was one of the first two books I checked out of the adult section of my small hometown library. My dad had my name added to his library card and told the head librarian I could check out any book I wanted. I’d already read every book in the children’s section. I was ten. I still remember the opening and it’s one of my all-time favorites: “It was the egret, flying out of the lemon-grove, that started it. I won’t pretend I saw it straightaway as the conventional herald of adventure, the white stag of the fairy-tale, which, bounding from the enchanted thicket, entices the prince away from this followers, and loses him in the forest where danger threatens with the dusk. But, when the big white bird flew suddenly up among the glossy leaves and the lemon-flowers, and wheeled into the mountain, I followed it.
*deep sigh* Now I need to go reread this book. FYI, the other book I checked out? THE SPY WHO LOVED ME by Ian Fleming. ;)
It’s been years – much too long – since I’ve read this book but Moonspinners was my first Mary Stewart and I adored it. I think it was a gift to one of my parents which they never read but which I read over and over and then badgered my mom to take me to the library so I could find other Stewarts to love. I think Nicola was the basis for my love of strong, intelligent heroines. She wasn’t perfect but she generally kept her wits about her and really came through in the end.
Man I wish her estate would digitize her books.
Ahhh, the book that started it all. Not only 30 odd years of love for the sublimely classy prose of Mary Stewart, but an absolute adoration of the Greek Islands.
Needless to say Crete is no longer the island of the book, but there are smaller islands that retain some of the atmosphere of that time .
I am tempted to say “lashings of ginger beer” in reply to your question of what exactly constitutes a thumping good lunch, but that’s me being facetious (google it).
It’s a delight of a book,that didn’t deserve the Disney bowdlerising that the film got.( One of the worst adaptations ever, & awful casting to boot)
And now I’ve thought about it, my thumping good Greek lunch would be, mezes followed by spanakopita or perhaps some anchovies cooked in lemon juice & olive oil served with a tomato salad, then perhap some Portokalopita for dessert. All washed down with an icy cold Boutari rose… :)
I love this book. My introduction to it was the Disney movie, with Haley Mills. They showed the movie in my elementary school one afternoon. And I loved it. And, of course, no elementary school library is going to have a copy of the book.
Our school librarian loaned me her own copy. I’m pretty sure it’s the book that started me on my lifelong romance reading habit.
@Lada: They are available as ebooks. They were on offer earlier this year from Amazon, because I splurged on all of them !!!
My favourite Mary Stewart book, my favourite Disney live action movie and one of the very first adult books I ever read many decades ago, back in the very early 70s. I have since reread it numerous times and loved it just as much as the first time. I love Mary Stewart to bits and have kept all her books in my library over these many years. And quite honestly, I longed to be like Frances! :)
Mary Stewart was and is in a class of her own, I think. Her heroes and heroines seem plausibly real people, and she always sets the scene so well. Yes, her books are dated but for me that’s an advantage as she brings that period to life so well and for various reasons the plot couldn’t happen now as it did. The lack of insta-love in this one is unusual for Mary Stewart; she and her husband fell in love at first meeting, and so she doesn’t hesitate to have her characters do the same in other books.
The Moonspinners was a book?! I loved Hayley Mills and watched the movie several times in my childhood. I have never read Mary Stewart. This might be the time.
“What is the difference between a proper lunch and the “thumping good” one she orders from Tony?”
I haven’t read the book, but I would assume quantity. Possibly also quality, but a ‘proper lunch’ sounds as if it could just be perfectly adequate nice sandwiches, while a ‘thumping good one’ would also have plenty of pies, cakes, meat or other good things of that sort.
I love this book. @Silver James – one of my favourite first lines too.
Unless I’m missing something, these are only available on Kindle in the UK, not the US. Bummer. I’ve been wanting to try Mary Stewart since someone (you, Jayne?) reviewed another of her books. I think I’ll grab this from the library.
@Charlotte Russell: They’re available digitally in Australia, Canada and UK. I’ve been clicking that “tell the publisher I’d like to read this book on Kindle ” button for more than five years now. Graham Greene books too.
Thanks for the review Jayne. I’m feeling rather nostalgic now. I can remember exactly where the Mary Stewart books were located in our library. I also remember the librarian telling my mom that no, she didn’t think I was too young to be reading them.
I read all of Mary Stewart’s books when I was a teenager, and I remember being enthralled by the feeling of being in each of the places she described. I visited Crete many years after reading The Moonspinners, and I think my reaction to the countryside and the antiquity sites in particular was shaped by having read Stewart’s descriptions.
I read this book the better part of a decade ago and all I remember is that the hero did a lot of running around for a dude with a gunshot wound (I think?) and thought that Nicola looked really good in his brother’s pants.
I know what I’ll be reading soon…..thanks for the review!
@Nuha: He did, didn’t he? But then it was just a flesh wound – to borrow a line from Monty Python.
@Anne: Yes, I want ebooks too! And I remember the copies in my high school library were paperback and on one of those wire racks …
@Cate: @Ros: Right, I want to go to lunch with you two. It seems like Tony did provide all kinds of goodies in that lunch and a good thing too since so many people ended up eating it.
@Silver James: This was my first Stewart (I have the copy at the top of the page) and I got it off a rack in my sixth grade reading group. I’ve read it so many times over the years that I can recite not only the opening, but much of the rest of the book from memory. So how many times does Frances say “your Mark” and Nicola responds “not my Mark”. F: “So this is your Mark.” N: “‘Why, yes,’ I said.” The end. Deep sigh.
It makes me crazy that Stewart’s books aren’t available as ebooks (at least in the US). All of my paper copies are decades old and I’d love to have backups.
I cut my reading teeth on the romantic-suspense likes of Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt and Madeline Brent books. To this day, still the best.
As much as ‘The Moonspinners’ was my first Mary Stewart (age12) it is ‘This Rough Magic’ that is my absolute favourite. The combination of mystery, romance, Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ set on the Greek island of Corfu set me on the lifelong path of being ‘a reader’, as well as giving me the itch to travel, to see for myself all the wonders an author bought into my world.
@Sandra: That was the cover on the edition I read too which is why I hunted it out for the review. It brings back so many good memories.
@Catherine: I love that one too and I debated which one of these I was going to read. Moonspinners won out just because I could lay my hands on my copy faster.