Retro Friday: Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc.

From the moment she first sets foot back in France, Linda Martin feels as if she's finally coming home. Even if she's not returning to her own home per say, she is returning in the role of governess to the quietly contained nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy. An orphan like Philippe, Linda quickly gains her footing with her new charge but it's the boy's family that keeps her on her toes. She never can quite find her balance in the face of the tremendous presence of his uncle Léon or the quiet ambivalence of his aunt. But it's the handsomely arrogant Raoul that keeps her "eggshell composure" permanently rattled. Yet when a series of accidents seem to point to an attempt on Philippe's life, Linda doesn't know what to believe or who to trust and time is running out.

Somewhat ashamedly I admit that Nine Coaches Waiting is my very first foray into the fabulous world of Mary Stewart. Which seems utterly absurd to me now that I've gone and read it because it reads like a laundry-list for All Things Michelle Adores. The language (can you get more romantic than French?), the setting (I swear I could see those twisting zigzag switchbacks leading up to the château), the frightening yet enigmatic Valmy family (Léon practically gave me the shivers with his puppet master-like remarks). And oh! The suspense! Told in Linda's first person narrative, I could not have been more caught up in her fears and triumphs and most importantly her unease concerning whom to trust.

It's like Jane Eyre and Rebecca (two of my all time favorite reads) went and had a gorgeously intelligent baby with a flair for the dramatic and a penchant for poetry. I don't think I've ever read a book that references another so subtly and appropriately. And the best part is that Linda even makes the Jane Eyre connection herself -- she is fully aware of the similarities but it only serves to heighten the aptness of the comparison, not lessen it. How does Ms. Stewart do that?!

Furthermore, Mary Stewart possess that rare quality in a writer of being able to not say something and have it mean a great deal. This may seem like a small thing, but I so appreciate an author who is willing to trust her readers to pick up the threads and make sense of their emotional import without beating the thought to death. It's a very quiet trait (and often very undervalued) but I think Ms. Stewart has it in spades.

Ms. Stewart certainly understands how to play upon this readers' emotions; despite its initial slow buildup, there was always yet another twist just around the corner to throw my heart back into overdrive. Truly when all's said and done Nine Coaches Waiting packs a bit of a wallop in the best way possible. I literally could not put it down and venture to say, if you're a Mary Stewart innocent like I was, I recommend you remedy the situation immediately.

Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
The Allure of Books review
Angieville review
Book Harbinger review
Chachic's Book Nook review
She Reads Novels review

book source: purchased

Jane Eyre Giveaway!

Well do I ever have something exciting for you today! Many of you already know of my deep and long lasting love for the story of Jane Eyre - all that tension and drama just gets to me every single time. Which is why I was so excited when the kind people at Focus Features contacted me about doing a giveaway in conjunction with the recently released drool-worthy film, Jane Eyre. I haven't seen it yet (since I'm in one of those unlucky areas where it isn't showing yet), but you can be sure it's currently topping my list of must-see flicks. Just check out this lovely trailer...

Now onto the good part: Thanks to Focus Features, I have some great prizes in store for one lucky winner:

• Soundtrack sampler
• Bookmark
• Journal
• Pencil
• Copy of the book, Jane Eyre, movie tie-in edition

All you need to do, dear reader, is to leave me a comment telling me what scene(s) from the novel you will be forever crushed if they don't include in the movie. Please be sure to leave me your email address. Contest will run until March 30th and is open to US residents only.

Jane Eyre - The Official Website
Facebook page
Jane Eyre Goodreads Challenge

The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty

In the interest of full-disclosure I'd like to say up front that I have recently formed a new author crush. And it's a big one. In fact, my sole purpose in writing this love letter review is so that all of you will go out and immediately read The Ghosts of Ashbury High, therefore developing your very own all-consuming book crush in return. Considerate of me, eh?

Riley and Amelia have been a couple since they were fourteen years old. They are mysterious and beautiful and immediately cause a stir upon their arrival as Year 12 scholarship students at the exclusive private school in Castle Hill, Australia, Ashbury High. No one seems to know anything about these two, but everyone is noticing them and wants to be noticed by them. Even best friends Emily, Lydia, and Cassie. Emily, resident Drama Queen, quickly becomes obsessed with all things Riley and Amelia - her blog entries, even her answers to test questions focus on her observations of the pair (even if she sometimes confuses the definitions of words):

When I say they were "always together" I don't mean in the way of other couples.

Those couples who walk around making gurgling noises into the sides of each other's necks?

No.

Those couples are as disgusting as a gothic sewerage system.

Riley and Amelia had rhythm that matched and yet they were separate. Like bicycle wheels.

Sometimes they spoke and it's true that their voices were murmurs. But not the too-much-cheap-chocolate-weird-feeling-in-my-chin murmur of those other couples. It was more like the way my parents talked this one time when we went camping. It was late, and my brother and I were in our sleeping bags in the tent, and we could hear Mum and Dad by the campfire. Their low voices talked about strange, important things, and I couldn't really catch what they were saying. But it seemed to me to be all about how their kids were kind of stupid, but funny.

That's the kind of murmuring Riley and Amelia shared.

Enigmatic and Unknown to Emily and her friends, Riley and Amelia seem to float above all their regular high school drama. Although, like in the finest gothic novels, there occurs within the hallowed halls of Ashbury High more excitement and drama than just the arrival of two unexpected (albeit spectacular) teens. With their final, end of high school, career-deciding, HSC exams just around the corner; Emily is sure a ghost is haunting Ashbury High, Lydia is holding onto an alienating, destructive secret, and the lovable Toby cannot seem to talk about anything but Irish convicts and black holes. And that's not even mentioning the ghost that is haunting Riley and Amelia.

The Ghosts of Ashbury High is unlike any other novel I have ever read. It's a ghost story. It's about growing up. It's a Gothic novel. It's about judgment and prejudices. It's a historical novel. It's about friends. It's about finishing high school. Furthermore, it's HILARIOUS, yet also dark and filled with heavy secrets. Jaclyn Moriarty effortlessly floats back and forth from the perspective of multiple characters through the medium of homework assignments, meeting minutes, blog entries, letters, and even exam answers on gothic literature. You would think this arrangement would be confusing or irritating to read, but really, just the opposite occurs. The quirky format allows the multi-faceted and multi-layered secrets of the students of Ashbury High to reveal themselves bit by bit; forming an interconnected web so stunning and complex, I was utterly entranced with every one of its hefty 480 pages. Every single character leaps off the page, fully-formed and independent. I cannot tell you how Ms. Moriarty has managed it, but I am in awe. If this is what I can expect from her other novels, I'll be picking those up without hesitation. Especially as I am happy to report that I currently have a copy of The Year of Secret Assignments sitting pretty on my shelf. Guess what I'll be reading next?

Other Ashbury High novels (not necessary to read in order)
~ Feeling Sorry for Celia
~ The Murder of Bindy MacKenzie (Becoming Bindy MacKenzie/The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie)
~ The Year of Secret Assignments (Finding Cassie Crazy)

~ The Ghosts of Ashbury High (Dreaming of Amelia)
Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
The Bookette review
Kiss the Book review
Oops...Wrong Cookie review
Pipedreaming review

book source: publisher giveaway (thank you! thank you!)

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

With her Lady Julia Grey novels, Deanna Raybourn has proved herself a master at creating evocative, atmospheric settings and her decision to set her latest Gothic novel, The Dead Travel Fast, in a mysterious and darkly exotic, feudal Transylvania castle can only be labeled as perfectly brilliant.

The death of Miss Theodora LeStrange's grandfather and guardian has left her at a impasse. Never one to desire marriage and motherhood she can either move in with her sister - and her many children - or marry a man she likes but does not love. Neither option is particularly appealing to Theodora when her rescue from domesticity arrives in the form of a letter from her school-friend Cosmina, inviting her to come to Castle Dragulescu in Transylvania prior to her upcoming marriage. Convinced this is the opportunity she has been waiting for to write her long-dreamed of novel, Theodora convinces friends and family to let her travel halfway around the world to a place steeped in tradition and superstition. Upon her arrival at Castle Dragulescu, Theodora is delighted to discover more than enough inspiration for her novel - the crumbling, yet majestic castle, the superstitious villagers, howling wind and dangerous wolves, not to mention the enigmatic Count Andrei Dragulescu himself. A figure cut for the most dashing adventures surely. But when a strange, horrifying murder strikes at the castle and rumors of supernatural involvement begin to swirl round, Theodora finds her pragmatic intellectual ideals sorely tested as the chilling and diabolical sequence of events unfold.

It is with a heavy heart to say that I truly struggled with this novel - I must have picked it up only to set it down again about twenty different times in the course of a couple of weeks; each time succumbing to the temptation of other, more shiny books. And it makes it even harder to admit when I say I have truly, truly been looking forward to reading it. That's not to say I wasn't impressed with Ms. Raybourn's latest offering - oh no, I was quite enthralled in fact. Perhaps I just wasn't in the proper frame of mind for such a dramatic and chilling Gothic novel. Over the course of Theodora's narrative I seemed to come across each and every ingredient necessary in crafting a traditional Gothic tale as if I was reading with a checklist in hand: the dark, creepy castle; the mysterious and handsome feudal lord with a libertine past and hidden depths; superstitious townsfolk; the first person, diary-style narrative; the introduction of supernatural elements all combined to create a truly haunting narrative -- just not anything particularly unique. Except for the added twist of Theodora's sleuthing - very much reminiscent of Lady Julia's adventures in that just when you think you've got it all figured out, another shocking revelation comes to light. Still, Ms. Raybourn is one of those authors who I have come to trust implicitly and although I didn't *love* The Dead Travel Fast, I very much liked it. And if I say I'm seriously anticipating the next Julia and Brisbane adventure -- Dark Road to Darjeeling -- like wow and boy howdy, would you even hold that against me?

Because Everyone Loves a Second Opinion:
All About Romance reviews
Angieville review
Dear Author review
Garden in My Pocket review 
S. Krishna's Books review

book source: my local library