It's a day for sad news, it seems, as I've just heard that Mary Stewart has died.
I know her books are great favourites with a lot of us and are often taken up when some escapism or comfort reading is needed, and although it's been some years since she published her last novel - and at the age of 97 that's not surprising - I am so sorry to hear that she's gone.
I have linked to this television interview with her once or twice before, but if you haven't seen it, do give it a look and discover the lovely lady behind the books.
Most recently I've read Touch Not The Cat and Thornyhold and enjoyed both enormously, and happily I have others still to read including The Crystal Cave, the first in her acclaimed Merlin series, as well as some re-reads first encountered as a teenager. As her books have been so spread out for me I couldn't pick a favourite, but if you have one, please let us know.
Through reading - and rereading - her books over many years Mary Stewart has given me so much pleasure. She and Virginia Woolf are the two authors in my house with a shelf of their own. My favourite is the one starting with "It was the egret, flying out of the lemon grove, that started it'. The Moon-Spinners
Posted by: cath | 14 May 2014 at 05:04 PM
That was one of my teenage ones (must re-read); how lovely that you have a shelf dedicated to Mary Stewart, Cath.
Posted by: Cornflower | 14 May 2014 at 05:06 PM
Can't decide between Stormy Petrel, with its wonderful evocation of a Hebridean island, or Thornyhold with its intriguing hints of the supernatural. But I enjoy all her books - she always conveyed an excellent sense of place, e.g Greece or France.
Posted by: Philippa Kirkpatrick | 14 May 2014 at 05:07 PM
She's good on the supernatural, and as you say Philippa, great on place.
She had so many strengths.
Posted by: Cornflower | 14 May 2014 at 05:09 PM
Sad news indeed, 97 is a grand old age to reach though.
Posted by: Sue | 14 May 2014 at 05:18 PM
Yes, and from what I know of it she seems to have had a happy life.
Posted by: Cornflower | 14 May 2014 at 05:20 PM
I haven't read any Mary Stewart since I was a child, but on repeated recommendation I just took out Thornyhold from the library. I look forward to discovering more of her work.
Posted by: Lory @ Emerald City Book Review | 14 May 2014 at 06:42 PM
So irrational to be angry & upset that she's finally left us after 97 years, but this is the end of an era for me.
I discovered her books as a teenager in the '60s. I still re-read her and regard her as a major influence on my own novels. I treasure a signed copy of MY BROTHER MICHAEL that I found in a secondhand bookshop, but my favourites (so hard to choose!)are NINE COACHES WAITING and THE GABRIEL HOUNDS.
We shall not look upon her like again.
Posted by: Linda Gillard | 14 May 2014 at 07:02 PM
I hope you will love it, Lory.
Posted by: Cornflower | 14 May 2014 at 07:39 PM
Linda, your comment shows just how great a writer's reach can be, and your reaction is entirely natural, I think.
Posted by: Cornflower | 14 May 2014 at 07:46 PM
I am so sorry to hear this--hers books really are so comforting to read and always such reliably good reads. I have enjoyed each and every book by her that I have read and that she has given so many readers so much pleasure is an accomplishment indeed. She will be missed but certainly still much loved! I think my favorites are Touch Not the Cat and My Brother Michael, but I still have a number of her books as yet unread--lucky really as I have something still to look forward to (and then rereading of course...).
Posted by: Danielle | 14 May 2014 at 10:25 PM
Sad news, but she had a long & happy life so it's hard to be too sad. I read most of her books as a teenager but I'd like to reread one or two now. It's lovely that her books are back in print now as well so readers will go on discovering her.
Posted by: Lyn | 14 May 2014 at 11:15 PM
Someone just posted on my FB page to say that news of Lady Stewart's death is a hoax. There's certainly some internet buzz about a hoax, but since she has an obituary on the Times website, I'm inclined to think the hoax is a hoax, but I thought I'd better mention it.
Posted by: Linda Gillard | 14 May 2014 at 11:23 PM
Love the Merlin series particularly but really all of her books were "good reads", time to go looking for some of them again.
Posted by: Gillie | 15 May 2014 at 04:26 AM
I caught wind of that hoax story last night, but assumed that as it was her publishers who had announced her death, their word could be relied upon. I see from Wikipedia this morning that her date of death is now listed and is given as 10th. May, so there must be some factual basis behind that, one would hope.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 08:40 AM
There's often talk about which authors' work will endure and why, and being much-loved is surely a big part of that longevity.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 08:43 AM
I agree, Lyn.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 08:44 AM
I must begin the Merlin books a.s.a.p.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 08:45 AM
In our younger days we used to regularly visit her next door neighbours, Mary and Bob, in Lochawe. I recall that Mary (Stewart) always gave them a copy of her newly published novels. Although she and her husband left Lochawe some years ago, the people who were part of her life will now feel, as we all do, a great loss.
Posted by: Barbara MacLeod | 15 May 2014 at 10:20 AM
How lovely that you had a connection to her, Barbara.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 11:10 AM
So sad, I do love her books!
Posted by: MOIRA OLIVER | 15 May 2014 at 12:32 PM
If these comments alone are anything to go by, she will not be forgotten, for her books will find new readerships as well as being enjoyed again and again by her long-term fans.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 02:15 PM
Yes, a sad day in literary circles. Few are the writers who can please teenagers and adults alike (or perhaps, my own generation of teenagers - don't know what teenagers today would make of them, but oh, very sad to hear of her death.)
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 15 May 2014 at 04:12 PM
I just bought four of her books last week, thinking that I hadn't read any of them since I was a teenager and so many people talk about loving them. I'm sad she's died, but I'm happy she had a long, happy life. I look forward to re-reading the books I just bought.
Posted by: Joan Kyler | 15 May 2014 at 05:22 PM
I have just read on the internet that this is a hoax and is one of several such hoaxes.
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 15 May 2014 at 05:43 PM
That rumour was going about yesterday, but The Times have today given Mary Stewart a full-page obituary, so presumably they have verified the facts. As Linda says above, it looks as though the hoax story is itself a hoax.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 06:03 PM
From the lengthy piece about her in the press today it sounds as though her life was happy, despite her great sadness at being unable to have children, but that lack itself 'pushed' her into writing.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 06:06 PM
I hope she is still read by young people today.
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 06:07 PM
For anyone who can't access the Times piece, here is the Guardian obituary: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/15/romance-suspense-novelist-mary-stewart-dies?CMP=twt_gu
Posted by: Cornflower | 15 May 2014 at 07:56 PM
Reading Wildfire at Midnight at the moment (coincidentally). I had thought to google her to see if she was still alive, but it seems no need. An author much enjoyed as a teenager and rediscovering when I want a jolly good yarn to read.
Posted by: Liz Davey | 16 May 2014 at 09:46 AM
Yes, the Telegraph has also published an obit today, so presume the news must be true.
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 16 May 2014 at 10:17 AM
Here's the Telegraph piece: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10833968/Mary-Stewart-obituary.html
Posted by: Cornflower | 16 May 2014 at 10:56 AM
"Jolly good" is right, Liz!
Posted by: Cornflower | 16 May 2014 at 10:58 AM
The Moonspinners! I think it was the first one I read, but not the last--Airs Above the Ground, Nine Coaches Waiting, My Brother Michael. . My sister and I gobbled them down. What nice books, is all I can say!
Posted by: Rebecca | 16 May 2014 at 10:41 PM
'Nice' is underrated, I think; there should be more books in that category.
Posted by: Cornflower | 17 May 2014 at 03:22 PM
One of my favourite authors, her books have a special place in my reading life. My favourite is Airs Above The Ground. I've read it several times and one scene (you'll know which one if you know the book) always chokes me up!
Posted by: Sylvia | 18 May 2014 at 08:28 AM
She seems to occupy a special place in many hearts, and that's a great achievement.
Posted by: Cornflower | 18 May 2014 at 09:00 PM
I've always attributed my love of travel to her books which I read as a teen. They had such a strong sense of place! Vienna, Crete, Corfu, the south of France, Damascus - in her writings, they all sounded so exotic to a 14 year old living in a small town.
Posted by: Aparatchick | 21 May 2014 at 02:55 AM
I have been sadly out of touch with a lot over the past couple of weeks and this has only just come to my attention.
This is end of an era for me too - Mary Stewart's books meant a great deal to me when I was a bookish teenager and I still re-read them from time to time and I can confirm that today's teenagers can still enjoy them as I passed a few on to my younger daughter to take her mind off AS level stress three years ago and she loved them!
My favourites were always the Arthurian series (especially The Crystal Cave), Wildfire at Midnight, Airs Above the Ground and the two Linda mentioned too - The Gabriel Hounds and Nine Coaches Waiting.
Thank you Mary Stewart - you will be missed.
Posted by: LizF | 22 May 2014 at 11:17 AM
One of my students once said she liked "nice peopley books," which just about covers it! Great literature is great literature, but when I'm tired, I want a nice peopley book. Mary Stewart did those well!
Posted by: Rebecca | 24 May 2014 at 12:34 AM