Once and Future Myths

By Jeanne

Mythology has become a hot topic. 

There have been many books drawing from myth and legend over the years—books about King Arthur* alone would fill a library—but there seems to be a recent uptick in the number of titles which draw from myth.  Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series introduced a whole generation of children to the gods of Olympus, a series so successful that it spawned other series dealing with Norse and Egyptian mythology.  He now has his own children’s book imprint, Rick Riordian Presents, which will showcase new writers who are producing myth based fantasy of many cultures. The first book is Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi which uses Hindu mythology as its setting.

On the adult side, Neil Gaiman came out with Norse Mythology last year, a non-fiction book which retells the Norse myths.  Those who know Thor only as one of the Avengers may be in for quite the surprise. The retellings are done with Gaiman’s usual high quality wordsmithing skills, with wonderful imagery, insight, and humor. This book is highly recommended as a starting point.

Following that, anyone intrigued should try Joanne Harris’ writing about the Norse, especially The Gospel of Loki which retells the stories from the point of view of one of the first unreliable narrators—Loki the Trickster.  She had two previous books, set in an alternate world after Ragnarok, Runemarks and Runelight.  Coming in May 2018 will be The Testament of Loki, which picks up right after The Gospel but which ties in with the Runemarks books.

Another new book draws on Greek myths:  Circe by Madeline Miller tells the story of the woman best known today as the enchantress Odysseus encountered on his way back from the Trojan War.  The reviews have been glowing, praising the engrossing story and poetic language. Miller’s previous novel, Song of Achilles, was about the Greek prince Patroclus and his friend Achilles, and how both ended up in going to fight in Troy.

It just goes to show that a good story never really goes away; it is just reworked to suit a new audience. 

*If you are interested in the Arthurian tales, I recommend a classic trilogy by Mary Stewart:  The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment. These are as much Merlin’s story as Arthur’s; in fact, the first book takes place before Arthur is born.  There is a fourth book, The Wicked Day, which is told from Modred’s point of view.

There are many, many others but this is a long time favorite of mine.

 

The Moon-spinners by Mary Stewart

Reviewed by Jeanne

Englishwoman Nicola Ferris has been working in Greece for a year, but now is on holiday in Crete.  Her cousin, an avid naturalist, is coming to visit her and the two plan to do a lot of hiking to look for various local flora.  On her walk to the hotel, Nicola is distracted by the sight of an egret flying nearby.  She follows it, and discovers (or more accurately, is discovered by) a Greek man and an injured Englishman who are hiding in the hills.  They warn her off, telling her to go on to her inn and forget she’s ever seen them.

She does the former, but of course not the latter. She’s determined to help both men. The question is, who can she trust?

The Moon-spinners is considered one of Stewart’s best known works.  It certainly has all her mystery trademarks: wonderfully detailed, evocative descriptions of a foreign land, a strong and resourceful heroine, lots of suspense and a touch of romance.   Even though the book was published in 1962, it doesn’t seem dated at all--no cell phones, of course, and a bit more smoking than is usual in contemporary novels. Otherwise, there was nothing to suggest it wasn’t a recent book.  

I also like the smooth way Stewart explains her heroines’ talents.  In this book, for example, Nicola has been working in Greece, which explains why she is fairly fluent in Greek.  The islanders assume she only speaks English and she is clever enough to let them continue to think that.

I have to say that while I liked this one a good deal, I still prefer My Brother Michael.  The setting is similar but somehow it appealed to me more. I think part of it has to do with childhood memories: back in the day, Disney made a movie based on the book, starring child actress Hayley Mills.  Mills was a good bit younger than Nicola—a teen, in fact—so the story was re-written to suit.  I remember seeing the movie, split into episodes for the weekly Disney TV show, and was unimpressed.  It was certainly no Scarecrow from Romney Marsh (ah, Patrick McGoohan!) and I found it boring.  While the book was certainly not boring, I did pause at intervals, remembering little bits from the movie—primarily the windmills, which figure into the plot.

In short, this is a very good romantic suspense novel with a wonderful exotic location and well developed characters.  I’ll be reading more Mary Stewart novels in the future.

My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart

Reviewed by Jeanne

Camilla Haven, a young Englishwoman, is taking a long anticipated vacation in Greece when a man approaches her about a car she has hired “for Simon” in Delphi. The problem is that she hasn’t hired a car, but the man drops the keys on the table and disappears before she can explain his mistake. Camilla had just been lamenting in a letter to a friend that she wanted to see Delphi but was running low on funds, so she decides to take the car to Delphi in hopes she can locate this Simon and perhaps do some sight-seeing in the bargain.  The only Simon she finds is also English, and a man on a mission.  His older brother Michael was killed in Greece during the war and he has come to find from Michael’s Greek friends the place where his brother died. It soon becomes apparent that while the war may be over, there are those who still have scores to settle.

Mary Stewart was one of the pioneers in the romantic suspense genre during the 1950s. As a long time mystery fan, I was ashamed to say that I had not read any of Mary Stewart’s work except for her Arthurian novels.  I set out to remedy that oversight, albeit with some trepidation.  Would the books seem hopelessly dated?

I found that her reputation as an author of romantic suspense is well deserved.  The romance is strong while understated —more attraction than action—but she keeps the balance between the two aspects, romance and suspense. The suspense builds slowly, but there are some breathtaking scenes that actually had me holding my breath. The fact that Stewart can create so much tension with so little carnage was a welcome surprise; and proof, if anyone needed it, that gory descriptions aren’t necessary to make a thriller. 

Stewart's novels tended to feature modern thinking, intelligent, and brave young women who were able to take care of themselves in a crisis. They didn’t seek out trouble but held their nerve when trouble found them.  Her characters would be perfectly at home in any novel written today, and would be a good bit more level-headed and less neurotic than most.

Another of Stewart’s hallmarks is her ability to evoke an exotic locale, and My Brother Michael is an excellent example.  She describes the bustle of the streets, the sounds and smells of the market, the wild landscapes, and the ruins in vivid detail, and it all serves to enhance rather than bog down the story.  Even though the book was written some sixty years ago, the story is still vibrant; the details that fix the time period (WW II is only a few years in the past, there is much unapologetic smoking and drinking) don’t date the story for modern audiences. Any geopolitical details aren’t specific enough to make the plot seem archaic.

One thing I loved is that several of the characters have had a classical British education: they can quote from the Greek playwrights and philosophers, discuss architecture and poetry, and take note of the natural world, naming flowers and trees.  They can also drive cars really fast and hold their own in a fight, so don’t think it’s all Homer and heliotropes.

I still have several of her books to read, including what is arguably her best known suspense book, The Moon-spinners.  I’m looking forward to them!

Madam, Will You Talk? By Mary Stewart

Reviewed by Jeanne

Charity is on a trip to Provence with her friend Louise, trying to distract herself.  Her RAF pilot husband Johnny was shot down in the War and Charity is still coming to terms with the loss. She’s a strong woman who isn’t wallowing in grief but who is getting on with her life as best she can.  Louise wants to read and paint, while Charity wants to visit the local historical sites:  Roman ruins, old castles, and such.  

At the hotel she meets David, a charming little British boy who is there with his stepmother. She soon realizes there is something a bit wrong with this set-up:  David seems troubled.  She begins to hear stories that his father is a murderer who may be stalking the boy.  Recklessly, Charity decides she is going to protect David at all costs and is plunged into a breathtaking game of cat and mouse.

Recently, several members of the DorothyL mystery group discussed Mary Stewart and what a strong impression she had made on so many of them growing up, with her exotic locales and strong heroines. I was embarrassed to realize that while I had read and thoroughly enjoyed her Merlin/Arthur books (Crystal Cave, Hollow Hills, Last Enchantment, etc.) I had not read any in the genre for which she was best known, romantic suspense. I decided to rectify that at once.

Madam, Will You Talk? was Stewart’s first novel, and was an instant hit when it was published in 1954.  She went on to write several more novels, including The Moon-Spinners which was turned into a Disney movie.  The writing is lovely and graceful, even when the situation is dire.  Charity is a wonderful character, a smart, mature woman who isn’t afraid to step up when the situation calls for action.  She loves history and poetry—she and Louise were once taught together—so she’s able to beautifully convey the setting. That is a real strength to this book and apparently her others as well: the ability to vividly describe a location without dragging the plot down.  She also peppers the story with quotations and literary allusions but again is able to do so while advancing the story.  

I also enjoyed the unadulterated 1950s flavor.  Contemporary writers who set a story in that time period can’t help but bring a twenty-first century view to it.  They try to unobtrusively explain attitudes and items on the assumption that modern audiences won’t have a clue—or in some cases, to show off how much research they’ve done (my sneaking suspicion).  Since the book was actually written in the 1950s, Stewart is under no such compunction.  In a modern retelling, the Riley that Charity drives so nimbly and expertly would be explained as a particular brand of British Motorcar from a company that began life as the Bonnick Cycle Company in the late 1800s.  Did I need to know that? Nope, I just accepted that it was a car and moved on.  Nor did the author have to omit or make excuses for people smoking constantly and imbibing.  (I’m reminded of a story about the TV series Mad Men which drew comment for the amount of smoking and drinking that went on.  When someone connected with the show spoke with a retired ad man who had worked in that era, the ad man said it was all fairly accurate except that there was even more drinking and smoking.) The plot twists and turns as Charity tries to figure out who to trust and, more importantly, who NOT to trust.  There are exciting car chases through the villages and countryside, around winding streets and into back alleys. I’m not usually one for car chases but these manage to be both tense and interesting. The thing I liked least about the book?  The title. It sounds so formal, not reflective of the lively story. How's that for a minor quibble?

For me, the book certainly passes the test of time and I look forward to reading more by Mary Stewart.

A Touch of Nostalgia: Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney & Victoria Holt

 

An Appreciation by Doris

Do you remember an author whose books drew you to a favorite genre? Jeanne handed me a Mystery Scene magazine this morning and the first thing I read was about Mary Stewart. I thought Ms. Stewart had passed away a long time ago so I was pleased to learn she is still very much with us. The rush of memory of how much I loved her books sent me to the computer to write this. Because of Mary Stewart and two other wonderful mystery writers of similar style, I loved reading and developed a passion for mysteries that guides what I read even today.

     I lived with my grandparents in a small rural community on and off during my childhood and teen years. My grandfather and I were very close; we often sat on the big front porch at the end of the day and just enjoyed watching the world go by. My grandmother Lillie and I were also very close, and we shared a love that has lasted all my life—reading. To benefit that little farming community my grandmother took a small front room in the house and made it into a community library. Every couple of weeks the van from the Watauga Regional Library would come and deliver new books. I rushed to sort through the books and shelve them for Mamaw because that gave me first crack at the three women who would shape my love for mysteries: Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, and Phyllis Whitney.

     I learned to read very young—Aunt June was confined to bed because of rheumatic fever and she kept herself entertained by teaching me to read when I was not quite four. There were always books around the house because of my grandmother’s love for reading, and no one ever told me I could not read something because it was either too mature for me or too hard. Books by the Grand Dames of Mysteries as I called the three ladies were intriguing, exotic because they often were set in far off places, and the stories flowed. I would sit with my Papaw and read him sections of Nine Coaches Waiting or My Brother Michael. I don’t know that he really enjoyed the books, but he enjoyed having me beside him reading to him and I felt so important! When I first read The Crystal Cave, Stewart’s first novel in her Merlin of the Arthurian legends trilogy—a Christmas gift from my grandmother that still sits in a special place on my bookcase—I was enthralled. It is still, for a number of reasons, one of my all-time favorite books and it has been lovingly reread many times.

     Phyllis Whitney’s books had the island locations or adventures in places had only heard about in my geography class. Mystery on the Island of Skye, Moonflower, and others gave me hours of escape into a world that fascinated me and took me far way from East Tennessee. When my mom married a career soldier and we lived in Europe, I finally got to see some of those places and castles Ms. Whitney had described so clearly in her books.

     Eleanor Hibbert writing as Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy, Philippa Carr, Eleanor Burford, and other pen names may have been the reason I majored in British literature in college. Her historical fiction including the Mary, Queen of Scotts series and her Plantagenet series were such richly drawn, richly characterized novels about England and its royal history. All that romance, adventure, and remarkable characters—how could a youngster not fall in love with all the pageantry?

     Ms. Hibbert/Holt and Ms. Whitney are both gone now and Ms. Stewart is ninety-five years old and no longer writing for publication, but their books are still stalwarts on our shelves. Unfortunately it is often just our older patrons who check them out. Today’s mysteries are very different than the Grand Dames’, but these women writers along with a few others created the genre that has proven so successful for the Catherine Coulters, Janet Evanovichs, and Tami Hoags of today. The Grand Dames wrote for a simpler time when graphic sex or violence was not the mainstay of a mystery, and many of our younger readers are really missing great stories and characters because the time for the Grand Dames is believed to have passed. I plan to reread some favorites from Stewart, Whitney, and Holt and remember why I fell in love with mysteries. Come join me and take a little trip back in time!

Do you have a favorite author who hooked you on reading a genre? Share with us, please.