Nine Coaches Waiting (1958)

Vintage suspense from a master. I've uncovered why I love these thrillers set in the 50s; the technology is modern enough that it feels familiar, but societal conventions are different enough that it feels like a different world. This one has the added benefit of harking back explicitly to Jane Eyre and John Buchan. I couldn't put it down and stayed up way too late to finish it. ( )

This was the 9th read of my "History of Romance curriculum and I loved it, my favorite so far.
It was so good.
Linda Martin is an orphan who accepts a position as a governess for the 9 year Compte Phillipe de Valmy. But her hiring is shrouded in some mystery. Her employers, the young Compte's uncle and aunt, only want to hire an English governess (Linda speaks fluent French but she conceals this from her new employers), after the previous French governess leaves.
Despite some misgivings and the difficulty of pretending she doesn't understand the French-speaking people around her, she settles in nicely. She likes the town and cares for her young charge.
However, all that changes when a series of strange accidents befall Phillipe, coinciding with the arrival of the de Valmy's adult son Raoul.
This book has everything >channels Bill Hader's Stephan ( )

Linda Martin, a half-French, half-English orphan, is hired as a governess to Philippe de Valmy, the young heir to the Valmy fortune. He lives with his aunt and uncle in his ancestral home near the Swiss border. His uncle and cousin look after the family fortunes, but Linda suspects that things are not as well as they seem when a potshot is taken at Philippe in the woods. Is he in danger of being killed for his fortune?

My previous experience with Mary Stewart was a failed attempt to get into The Crystal Cave, probably not helped by a massive mass-market paperback with small print. That attempt was so long ago that I considered Nine Coaches Waiting to be my “first” Mary Stewart novel, and this is a much better book from her oeuvre to start off with. The story rockets along like Raoul’s Cadillac, with just the right amount of twistiness that I had fun trying to predict what would happen next (and was not irritated if I succeeded). The “romantic” part of the romantic suspense that is this book would have probably had me rolling my eyes if I’d picked this up at 15, but there is only a minimum amount of romance in this book, just a couple of smooches and dramatic declarations of love.

This is a good read for when you want to stay put for an afternoon with a big bowl of popcorn and a cozy blanket. ( )

Oh god, it was so boring. After a hundred and something pages I got tired of thinking "what the hell is this book about, there's nothing happening" and just had to stop and skip to the end. Still have no idea what could possibly be in between, cause the ending is so predictable. ( )

What I love is the pace and the the sheer beauty of the writing. The pace is very varied with movement of the plot interwoven with descriptions of the villages and flora and fauna of the countryside bringing it alive with sights and smells and sounds. The back stories of various characters are also woven in, and the author always shows us characters rather than telling us how we should judge them. Delightful not just for the first reading, but plenty to enjoy reading over ( in my case many times over) again. ( )