

S'està carregant… Nine Coaches Waiting (1958)de Mary Stewart
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Favourite Books (617) 1950s (65) » 9 més Academia in Fiction (17) Female Protagonist (250) Books Read in 2018 (1,589) Nifty Fifties (96) Comedy of Manners (70) Books Read in 2021 (1,309) Western Europe (15) French Books (45)
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. Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
Contingut aThree Novels of Suspense: Madam, Will You Talk? / Nine Coaches Waiting / My Brother Michael de Mary Stewart The moonspinners ; Nine coaches waiting ; The ivy tree ; Madam, will you talk? [omnibus] de Mary Stewart Selected Works, Vol. 2: Touch Not the Cat / The Gabriel Hounds / Nine Coaches Waiting / Madam, Will You Talk? de Mary Stewart Té l'adaptació
A governess in a French chateau encounters an apparent plot against her young charge's life in this unforgettably haunting and beautifully written suspense novel. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Chateau Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems like a wondrous, ecstatic dream. But a palpable terror is crouching in the shadows. Philippe's uncle, Leon de Valmy, is the epitome of charm, yet dynamic and arrogant--his paralysis little hindrance as he moves noiselessly in his wheelchair from room to room. Only his son Raoul, a handsome, sardonic man who drives himself and his car with equally reckless abandon, seems able to stand up to him. To Linda, Raoul is an enigma--though irresistibly attracted to him, she senses some dark twist in his nature. When an accident deep in the woods nearly kills Linda's innocent charge, she begins to wonder if someone has deadly plans for the young count. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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![]() GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)823.914 — Literature English {except North American} English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:![]()
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