Customer Reviews

Airs Above the Ground

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With a backdrop of a fairy-tale castle set in the Austrian alps and the music of Der Rosenkavalier playing below from a traveling circus, an old horse dances in a meadow, executing the precise dressage movements called the "Airs Above the Ground" of the famous Lippanzaners of the Spanish Riding School. The only witnesses are Londoners, Vanessa March, and her companion teenaged Tim Lacy thrown together by chance as Tim pursues his dream of untying his mother's apron strings by applying for a job at the famous riding school and Vanessa searches for her errant husband, Lewis, supposedly away on business in Sweden, but documented on a UK newsreel with a beautiful blonde during an out of control circus fire near Graz.

As usual, Mary Stewart creates a fine story where intrepid characters move along a lushly described exotic locale. The delineation between good and evil is clearly defined. Like the other Stewart heroines, Charity Selbourne of 'Madame Will You Talk' comes quickly to mind, Vanessa unhesitatingly does the 'right thing.' Although she has the stereotypical loveliness, intelligence, and quick wittedness with a bit of the acerbic tongue of a married woman that makes her narration marvelously fun, she is never obssessed with superficiality like so many more modern 'romance' heroines. But, of course, a Stewart romance is a romance of the most highly literal type; the love scenes are suggested rather than depicted. The narration moves you along as if you were one and the same as the heroine; you breath her air, your heart clenches with terror when hers does, your skin prickles when in the presence of the ethereal and you quickly adopt and share her high value system. Above all the atmosphere of magic liberally sprinkling the air is maintained throughout so that even the most coincidental and improbable happenings seem to gel and fit with a puzzler's adept precision. When the tale draws to an end, you sigh with disappointment at turning that last page and you wish that Stewart had written three times as many novels so you had more to rediscover.

I listened to the audio presentation of this novel read by Jane Asher; it is very well-done, well worth the investment to listen to over and over again and see that poignant image of the horse dancing alone in the meadow just one more time in your mind's eye. Fantastic!

Mary Stewart's Ivy Tree got me hooked on reading and I've read every book she's written. The villain in this book is so memorable I have always remembered his name. This book like all of her books marries romance and mystery but in a way no modern books do, it is romance, not sex. All of her books give you information on either classic works or other historic backgrounds, like the Spanish Riding School, that I got big points from my Humanities teachers from things I learned from Mary Stewart, I never told them how I knew the information. This is one of her best, the people are memorable and the horse is miraculous. Just a treat all round. Read all her mysteries you can't go wrong

Like other reviewers, I read most of Mary Stewart's novels as a teenager when they were called "Gothics". Nine Coaches Waiting and Wildfire at Midnight were wonderful, and among my favorites, but Airs Above the Ground lingers in my memory as the best of Mary Stewart's works. The scene with the old horse on the hillside gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes every time I read it, or even think about it. I went to see the Lippizaners in Austria just because of the influence of this book. Read it--you won't be disappointed.

Airs Above the Ground is not quite as compelling in its descriptions and plot as The Gabriel Hounds, My Brother Michael, or This Rough Magic (my favourite); however, it is still a classic Stewart mystery/romance, even if the romance is quite evident from the start. Vanessa March is quite likable and the only Stewart heroine thus far to not have annoyed me just a little bit. My favourite element of the book is the friendship that develops between Vanessa and young Tim Lacy, who is trying to break away from a stifling household and forge a path for himself. As far as the descriptions of exotic locales go, trademark to Stewart, I enjoyed the chase scene through the castle. Airs Above the Ground didn't wow me and I found the ending a bit strange as it didn't feature Annalisa at all..., but all in all, a pleasent read.

It's symptomatic of the way I found books and authors when I was younger that I never discovered Mary Stewart's gothics until a couple of years ago. In my teens and early twenties, I loved Victoria Holt's gothics, considering them a peculiar sort of mysteries, and a bit of a guilty pleasure. I hadn't heard the term "gothics". I'd have loved Mary Stewart's books, too, but it never occurred to me to look for books similar to Holt's; nor did I talk to any other readers about them. Not that I really knew any other readers. The same thing happened with mysteries, and science fiction and fantasy. I read everything by a handful of authors, some popular, some more obscure, but completely missed a lot of the giants of the genres.

But it's all good. It just means that I have a few zillion old books to enjoy... along with the few zillion new books on my list.

Airs Above the Ground is a bit unusual for a gothic, in my experience anyway, in that the heroine is already married to the hero. Vanessa thinks her new husband is on a business trip to Stockholm... then she sees him in a newsreel with another woman on his arm--and they're in Vienna.

So when a friend asks Vanessa to escort her teenaged son to visit his father in Austria, Vanessa takes the chance to find out what's going on, and they find themselves caught up in the exotic world of a small traveling circus, international drug smuggling, mysterious deaths, and the world-famous Lipizzaner Stallions. Not to mention the difficulties of being newlyweds.

The atmosphere is pure gothic, and a lot of people rave about the horses (I'm not a fan of horses), but what I enjoyed most about this book is how all the various threads intertwined and affected each other.

Mary Stewart writes great mystery with romance and at the same times teaches you something. In this book the information about the Lipizan horses is wonderful. And this is the only villain whose name I've always remembered. When I was young these weren't called Romances but Gothic Novels and Mary Stewart was always the best.

I have loved every novel written by Mary Stewart, some more than others. I read this one well over twenty years ago and many times since then. It is one of my many favorite of her books. In her books you get to travel; you feel as if you are really there. I have wanted to visit almost every place I have visited in her books. I too had pledged to see the Lippizaner stallions someday & I finally got to see them a few years ago. They were wonderful of course. There is magic in all the Mary Stewart books; the relationships in this one in particular were warm and appealing.

This is the kind of book I can imagine lots of people being sniffy about, cheesily packaged and unashamedly romantic - probably a lot wouldn't even pick it up in the first place. Well that's their loss, but I'd like to get a read-mary-stewart campaign off the ground. She is so good: a deft and clever writer who wears her literary nounce lightly. I adore her stories, her settings and her feisty (but not too feisty!) heroines. No one else is as consistently good: let's hear it for romantic fiction! I've been chastised on the bookwormonthenet blog for offering qualified praise to writers like Mary Stewart and for using phrases like 'pulp fiction' - but no, it is no slur. These are stunning books by a vastly talented writer. I also think film producers ought to be trawling the stewart back catalogue: I can just see Cate Blanchett as the heroine of Airs Above the Ground and the whole sub-plot around the Austrian circus, spies and a lost Lipizzaner stallion would translate fabulously to the wide screen. Go on, someone, do it!

These used to be called "gothics," but they are just good stories. This novel in particular will take you on a journey through Austria, provide a historical account of the Lippizaner Stallions and entertain you well! If you've ever travelled, read Mary Stewart novels. They are picturesque and provide a vivid background!

I read this book when it first came out in 1965. I was in high school at the time. I decided if I ever had a daughter, I would name her Annalisa, after the character in this book. My daughter, Annalisa, will be 42 in November, 2011. I love her and still love this book!