Customer Reviews

The Ivy Tree

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those of you who enjoy straight-out romance, or the Nora Roberts brand of a little suspense thrown in with a lot of romance, Mary Stewart is not the author for you. Stewart requires indepth reading, her plots are intricate, her characterizations strong. She is incomparable; her words are literature. Although descriptions abound, there is not any graphically detailed sex, so if this is not your cup of tea, read no further and look for another selection.
This particular book does not fit into any of the usual Stewart categories----the great chase as in 'Madam Will You Talk?', the closed room police procedural as in 'Wildfire at Midnight' or the Evil Relative with Nefarious Intentions as in 'Nine Coaches Waiting'----rather, it is a story of impersonation. . . and one of Stewart's best offerings in terms of just about everything: plot, tone, description, dialogue, characterization etc.
Mary Grey accepts a 'job',posing as Annabel Winslow, the long-lost cousin and heiress to Whitescar, a lucrative North England working farm---her employer, her 'cousin' Con has much to gain once Annabel's cantankerous old grandfather passes on. At first, after careful schooling by Con and his half-sister, Lisa, Mary takes to her new position smoothly, easily edging her way into life on the farm with a barrage of lies that seem to be second nature to her. No one doubts her identity until she discovers the presence of an unknown lover that may blow her cover. The real reason Annabel Winslow left Whitescar eight years earlier hits the reader with tour de force revelation which Stewart masterfully manipulates.
I won't spoil the story any further. It must be read slowly and savored like a good $100+ bottle of wine. The language is glorious,meant to be read aloud. The words paint wonderfully lush and powerful images of life in the north country. The characters likewise are finely drawn, flesh and blood human beings whose emotions thunder off the pages with the same potent electric charge of lightning that finally splits the old ivy tree in two towards the end of the story. Even the secondary characters are not to be missed. Mrs. Bates with her nosy northerner's distrust of anything 'London', Julie, the pettish young adult who is Annabel's mirror image, and Donald Seton, the stuffy, but warm-hearted Scot archaeologist with a soft spot for the greedy cat Tommy and his litter of kittens. Even the colt, Rowan, has a personality all his own; Stewart knows and loves her animals and this like all her other novels is a tribute to the creatures and places she loves best.
I have read and listened to this book over and over again. Each time, even though I know the ending, I find new techniques to ponder and wonder over. Stewart is simply fantastic; shame on anyone who prefers lesser works to her masterpieces.

If you want to discover how perfectly plotted this book is, you must read it at least twice. You will be stunned by the clues that are there from the beginning (starting with the opening paragraphs) and sprinkled throughout the text. Over and over again, the answers are there - hiding in plain sight.

Of all the Mary Stewart mysteries (and I have loved them all), this has long been my favorite. I have always been drawn to questions of identity (from fictional characters like Josephine Tey's Bratt Farrar to Anna Anderson's claim to be Anastasia).

This is a quiet book, haunting in it's depiction of loss - a grandfather's loss of a favorite granddaughter; a woman's loss of place and name; a lover's loss - of promises, of time; a man's loss of wife and health. And a lost note, the delivery of which might have changed much of what ensued.

The echoes of the past build and build until they crash resoundingly into the present and affect all of the lives of all of those around Whitescar.

Read it through, and then re-read the first couple pages. It was all right there to begin with.

I have read and reread this book so many times! I already know the plot but the descriptions and dialogue are really enjoyable. The atmosphere the author creates is so indefinably romantic and enjoyable, I don't know how the author does it but I am grateful, I only wish there were even more of her books out there, if anyone is looking for more Mary Stewart check out Madame, Will You Talk, Nine Coaches Waiting, Wildfire at Midnight, Airs Above The Ground, Touch Not the Cat, and My Brother Michael, they are also incredible!

As the story opens Mary Grey is enjoying her day off taking in the local tourist sights near her new home. She has recently left her native Canada to return to Northumberland where her greatgrand parents had been born. Suddenly a young man confronts her, calling her Annabel and insisting that she is his cousin who disappeared eight years earlier. Mary manages to convince him of her identity but soon finds herself embroiled in a plot to impersonate the missing Annabel in her family home, Whitescar.

Gradually it becomes apparent that all is not quite as it seems, everyone there seems to have a secret, her Grandfather has not disclosed who will inherit the family farm, 'cousin' Con has not revealed the depths of his ambition, the missing Annabel left behind secrets when she fled, even the estate itself has been keeping things hidden. Eventually all is revealed with the usual Stewart flair for drama and romance.

This 40+ year old book has aged well. There are some references that place it firmly in the early '60's, for example, a cell phone would have eliminated much of the tension, it is still a thoroughly enjoyable story, very reminiscent of BRAT FARAR. As usual with Stewart's work the setting and characters all come to life. The plot is cleverly handled, the clues to the mysteries are all there for the reader to follow but so subtly done that it will be a very rare reader who does not get at least a few surprises along the way including true identities of more than one character.

Among Mary Stewart's books, and I have read most of them, this would probably be known as a "sleeper." However, having read it through three times plus scanning it several other times, I feel it is one of her best! The first time I read it I was aghast at first because Mary Stewart's heroines were always very moral women--the stuff good role models ate made of. Mary Grey doesn't seem to fit the role! After the first time I read it I had to go to England and see the area where the book was set. However, my husband wasn't as eager as I was to search out the setting and I came home disappointed.

Seven years later, after having my husband read it and reading it twice more myself, we returned to England, and this time found Crag Lough by Hadrian's Wall, where the book opens. We tried to imagine which of the farms we could see from there was Whitescar and where Forrest Hall would have been.

I have searched the book several times for looking for flaws, but it is perfectly executed. Like all good mysteries she does include an important clue in the very first chapter. Yet, I read the chapter four times before I found it!

This book still "haunts" me even today as I gaze at the pictures we took of Crag Lough and Hadrian's Wall. Originally published in 1961, it is as exciting today as it was when it was first published, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspensful romantic mystery.

The Ivy Tree was the first book that I had even read by Mary Stewart. Let alone I read it for my British Literature class. It was great. The suspense just about killed me at the end. I just kept on turning the pages. She describes the scene and the characters so well that I felt like I was right there. It was a great book! I definitely recommend it!

Definitely not clueless writer - she left plenty of them.

I didn't love this book when I read it. I felt that she betrayed an implied contract with the reader. But then on second reading, I realized that in my rush to devour it all, I had been clueless. So few romance and fiction best-sellers - including Stewart's later contemporary works - demand anything of the reader the way Stewart's early novels did. On the other hand, readers don't get the extra dividends. She leads us by the hand and teaches us that the reason great literature has endured - in this case folk ballads, but in earlier novels Shakespeare and Greek plays - is that they entertain and move us.

This book is as richly textured as any of her novels.

In her usually elegant and sophistocated style, Mary Stewart weaves a suspenseful mystery that leaves the reader guessing until the very end.

On the English countryside, a young Canadian woman, Mary Grey, is resting on a ruin while on holiday when she is suddenly interrupted by a furious man. The man, Connor Winslow, recognizes Mary as his cousin and long-dead lover, Annabel Winslow. After Mary explains that there must have been a mistake, Connor tells her about Annabel who disappeared years before and makes her an offer...

Mary can arrive at Connor's home, Whitescar, and masquesde as Annabel. She will inherit Annabel's fortune,if she gives Connor the land of Whitescar.

A woman does arrive at Whitescar. Is she, Mary Grey working to inherit money that is not her own? Or is she, Annabel Windslow returned home?

Upon arriving at Whitescar, Mary delves into the mystery of Annabel. Why did the woman disappear without a word to anyone or perhaps was she forced to disappear?

With her usual genious, Stewart leds the reader down a dark but exciting path. Hints deeply embedded into the dialogue reveal the truth.

I have probably read this book at least ten times over the years and I still love it. My oldest son is even named Conor, because I had always loved the name from the book. I only wish I could find another romantic mystery as good as this one was.

I've loved this book since I discovered it in a pile of dusty paperworks at our summer cottage, 20 years ago. I can't even tell you how many times I've read and re-read it. As I get older, I see the story from different eyes, but never fail to be intruigued by it. Its such a wonderful twist, I highly recommend it. I guess I won't pay the $.. they are trying to charge for the audio version, but I think I'll replace my old paperback, since its falling apart from so much reading.