When Kate Herrick's grandmother asks her to travel down from Scotland to her childhood home in Todhall to retrieve some papers and family mementoes before Rose Cottage is sold, Kate is happy enough to go, but curious as to the changes she may find there. Widowed in the recent war - this is the summer of 1947 - and comfortably settled now in London, she is in some doubt as to how the village will receive her. Rose Cottage - a tiny thatched dwelling with fragrant roses in the garden - is unchanged, and the villagers seem friendly. But there is evidence of a break-in at the cottage, and then her nearest neighbours, three elderly ladies from what the villagers call 'Witches' Corner', come with tales of night-time prowlers in the cottage garden, and even ghosts. In the process of solving the mystery, Kate finds romance.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Mary Stewart launched a world full of romance readers, and she invented romantic suspense. In this beautifully written gothic, Kate Herrick, a young widow in war-torn London, returns to her family home of Rose Cottage to retrieve family mementos for her Gran. When Kate arrives, she finds that the mementos have mysteriously disappeared. While looking for answers to age-old family mysteries (her single mother supposedly ran off with gypsies) Kate rekindles friendships with neighbors, kinsman, and old childhood companions. The bittersweet memories that Kate examines help her to redefine herself as a widow and as a young woman with a great need for family ties.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
For the frazzled Anglophile, the countryside-enamored reader, here's a bit of romance, light mystery, and the reassuring stability of a timeless English village--in short, another Stewart comforter (The Stormy Petrel, 1991, etc.). Here, a young widow returns in 1947 to her childhood home and the enigma of her parentage. Kate Herrick, n‚e Welland, who lost her husband in the war, is summoned to Scotland by her beloved grandmother, formerly a cook in the household of Sir James Brandon. She asks Kate to return to their native village in the north of England, where Kate was raised by Gran and severe Aunt Betsy. Kate's mother Lilias, who'd become pregnant while serving at the Brandons' estate, had left Kate at six, never to return. Gran had told Kate that she had ``gone with the gipsies,'' but some years later Kate learned that her mother and new husband had been killed in Ireland in a bus accident. Now, Kate is to come again to Gran's Rose Cottage, long shuttered, charged with shipping some of Gran's belongings to her in Scotland and with locating a neatly hidden safe containing family items of sentimental value. But someone has broken into the cottage, ripped out the safe, and removed its contents. Then there are strange rumors of odd appearances, generated mainly by the ``Witches Corner''--comprised of two gossipy ladies, as well as a feathery individual who's sure she has ``the sight'' and has seen a dead woman digging in the cottage yard and piling flowers on the grave of mean Aunt Betsy. With the help of young Davey, son of old family friends, and scraps of information from neighbors, Kate will at last discover an absent mother and a name for an unknown father. Soothing as a warm brew on a cold night are Stewart's satisfying denouements--and environs: ``. . . willows and wild roses, cuckoo-pint and king cups, and a wood pigeon crooning in the elm.'' Mild doings in enchanting surroundings. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Mart Stewart, one of the most popular novelists writing today, was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England. After boarding-school, she recieved a B.A. with first class honors in English Language and Literature from Durham University and went on for her M.A. Later she returned to her own University as a Lecturer in English. She married in 1945. Her husband is Sir Frederick Stewart, who is Chairman of the Geology Department at Edinburgh University, and a Fellow of the Royal Society.Mary Stewart's career as a novelist began in 1954 with the publication of Madam, Will You Talk? Since then she has published fifteen successful novels, including The Last Enchantment, the third book of the magical trilogy about the legendary enchanter Merlin and young Arthur. Her books for young readers, The Little Broomstick (1971) and Ludo and the Star Horse (1974), quickly met with the same success as her other novels. In 1968, she was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. In 1971, the Scottish Chapter of the International PEN Association awarded her the Frederick Niven prize for the The Crystal Cave. In 1974, the Scottish Arts Council Award went to Ludo and the Star Horse.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enchanting and cozy,
By A Customer
This review is from: Rose Cottage: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
I loved this book. Very few books make me cry nowadays but this one did. I finished it in about a day and when I was close to the end I said to my husband "I want to own this book." It was the perfect blend of coziness, English countryside, suspense, romance, not to mention the fact that it was touching. My mom is more of the Mary Stewart fan than I am, but that may change now. I remember reading her Merlin trilogy years ago and would highly recommend them. So if you want a little escape to a cozy world that isn't too syrupy-sweet, get this book!
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Halcyon Days,
By Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Rose Cottage: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
In this third of what I call the cottage trilogy, Mary Stewart abandons the exotic and returns to what she holds dear and with which she is most familiar, life in the north country. Although many readers of these three novels, "Thornyhold", "The Stormy Petrel" and "Rose Cottage", feel that Stewart's storytelling techniques within them had weakened, I do not find this to be the case. I agree that these storylines do not revolve around a situation involving murder or any other sort of mayhem that provides the focal point of her internationally set so-called suspense thrillers. Here, the first person narrators are in a transitional period where the discovery of self becomes the primary mystery and the gentile north country setting provides part of an answer rather than an exotic backdrop. The lack of alien setting or heart-pumping life and death circumstances does not, however, detract from Ms. Stewart's overwhelming ability to place the reader inside the head of the narrator and see the world from her perspective. The same talented hand that wrote "My Brother Michael" and "This Rough Magic" is ever present in the warm and comfortable scenes depicted within the Rose Cottage. As her uncanny ability to reproduce a scene for all five senses works as powerfully here as in any of her other works, I merely think the novel contains a smaller story, yet maintains the same perfection in storytelling.Specifically, "Rose Cottage" relates the "coming of awareness" of Kate Herrick, a young woman in a state of transition. Born on the wrong side of the blanket in a small northern village, she faces the future alone in London after the death of her young husband during WWII. Her grandmother's illness calls her back to the village of her childhood to close up her old home and retrieve some beloved items of her grandmother's before the cottage is converted into a rental. Here, in her inimitable way, Stewart flourishes as a writer. Her descriptions are beyond comparison and her ability to introduce us to the strong, plainspoken and unforgettable country personalities that she herself must know and love, locks us into her beloved territory where gardens are all secret and incredibly beautiful, cats and dogs make the most satisfying companions and neighbors, however annoying, make the most wonderful apple pie. Expertly, Stewart manipulates the interplay of the village curiosity with Kate's happy but reluctant past, serving to simulataneously rewelcome Kate into the old fold and to alert her to strange goings-on at the cottage that unbeknownst to anyone relate directly to Kate's questions about herself and her future. I recommend this simple story to all those who love Stewart's way with words. I listened to this book on unabridged audio and found myself not only well-acquainted with all the adorable quirky characters but quite willing to give-up my semi-urban existence for a life in a lovely rose cottage where the milkman still delivers whole milk in a glass bottle and a cup of tea competently takes the place of any prescription drug.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A girl, a boy, a handsome chap and a mystery in the UK.,
By TinTinKyrano "stoicflair" (CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rose Cottage: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Sounds familiar, but thats why I like it so much. Delicate flowering fields described so carefully you can feel the breeze and smell the pollen... God bless you!A strong female lead, Kathy this time around has returned to her roots only to find a jimmied safehole and a long lost friend. Great character chemistry and funny, too. This is a great read.
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