The Stormy Petrel [Import] [Hardcover]

Mary Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1991

When Rose Fenemore sets out to meet her brother Crispin on the island of Moila off the west coast of Scotland, she looks forward to a quiet holiday in a natural paradise of seabirds and wild flowers. But things do not turn out so idyllically. Her brother's arrival is delayed, and the island's peace is shattered by the appearance one night of two men seeking shelter from a violent summer storm - men whose conflicting stories draw Rose into a web of menace and suspicion. Rose's discovery of the stormy petrels - the fragile, elusive birds who nest ashore but spend most of their lives flying close above the sea waves - comes to symbolize the confusion she feels about Ewen Mackay, the man known as the island's prodigal son, and about the man calling himself John Parsons, whose account of himself Rose has every reason to distrust. Moving through the arresting landscape of Scotland's fabled Western islands, The Stormy Petrel is an enthralling story of mystery and suspense, with a touch of romance and sheer good writing that is the hallmark of Mary Stewart's work.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: New York, NY, U.S.A.: Morrow/Avon, 1991; First Edition edition (1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340556013
• ISBN-13: 978-0340556016
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,855,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stewart Goes Environmental, June 14, 2002

By 

Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stormy Petrel (Mass Market Paperback)

If you are expecting the usual holiday-impulsive heroine of one of Ms Stewart's earlier tales to star in this short novel, you will not find her here. Rose Fenmore, professor of English Literature at Cambridge is like Ms. Stewart herself, a poet and a spinner of fantasy--for Rose in the form of Science Fiction novels under a nom de plume. Stewart does a more than adequate job of portraying Rose's inner calmness in her choice of vacation, her penchant for wordplay and in the merging of the two: her gift for describing the tableau she sees before her with such detail, the reader can actually feel the breeze move strands of hair, hear the slightest stirrings of the night birds and sense the awe in which all characters become eventually humbled by nature's majesty.

Rather than create a story of treachery as she has in the past,in the "Stormy Petrel", Stewart weaves a simple story which acts as a vehicle for her true love and the story's ultimate theme of preservation of nature's natural beauty. With every quiet word, her love of Scotland and its lovely vistas are pronounced loudly and clearly. Her description of her own writing process as outlined poetically while Rose attempts to inch her scifi plot foward is a magnificent insight into Ms Stewart's own love of her craft. I believe, the impact of the story's "mystery" and "romance" disregarded by the other reviewers, is all there---only it is as subtle and perfect as a bird's song and quite as easy to overlook when compared to the gun-in-the-back terror readers of Ms. Stewart (and her current crop of wannabees)have come to expect.

I listened to the audio version of this book, read by Isla Blair. She does a wonderful job of conveying Rose's inner quietude and does justice to Stewart's lyrical descriptions of Rose's most monumental moments on the isolated island in the Scottish Hebrides: the evenings of seals' song and the nocturnal flight of the stormy petrel.

This is recommended to anyone who has a love of nature, of beautiful language and who promises to regard the story and its soft cadences as a wise and truly loving tribute to nature.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars --A Scottish Island filled with foggy atmosphere--, October 28, 2003

By 

Judith Miller (Bluemont, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stormy Petrel (Mass Market Paperback)

THE STORMY PETREL takes place on the Scottish Island of Moila. Rose Fenemore who is an English professor rents a cottage on the remote island for a two-week vacation. During her first stormy night there, a man (Ewen Mackay) enters the cottage with a key, and seems surprised to see Rose. He tells her that the house was his boyhood home. Shortly after that, another man (John Parsons) shows up at the door and says that he is lost and seeking shelter from the rain. The men don't seem to know one another and although Rose is annoyed, she agrees to let both men wait out the storm. The triangle of the three people, and who they are is the focus of the story that is mostly mystery with a touch of romance.

My favorite parts of the book were the descriptive passages about the gorgeous scenery and various types of sea birds. I was unfamiliar with a Petrel, but since they played a part in the story, I looked them up and found a picture of a delightful and very interesting bird.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ivory Towers are hard to find, November 10, 2004

By 

TinTinKyrano "stoicflair" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stormy Petrel (Paperback)

This book was more suspense and I liked it that way, yes there are two possible suiters for Prof Rose Fenemore, but what kept this read going was the how the whole island mystery would work out for all the characters. Fenemore may be a don, but I liked her inner quips about herself and that the idea of bird watching with her brother would actually be considered an enjoyable vacation.

A quick and enjoyable read on a gloomy day, midges not required.