Wildfire at Midnight [Hardcover]

MARY STEWART (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: HODDER & STOUGHTON (1960)
• ASIN: B00192IUQ4
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stewart's Homage to the Hebrides, September 14, 2002

By 

Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wildfire at Midnight (Mass Market Paperback)

Gianetta Brook has had a rough go of it. Lovely, red-haired and seemingly a London jet-setter, she is actually a vulnerable young woman with a sterling set of ethics and lingering loyalties. Her romantic history, however, is disappointing. As a younger model, awash with the glow of new-found fame, she meets writer Nicholas Drury, 10 years her senior. Sardonic and handsome, he sweeps her away in a whirlwind courtship that ends in a swift marriage doomed to fail as she believes he only sees her slick model's veneer and not the innocent girl beneath the gloss. Four years later, Gianetta finds herself divorced, still modeling and utterly exhausted by her seemingly sophisticated life. A vacation to the isle of Skye in the Hebrides is recommended by her well-meaning parents. Especially as she wants to avoid the coronation throngs crowding London in May of 1953, Gianetta quickly accepts their advise. Within days she finds herself at the small Camas Fhionnaridh Hotel at the foot of the Cuillin where fishing and climbing is the order of the day and the fast pace of London is left far behind her. Or so she thinks. Instead of peace and quiet, she is first assaulted by the advent of her ex-husband, then by the fact that all of the company staying in the hotel are actually suspected of being a killer who has murdered a local girl in a bizarre ritualistic way involving the Old Religion's tradition of setting wildfire in honor of the Beltane. In the styple of a classic Agatha Christie drawing room police procedural, Gianetta's values are put to the test as the local police enlist her aid in creating their dragnet and the clues begin to point unerringly towards identifying Nicholas as the unknown murderer.
Ever present in this well-written story is Mary Stewart's evident love of nature and her uncanny ability to impose on the reader's mind's eye the majesty of the Scottish Hebrides--the towering mountains, the misty bogs and the glittering lochs. Her expert juxtaposition of the modern day coronation ceremony with the Highland lore of old is scintillating in that it evokes an intelligent Hitchcockian anticipation and delightfully squeamish dread of what is to come as one turns to the next page. Most of the romance takes place outside the bounds of the novel; the reader must conjur up his/her own imagery of the couples relationship before and after the actual storyline. For those who liked Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, I think Wildfire at Midnight will equally enthrall.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creepy Hebridean Murder Mystery, April 5, 2006

By 

Booksthatmatter "Booksthatmatter" (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wildfire at Midnight (Mass Market Paperback)

When I was a child in the 1970s we were on a holiday on the west coast of Scotland and by chance, taking refuge in the car from the torrential summer downpour in the barren square of Portree, my father turned on the radio. What came on was a creepy, disturbing drama set on Skye. A young woman, the only visitor to this country hotel not on the suspect list for a grizzly murder is sitting in the dead of night by the unconscious body of another would-be victim of the murderer. "How appropriate!" my mother laughed, and we listened on. The landscape of the story was the same landscape that was around me, though I couldn't see it for the rain, and there were strange characters, a crazed climber, beltane fires and murder. I thought it was great and it really, really stayed with me. It was years later that I read Wildfire at Midnight and realised that this was the self-same story I'd heard as a child. It's cracking, unashamedly romantic, but really rather well written. A good read for a sick day tucked up on the sofa, or a quiet night in. Mary Stewart's great - if only new pulp fiction could manage the same alluring balance of literary poise and good swash-buckling plots. No one else does it as well.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favourite Stewart novel!!, April 17, 2002

By 

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wildfire at Midnight (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my favourite Mary Stewart Novel. Gianetta is getting away from a bad marriage. He thought her the perfect, mature spouse, instead she was a young, insecure woman in love and he betrays her. Getting away from it all, she takes a vacation to the Isle of Skye, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There she finds a mix of fellow guests, but her peaceful vacation meant to repair her soul is shattered when her ex husband arrives.

It is as moody and atmospheric as the Isle itself, and grows darker as they soon discover there is a madman aloose in the group, killing people in ancient pagan fashion. As they near the Pagan Holiday of Beltaine (May Day) where bonfires were lit high in the hills, she fears that madman may be her exhusand.

A super timeless read that you will never forget.