Madam, Will You Talk? (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE WHOLE affair began so very quietly..." (more)
Key Phrases: big grey car, parasol pines, white baton, Richard Byron, Paul Wry, Rocher des Doms (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The tension mounts steadily until it reaches breaking-point ... an excellent tale of mystery.' -- The Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Don't wait for a rainy day to curl up with a book by Mary Stewart." (Sandra Brown )

"A master craftsman." (Richmond News Leader )

"Adventure rich in action and suspense." (New York Times Book Review )

"Unusually skillful...headlong urgency of action." (New York Times )

"Nobody does it better." (Elizabeth Lowell )

"Mary Stewart's novels are the stuff of legend." (Orlando Sentinel )

"One of the modern masters in the suspense field." (Chattanooga Times )

"I've always loved Mary Stewart's wonderful novels of suspense, romance and exotic adventure." (Barbara Michaels )

"A fabulous storyteller." (Tulsa World )

"An author skilled at blending suspense with drama and romance." (Columbus Dispatch )

"Suspense, mystery, a literate style, colorful settings vividly conjured up." (Houston Post )

"Ever-mounting tension superbly handled." (San Francisco News )

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (November 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060093560
• ISBN-13: 978-0060093563
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #64,948 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Madam Still Talks the Talk, June 6, 2002

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Madam Will You Talk (Mass Market Paperback)

As I have always wondered why the BBC has not produced any of Ms. Stewart's wonderful novels as mini-series for public television, I cannot help but imagine how media rich such a production would be. Case in point, Ms. Stewart's first work of suspense fiction: "Madam Will You Talk?" Her heroine, Charity Shelbourne is instantly likeable--a WW2 war widow who lovingly carries a framed photo of Johnny, her fallen RAF pilot in her suitcase,gladly expends time from her own holiday to entertain a lonely 14-year-old boy and honestly is confident enough about her own looks to admit when another woman is breathtakingly beautiful. True to her name and her noble instincts, Charity plunges unwittingly yet rather intelligently into a post war intrigue involving the estranged boy, his agressively tenacious father and the boy's lovely yet frightened stepmother using all the wit and willpower that made the British so heroically stoic through WW2. The characters play against the lush backdrop of the walled hilltop villages of Avignon and Nimes and eventually the cosmopolitan splendour/squallor of Marseilles which we see, smell and hear from the passenger side of Charity's car in a chase sequence more harrowingly memorable than that in the film "The French Connection". Ms . Stewart delivers not only a nicely summed up tale of greed and murder, but neatly fills Charity's emotional void and our own as she allows Charity to utilize Johnny's devil-may-care driving tips, rebel savvy and masculine assuredity through each twist of the plot on her way to finding her way in the world without him while opening her heart to someone else. She is a woman all women want to be: vulnerable yet indispensible. The essential ingredients are all there for a most wonderful episodic film about a wily 20th century woman--get those cameras rolling! Highly recommended, especially in the unabridged audio format.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a literary romance, March 12, 2002

By	explorerdog (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madam Will You Talk (Mass Market Paperback)

I first read Mary Stewart as a teenager with her Merlin series, and it left such an impression on me that when I recently saw at a library book sale that she had other books I immediately picked them all up. Stewart is a master writer (and I didn't know she published in the 50's) who informs you as she writes, with eloquent references to geography, literature, and art. The story is about an attractive heroine who is thrown into close quarters with a man who may or may not be a murderer, who wants her to divulge the location of his young son. Like a play with a cast of characters, she is staying at a hotel that has a variety of people for whom you do not know what their real motives are. If you want a suspenseful romantic novel, you could not do better than Mary Stewart.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Once and Forever Queen of Romantic Suspense, April 4, 2004

By A Customer

Nobody does it better. Nobody ever will. Even in this, Stewart's first novel, her prose is so compelling that you overlook some of the new-author awkwardness. Some scenes go on too long, and her fascination with cars/driving/car chases (a staple in each of her books) can get a bit tiresome. But you only notice that on your third or fourth reread. It's a shame that romance novels aren't permitted to be intelligent nowadays; authors are expected to write at a junior-high school comprehension level. No such rules in Stewart's day, and that's why she'll never be bested.