Hodder Paperbacks
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton
Mary Stewart's wonderful novel of suspense and intrigue.
After a rather drab existence in an English orphanage, Linda Martin is appointed governess to the nine-year-old owner of the Chateau Valmy in the French Alps. During little Philippe's minority the estates are being managed by his crippled uncle Leon, and Leon's handsome son Raoul. All seems delightful, but there are tensions below the smooth surface. One sunny afternoon a bullet is fired in the beechwoods . . . and the tensions become terrors.
From opening to finale, this zestful romantic adventure grips, amuses, frightens and delights - Sunday Telegraph
Mary Stewart is magic - New York Times
She set the bench mark for pace, suspense and romance - with a great dollop of escapism as the icing - Elizabeth Buchan
A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors. - Harriet Evans
Mary Stewart was one of the 20th century's bestselling and best-loved novelists. She was born in Sunderland, County Durham in 1916, but lived for most of her life in Scotland, a source of much inspiration for her writing. Her first novel, Madam, Will You Talk? was published in 1955 and marked the beginning of a long and acclaimed writing career. In 1971 she was awarded the International PEN Association's Frederick Niven Prize for The Crystal Cave, and in 1974 the Scottish Arts Council Award for one of her children's books, Ludo and the Star Horse. She was married to the Scottish geologist Frederick Stewart, and died in 2014.