07-29-2011, 04:13 PM
(04-18-2011, 04:45 AM)Penfeather Wrote: [A short review with no spoilers.]
The Ivy Tree is vintage Mary Stewart, a wonderful novel written in the elegant, pitch-perfect prose that sets this author apart.
Beginning with what would seem to be a hackneyed storyline -- a young woman is hired to impersonate an heiress -- Stewart pulls a tour de force that approaches the ingenuity of Agatha Christie. I don't want to give anything away, though, so I'll say nothing specific about the plot.
I would not classify this book as a Gothic. Stewart's milieu is really Romantic Suspense, although readers of Gothics are likely to enjoy this book. Apart from the well-defined characters and romantic sweep, the virtuosity of the plotting itself makes this book one of Stewart's best.
If you want to be really dazzled, read this book and then go back and read the first few pages again. Amazing how all the clues to the mystery are right there out in the open!
Oh I SO agree, Penfeather...I was BLOWN clear away when I saw the complete circle...I went back and re read the first couple pages, then the end again...it was all there cryptically, the clues to the entire story...just GENIUS!
The Ivy Tree elevated Mary Stewart in my mind to a much higher level than I had considered her before...truly amazing writer...the fact, too, that she delivered this story by writing it in first person, too...that is another achievement in my mind...
I gave this book an A+ and believe that even people less than enamoured with the genre would be impressed by this one!
