When I wrote, that summer, and asked my friend Louise if she would come with me on a car trip to Provence, I had no idea that I might be issuing an invitation to danger. I opened it at the first page, and was immediately hooked: What an intriguing title, I thought, and picked up the book. Suddenly, my eye was caught by a title along the ‘S’ row: Madam, Will You Talk? I’d been looking for a Rosemary Sutcliff book, but I’d read all the ones that were on the shelf. It was a grey, rainy lunchtime in the school library and I was about 15. I well remember the first time I picked up a Mary Stewart book. This Rough Magic is, in my opinion, one of the better of Mary Stewart’s books.Today I want to present something a bit different–an appreciation of Mary Stewart, one of the authors who really fired my teenage imagination and helped to turn me into a writer. I also loved how Mary Stewart incorporates the political atmosphere of Corfu and Greece into the plot of this novel. I loved the author’s descriptions of Corfu. The plot moves at great speed, and there are some truly wonderful scenes in this book: none more so than Lucy’s initial encounter with the dolphin. Having read most of Mary Stewart’s suspense novels now, this one is right up there as one of the more suspenseful. Her relationship with Max Gale is somewhat predictable, but much more interesting is Sir Julian, a gentleman with a number of surprises up his sleeve. Lucy is your typical Mary Stewart heroine: plucky, feisty, and has no end of courage to get her through her adventure. This Rough Magic is vintage Mary Stewart, with a murder or two, a mystery, romance, suspense, and lots of magic thrown in. One of her neighbors is a renowned actor who’s taken a bit of a sabbatical and his son, a musician with whom Lucy comes to blows at first. Lucy Waring is a struggling actress who comes to visit her sister on Corfu. This Rough Magic takes its title from The Tempest, a play from which this novel takes off.

Mary Stewart’s books are best read on either very hot or very cold days and since it was 90 degrees out one weekend a couple of weeks ago, I decided that this one would be perfect. Sometimes, whether or not I decide to read a book depends on the weather. How I acquired my copy: from Susanna Kearsley, December 2009 Why I decided to read: it was 90 degrees outside at the time and I decided it was time to read another book by a favorite author

This rough magic mary stewart summary