Stephanie

by Winston Graham

This is a tale of a carefree student, happy until she discovers her lover leads a double life. Her father, who'd fight for justice even if it cost him his life and a young Indian are also featured. The fate of these characters is explored.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Winston Graham was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote contemporary thrillers, period novels, short stories, non-fiction, and plays. Born in Victoria Park, Manchester, he moved to Perranporth, Cornwall in 1925 and lived there for 34 years. Graham published his first novel, The House with the Stained Glass Windows, in 1934 and married Jean Williamson in 1939, who inspired the character Demelza in Poldark. During World War II, he joined the Auxiliary Coastguard Service. Graham became a member of the Society of Authors in 1945, serving as chairman from 1967 to 1969, and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, receiving an OBE in 1983. His Poldark series began with Ross Poldark in 1945 and concluded with Bella Poldark in 2002. He wrote 30 additional novels, short stories, and non-fiction works, including the acclaimed thriller Marnie, adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in 1964. Several other novels, including The Walking Stick and Fortune Is a Woman, were adapted for film. Graham also wrote plays, some adapted from his novels. His works have been translated into 31 languages, and his autobiography, Memoirs of a Private Man, was published posthumously in 2003.

Reviews

[Bea Alden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great adventure tale, told by a master story-teller.

[A.J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

3 volumes
25 chapters
301 pages

First let me begin this review by saying that I read this book back in 2012. However, after I read a book, I always try to write out my feelings on the story when I finish. Sometimes, I’m moved to write a great deal to type up later. Other times, I just feel up to writing a very basic review. I never intended for it to take me almost six YEARS to get it on my GoodReads account, but it has. Obviously, by now, I don’t really remember much about the story, though sometimes my notes help jog my memory. So, if the following review doesn’t really say much or deal too much with the story or plot, that’s probably because I wasn’t moved by one or the other or both to write more than I did. However, such as it is I give to you.

My Review (spoiler alert!)—How to write the equivalent of the sound produced by blowing air through your mouth under your tongue? Something akin to: blllggghhh!

That’s how I rate this book, which, the inside flaps say: “…one of the finest practitioners of literate suspense writing in the English language. 'Stephanie' is a novel that ranks with Winston Graham’s best….'Stephanie' may well be the most engaging novel yet from the pen of this master.”

Well, if this is his best and most engaging, then how low does this speak of his other works? How much ridicule should we heap on his peers who are considered “not quite as good” as this “fine practitioner of literate suspense,” this “master” of “graceful, wholly enjoyable mystery and historical novel[s]”? Because, truly, aside from the Poldark saga (and even a few of those left much to be desired), I haven’t read a thing from Winston Graham that I liked. I have read all in the Poldark series (with the exception of Poldark’s Cornwall) and "Fortune is a Woman," Woman in the Mirror," "The Green Flash," and now this book—and I keep waiting for one which I can finish with a satisfied “ahhh, now THAT was a good story” (whether romance or mystery or suspense). I’ve had that reaction to quite a few other books, both Classics and Contemporaries, so I know I’m not expecting too much—especially from someone as highly lauded as Winston Graham, “master” of his given genres.

Why did I dislike it? Well, let’s start with the fact that it probably wasn’t his intention for his reader actually to look forward to the annoying heroine, Stephanie, to be killed off…just so she’d cease being a pebble in the shoe and the story could finally GET ON WITH IT! I don’t know why people think, to have an interesting heroine, you have to create her to be whatever it was this chick was, but, to me, she wasn’t “cute” or “engaging” or whatever Winston Graham would have us believe—she was just another foolish “modern” (1980s) girl of 21 having an affair with a married man she’d known for only a few months, with whom she was sexually involved without knowing much about him. And, excuse me if I’m a bit picky, but, generally speaking, should we be surprised that the twice-married man with a 14-year-old daughter having a sexual liaison with a girl only seven years older than his daughter…is less than honorable? Duh. Any of these SHOULD’VE been her first clue, had her libido not gotten in the way. Granted, I get there are circumstances that could make a genuinely decent guy step out—but nothing about Errol Colton (Mr. Adulterer) says “decent guy.”

I suppose once she was out of the way (though, because of her mysterious death, she’s constantly in the picture), the story picked up a bit, but this “novel laced with suspense and surprises” didn’t hold any of either for me. The only unknown to me was how Winston Graham was going to end Stephanie’s father’s predicament. I have to admit to a certain degree of surprise that he actually did so on a favorable note. However, all the other aspects of the “mystery,” I guessed well before they “reveal.” I knew who “Mr. Big” would turn out to be by the fourth or fifth chapter. I know, with the type of personalities the “Mr. Bigs” generally have, how it would end up for him. Just HOW Errol Colton would go, I didn’t guess, but THAT he would buy it didn’t shock me.

Will I read another Winston Graham in the future—just on the slight chance the next will be my “ahhh…” find? Yes. Masochistic? Probably, but I’ll continue to call it optimistic—though it’ll be a while before I give in to my Pollyanna side and pick up another in my quest. Maybe by the fall I’ll be in a daring, adventurous sort of mood and will venture so far in my recklessness as to try my hand at another Winston Graham. No idea now which it shall be. Perhaps Marnie since I’ve already seen the movie.

Grade: [didn’t give a grade—I don’t think I was doing this back then]

[David Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant offering from the master of uneasy suspense.
Stephanie, a naive Oxford undergraduate is holidaying in Goa with an older, married man when she makes a discovery that changes her feelings for him. Her restless and bright nature impels her to investigate the seamier side of life and her new understanding comes to the notice of those who don’t welcome it.
It is her father, disabled former WW2 saboteur and TV gardening expert, who uses his equally unrelenting energies to pursue the truth. Excellent characterisation as we get inside the heads of these two as well as a young man from Bombay who also has to endure an extremely steep learning curve.

[Dave Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to believe that the writer of the TV series Traffik didn't draw his inspiration from this book, as it's much the same story. At first I thought the switching between viewpoint characters would be off-putting, but it's really the only way to tell a story of this scope (Asimov should've used the same technique for Nemesis) and it works.

[Roz Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good piece of suspense. Unlike Marnie, this novel is more interested in the plot than in the intricacies of odd characters, but it's well done with many deft turns.

[Alexandrianeighbourhoodlibrary]

re: fiction

[Maurice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to skim parts where there was uninteresting dialogue or detailed descriptions, but on the whole, I liked it.