Touch Not the Cat

by Mary Stewart

TOUCH NOT THE CAT, MARY STEWART.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Romance, Gothic, Romantic Suspense, Fantasy, Suspense

Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Lady Mary Stewart, born Mary Florence Elinor Rainbow, was a popular English novelist, and taught at the school of John Norquay elementary for 30 to 35 years.

She was one of the most widely read fiction writers of our time. The author of twenty novels, a volume of poetry, and three books for young readers, she was admired for both her contemporary stories of romantic suspense and her historical novels. Born in England, she lived for many years in Scotland, spending time between Edinburgh and the West Highlands.

Her unofficial fan site can be found at http://marystewartnovels.blogspot.com/.

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 4 out of 5]

We often don't realize the comparative idiocy of youth until we're older. Awhile ago, we had a new employee in my company. Newly graduated from college, she's only 22. The rest of us, being old, wise, ancient creatures of mid-20 to 30-somethings, looked upon her with contempt.

"She's a baby!" we howled. "I was so stupid when I just graduated from college and I thought I knew everything!" To be sure, 10 years from now, we will reflect and look back at our relative stupidity now and say "I was so stupid when I was ___ and I didn't even realize it!"

So youth. Youth and the idiocy with which it brings is the fault of this book. Yet I could not stop reading it.

The main character, frankly speaking, is a moron. She's 22, and it's not just her age that's to blame for the fact that she's bloody insane.

This is a girl who has spent her entire life. Her entire fucking life talking to an imaginary "lover." One whose identity she doesn't know, one who might not even exist. One who is, I shit you not, one of her three cousins.

Ok. Let's just overlook the incest for a moment. She comes from a long line of blue-blooded Anglo ancestors whose interbreeding probably make Jamie and Cersei and the state of Alabama (and most of Mississippi) look downright normal. It's also the 70s. I wasn't even born then, so what do I know? Maybe falling in love with ones' cousin was totally the rage then. So let's just pretend we can overlook the whole cousin thing.

No. My biggest issue was that she's been talking telepathically with an imaginary friend whom she calls "Lover" (again. Cousin. Ick) for her entire life.

“You can’t, out of the blue, ask a second cousin who has given no hint of it: ‘Are you the Ashley who talks to me privately?”

And she never once considers that this is abnormal.

Again, this is the 70s. Maybe back then that was totally ok, too. Maybe back then you weren't possibly diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to a comfy padded cell and a lifetime of colorful pills if you had dreamt of an imaginary friend long past childhood.

So yes. Being the modern woman that I am. Being the wise old woman that I am, I think she's a bloody fucking moron. Allow me to also mention the fact that this idiot spends the entire book deliberating which of the cousins this lover could be, and then ignores the fact that:

1. He could have killed her daddy

“[He]had driven the hit-and-run car that had knocked Daddy down. [He] had killed my father.”

2. He could be *gasp* a complete figment of her imagination

“But what are you suggesting?’ I demanded. ‘That it could be some fantasy thing I made up as a child, and now can’t get rid of? I mean, I know that children do invent imaginary friends, but for heaven’s sake, they grow out of that, and it isn’t that, or anything like it! It’s a real relationship, Vicar, I promise you!”

No. I didn't accidentally give this book a 4. I liked it a lot. I don't know what to say. It's one of those devastating train wrecks from which you can't tear your eyes. It is an old-school, old-fashioned romance. Gothic. Wildly atmospheric. Keeps you guessing until the end.

Mary Stewart writes in the vein of Daphne du Maurier. You have to make excuses for the time and the place. You have to forgive it the faults of its characters because they're not out of place for the day. The love interests in her books are not sensitive types, they are the bad boy sweep-you-off-your-feet type. They are the maddeningly macho types who whisper possessive words to you and somehow make you believe it type.

Yeah. I liked it. Despite the heroine's idiocy. Despite her youth. Despite itself.

Warning, there is the use (not from the main character) of the n----r word.

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Like most Mary Stewart mystery/romances, this book is a little dated: usually it's the massive smoking, nylon nightgowns and alpha heroes in MS novels; this time it's the ESP. Also, my paperback's 1970's cover didn't help:



Still, I thought it was an enjoyable read. Mary Stewart really knows how to evoke the scenery, whether it's exotic locations or the English countryside. The telepathic link that the heroine, Bryony, shares with an unknown relative started out as a little bit of an eye-roller for me, but in that inimitable Mary Stewart style she manages to weave it inextricably into the plotline.

The general direction from which the danger is coming is fairly apparent pretty early in the book, but just how dangerous is it to Bryony? and who all is involved in the plotting? A possible murder (or was it an accident?) and some attempted murders add spice to the plot. And who doesn't like Roman mosaics? And cats? And cat mosaics?



Every chapter begins with an appropriate quote from Romeo and Juliet (although usually I have to go back when I've finished reading the chapter to figure out just why MS used that particular quote) and ends with a vignette from the life of one of Bryony's ancestors, for reasons that become apparent as you get near to the end of the book. There are a few surprising (and maybe a few not-so-surprising) plot twists along the way. I thought Bryony's mysterious telepathic "lover" could have manned up and disclosed himself to Bryony much earlier in the story (except for the fact that keeping him secret prolongs some of the mystery for the reader) but the disclosure was very satisfying to me when it finally came.

Touch Not the Cat is still not my favorite Mary Stewart novel - that would be Nine Coaches Waiting - but I liked it better this time than I did when I first read it, maybe 25 years ago. And for my money, nobody does romantic suspense novels quite like Mary Stewart. She's just in a class by herself.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Bryony. Tell Bryony. Tell her. Howard. James. Would have told. The paper, it’s in William’s brook. In the library. Emerson, the keys. The cat, it’s the cat on the pavement. The map. The letter. In the brook … Tell Bryony. My little Bryony be careful. Danger … Perhaps the boy knows. Tell the boy. Trust. Depend. Do what’s right. Blessing.”

An incomprehensible cryptic message. Words written down verbatim from the ramblings of a dying man. But was he really a victim of an accident … or a victim of murder?

This is the hook. And as romantic suspense fiction goes Mary Stewart’s 1976 novel Touch Not the Cat is a classic of the genre. It is one of her best-known works: escapist, melodramatic and beautifully descriptive. In common with many of Mary Stewart’s novels, the story has a supernatural element; in this case there are many mysterious gothic overtones.

For Mary Stewart fans, reading one of her novels promises a reading experience redolent with passion and intrigue. Mary Stewart knew a thing or two about writing page-turners. In the United States, Touch Not the Cat was the ninth best-selling book of that year. Its author had a writing career of more than 40 years, producing over twenty hugely popular novels which sold in excess of 5 million copies. She was, and remains, an international household name, arguably inspiring the deluge of bestselling romantic fiction which has flooded the market in recent decades.

So what was her secret? Why do so many even now return to her fiction?

Mary Stewart had the knack of appealing to the post-war generation she was writing for, introducing a different kind of heroine for a newly emerging type of woman. She called it her “anti-namby-pamby” reaction, to conventional contemporary thrillers of the time, which featured a “silly heroine who is told not to open the door to anybody and immediately opens it to the first person who comes along”. Mary Stewart’s heroines were tough and confident. They were poised, smart, middle class and highly educated young women, who drove fast cars and could think for themselves. The novels are narrated by the sort of person whom a typical reader would choose as their friend: a sensitive kind person with a strong moral sense.

Mary Stewart herself did not crave fame, and fiercely guarded her privacy, detesting the unwelcome intrusions her fame as a bestselling author brought in its wake. Even as late as 1997, she was so apprehensive about a press interview, that she was unable to write for six weeks. The conclusion is inevitable. This shy retiring woman was writing herself into these characters. Apart from her trilogy (plus one further spin-off) about Merlin, three children’s novels and a little poetry, all Mary Stewart’s novels feature this type; a smart, adventurous heroine who could hold her own in dangerous situations.

Mary Stewart herself described Touch Not the Cat as “a modern adventure story spiced with romance (or romance spiced with adventure; it depends whether you are advertising it for men or for women)”. Some have also called her books “adventure thrillers”, but to me, with their strong female leads and attractive hunky young men, most seem firmly set in the “women’s fiction” genre. All the characters seem well able to talk about their feelings, and there is a heightened sense of emotion right from the start. It is melodrama in every sense, but a slick sophisticated sort of melodrama, spiced up with historical mystery and tragedy, underpinned by her classical education and dotted about with literary references.

All the chapter headings in Touch Not the Cat are quotations from Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, and the story-line also mirrors the play in several ways. Also key to the story is a 1562 work by Arthur Brooke called “Romeus and Juliet”, a work which partly inspired Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. This work is also quoted from, and becomes essential to the plot of the novel. There are references to the poets Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Thomas Lovell Beddoes and Walter de la Mare at various points in the story. Even Jane Austen’s gothic parody “Northanger Abbey” is alluded to. This is not a typical romantic novel.

Our sophisticated, spunky young heroine is the narrator, Bryony Ashley. At the start of the story, Bryony is working in Madeira, as a hotel receptionist. Instantly we are drenched in descriptive passages of Funchal, and only right at the end of the novel do we realise that this description of a town with “its very pavements made of patterned mosaics” was teasing us with foreshadowing. We are instantly aware of Mary Stewart’s ability to thrust us into a sense of time and place. We are immersed in mentally experiencing Madeira, just as we then switch briefly to Bavaria where Bryony’s father was hopefully recuperating from his illness. We finally settle at the fictional Ashley Court in the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire in England, where the rest of the novel will be set.

Here we have a gothic feel, with a detailed description of the ancient ancestral home, surrounding buildings and outlying areas which make up the Ashley estate. The unnerving feeling is emphasised by an unquestioned supernatural element. From the very start we learn that Bryony Ashley has the gift of telepathy, inherited from a distant ancestor, Bess, who had been burned as a witch in the 17th century. She is able to communicate subliminally with a man whom she now regards as her lover. She is not sure of his identity but knows that he must be an “Ashley” to also have this gift, and spends time trying to decide which of her cousins once removed it is; one of the twins Emory and James, or the younger Francis. She constantly quizzes her telepathic lover about this, but he always puts her off, saying the time isn’t right yet.

Bryony and her father, Jonathan, live at Ashley Court, but since money is short and the family fortunes have diminished, they now live in a cottage on the estate, renting out the house itself to a rich American tycoon and his family. Ashley Estate is bound by a Trust, and there are several restrictions which had been put in place by William Ashley, the 19th century owner, to protect it and ensure its proper inheritance. One was that only male heirs could inherit, and another that every member of the family must agree to any sale of land or property.

One of the telepathic messages hits Bryony who rushes to Bavaria, where her father was staying as a patient in his old friend Walther Gothard’s sanatorium in Bad Tölz, in the Isar valley. She has a feeling that something terrible has happened. In fact she learns that Jonathan Ashley had died as the result of a hit and run accident. On Bryony’s arrival at the hospital, his doctor – an old family friend – tells her of Jonathan’s last words, a cryptic message warning her of danger. Could this also give her clues to the mystery at the heart of the Ashley inheritance? The estate now belongs to her cousin Howard, the father of Emory, James and Francis, but he also is an ill man and Emory and James are desperate to acquire funds for their failing business.

Bryony is trying to decide what to do with her future, now that all she owns is the cottage and a little strip of land. She feels comfortable with the people she has known all her life, including the Vicar, Mrs. Henderson who helps out, and Rob Granger, her childhood friend who works on the estate. For much of the novel Bryony hopes that James is her telepathic lover, but she gradually realises that Emory and James are ruthless, and in league together to steal her inheritance. Her own little cottage has vital access for the developers who want to build on the land. The twins may even be willing to murder for it. She also learns, rather belatedly (and after the reader has suspected for some while) that her secret lover is none of these, but Rob Granger, whom she grew up with. Although he is a gardener and general handyman around Ashley Court, in a complicated plot, he is actually a legitimate Ashley, who is in line to inherit the entire estate.

There is a dramatic turn of events near the end, where on learning that Bryony has married Rob, Emory, assisted by James, tries to murder them both by flooding the property. Their plan is to sell it for redevelopment. However, all is well and the novel ends on a happy note, with Bryony and Rob planning to emigrate, and Francis, the younger brother showing up, just in time to take over the care of Ashley Court. The supernatural element remains in the novel to the end, as in a final scene, the 1835 lovers appear to be re-united after death.



The history of the Ashley family provides an intriguing mystery, and we follow Bryony’s thinking as she gradually solves her father’s puzzles. There is a pavilion in which “Wicked Nick” the black sheep of the family, was reputed to have got up to his infamous philandering with the local female population, and this is set in the centre of a formal hedge maze, which is depicted on the family’s coat of arms. This detail is actually authentic. The book’s title, Touch not the Cat refers to the motto of the clan chief of Clan Chattan, a community of twelve clans including Clan Mackintosh, Clan Macpherson and Clan MacBean. The motto in full is “Touch not the cat bot (without) a glove”. Mary Stewart has lifted this factual element to apply as the motto of her fictional Ashley family, originally from a Scottish ancestor.

I particularly enjoyed all the “cat” references in the book. A Scottish wildcat, a stone cat crumbled away, lying broken and submerged in a lake, a character whose nickname was “Cat”, even the odd descriptive phrase to create tension, such as when “it felt as if a cat had brushed against” Bryony. Plus of course the Roman mosaic of the leopard, discovered under the pavilion, right at the end of the novel, which would very likely solve all the family’s financial troubles.

Mary Stewart herself was Scots, married to Frederick Stewart, a professor of geology and mineralogy, and one of Britain’s foremost scientists. He was knighted in 1974, hence she became “Lady Stewart”. The meeting between the couple sounds like something out of one of her books. It was just after VE (“Victory in Europe”) Day in 1945, and she was at an impromptu fancy-dress party at Durham Castle. There she met a young Scotsman who lectured in geology. She reported:

“He was wearing a girl’s gym tunic, lilac socks, dance pumps … a red ribbon round his head. He said ‘May I have this dance, Miss Rainbow?’ and I thought ‘You’re the one!’”

He certainly proved to be the one. Three months later they were married, and remained together all their lives until his death in 2001. The couple had divided their home life between Edinburgh and a Victorian house by Loch Awe in the Highlands. Having spent a holiday in a cottage by Loch Awe myself, I can attest to this being a stunningly beautiful setting in which to work, with the deep blue of the still loch on a summer’s day, and views of snow-capped mountains:



They shared a love of nature, Greek and Roman history, music, theatre and art, and all of these are evident in Mary Stewart’s books.

Interestingly, Mr. Bryanston, the vicar in the novel, “is to some extent a portrait of my own father” according to the author. Mary Stewart’s father, Frederick Albert Rainbow (1886-1967), was an Anglican vicar in County Durham. Along with the vicar, a bookseller, and Jonathan Ashley’s friend and doctor, Herr Walther Gothard, the book has a small “cast” of characters in the house itself, adding to the intimate feel. From the broad sweep of Europe we quickly narrow down to Ashley Court, the claustrophobic unsettling feel of Bryony’s innermost thoughts, and those of her “lover”. There are sections at the end of each chapter set in 1835, and as the novel proceeds, it becomes clear whose thoughts these are, and this fills in a little of the plot. The hedge maze from the 19th century with a pavilion at the centre used for lovers’ meetings, the involved story of the family’s crest, the subplot about burglaries of small but valuable objects from the house, and a missing church register, all add to the mystery and are crucial to the playing out of the story.

It is a breathtakingly fast read; the tone is high-octane. It feels both heart-stopping and spellbinding for those who love gothic or historical mysteries with a supernatural component.

It is at its heart a romantic novel. Be warned, there are torrid descriptions such a “heart-twisting smile”, or “his shirt was open and I could see the glint of a gold chain against the hairs of his chest and the pulse beating strongly in the hollow of his throat”. Occasionally the purple prose runs away with itself, such as here:

“I took another step towards him. He moved as fast as the collie had, and took hold of me, pulling me tightly against him. As he began to kiss me, the huge heap of trouble melted like snow, and above us in the pear tree a nightingale began to sing.”

At this point I seriously began to wonder whether Mary Stewart was writing a parody of a romantic novel. Thankfully they are few.

The elements of romantic fiction are curiously old-fashioned, even for the mid 1970s. Forget the “permissive 60s”; they may never have happened. Mary Stewart’s heroines are chaste, and her male heroes equally sexually inexperienced. There is plenty of suggestion of eroticism, but that is as far as it goes. Marriage is the prelude to consummation, and the novel describes the courtship. There is nothing explicit, and nothing here to shock anyone’s great-aunt; the most extreme perhaps provoking a raised eyebrow. Mary Stewart was presumably being faithful to her considerable fan base, and never writing a heroine who did not conform to their expectations.

What lifts this out of the mass of romantic novels is the quality of Mary Stewart’s descriptive flow. She describes landscape and the countryside very evocatively, with a keen eye for the British countryside in all its seasons. The tension of the most dramatic moments in the story is mirrored and heightened by the savagery of the weather. The unsettling moments may occur in the stillness of the night; a sense of unease created by an animal’s eerie cry. Mary Stewart uses the natural world she is familiar with beautifully, and to great effect in evoking the English countryside in May. She conveys a great sense of place and atmosphere.

This tale of dark family secrets, Touch Not the Cat was one of the last of Mary Stewart’s classic mid-century gothic romances, redolent with danger and darkness, magic and suspense. We have all the tropes of gothic novels. There is an ancient grange, the tumbledown ancestral home of the Ashley family where danger lurks behind every shadow. There are missing parish registers and rightful heirs, twins and cousins. Thrillingly, there are churchyard scenes, shadowy figures, storms and floods, darkness … and a very great deal of moonlight. And to cap it all of course there is the supernatural element.

Oddly, Mary Stewart seems to want eat her cake and still have it. She was a canny author indeed, which makes me think again that there are times when she deliberately parodied the genre, whilst exploiting it. Within Touch not the Cat itself, her characters explicitly mention the Gothic conventions, and are disparaging of them. For instance, at one point Bryony says:

“A robed figure in a darkened church? Absurd. They had a word for the silly penny-dreadful, didn’t they? Gothic, that was it. Robed nuns and ancient houses and secret passages, the paraphernalia that Jane Austen had laughed at in Northanger Abbey”.

Another instance is when Mrs. Underhill, one of the American tenants of Ashley Court, says:

“All this time in a moated grange straight out of Tennyson, and not even the sniff of a ghost or a secret passage or any of the things you might expect!” Bryony replies:

“there is a secret stair, as a matter of fact; it’s a very tame affair but it may have been useful in its day. In a way it’s a sort of secret inside a secret – it goes down from the Priest’s Hole into the wine-cellars.”

So Mary Stewart has no compunctions about including such details for atmosphere, or even to poke fun at them, yet none of them play any part in the actual novel itself. There is no use made anywhere of these Gothic secret rooms and passages, nor are there any ghosts in Ashley Court. It is all hokum – except for the “gift” of telepathy. This clairaudience is never in question.

What Mary Stewart’s fans remark on most is her wonderful storytelling, her sharply depicted settings and the sympathetic and lively characters. She was one of the most prominent writers of the romantic suspense subgenre, effortlessly blending romance novels and mystery. She combined the two genres, maintaining the mystery whilst focusing on the relationship — or at this time a simple courtship — between two people. She devised the story so that by going through the process of solving the mystery, the hero’s personality is “illuminated”— thereby helping the heroine to fall in love with him. One critic remarked:

“She built the bridge between classic literature and modern popular fiction. She did it first and she did it best.”

stating that her classical education served her well, enabling her to write intelligent novels full of literary allusions and involving a little research. Critically, her works are usually considered superior to those of other acclaimed romantic suspense novelists, such as Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney, and some have even said she was the natural successor to the Brontës. Her writing does seem to have been influenced by Emily Brontë.

But Mary Stewart’s own view was that:

“I am first and foremost a teller of tales”

And her massive book sales are testament to that.

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It’s barely a year since the things happened that I am writing about, but I find that I am already thinking of my father as if he were long gone, part of the past. As he is now; but on that warm April night in Madeira when my love told me to go and see him, Daddy was alive, just."

In 2016, I added Mary Stewart to my list of treasured authors. This was done with much enthusiasm following a several-month love affair with her Merlin and King Arthur series. I gushed about those books and was determined to eventually read everything MS had ever written. Touch Not the Cat was one of those books on my list, and the opportunity arose to read this with my reading buddies Debbie and Julie. It’s always so much fun to read with like-minded friends and this book was highly entertaining!

Starting out, I knew there was a telepathic component to this gothic suspense novel, so I was a tad bit skeptical what with paranormal elements not exactly being ‘my thing’ and all. Needless to say, I shouldn’t have worried as Mary Stewart manages to work this into the plot in a very clever way. Our heroine Bryony Ashley communicates with her mysterious ‘lover’ throughout, while at the same time trying to interpret the cryptic message her father left for her on his death bed. She returns to her home, Ashley Court, which will now be handed down to her male cousins. I adored reading about the old house, the apple orchard, and the little gardener’s cottage. Stewart paints such a vivid picture of the scenery and makes a dreamy-eyed reader feel like she is right there, transported to another time and place. The estate has a very intriguing history. We learn bits of this through Bryony’s conversations with others as well as from short diary-like entries penned by a nameless Ashley ancestor at the end of each chapter. Short and relevant quotes from Romeo and Juliet are also included at the start of each chapter, delighting any Shakespeare fans.

Touch Not the Cat is a slow-building and quiet sort of mystery in the beginning. Pieces are uncovered at a gradual pace and it’s not full of ‘edge of your seat’ action for quite some time. However, there’s an underlying feeling of suspense throughout as the reader wonders about the identity of Bryony’s secret ‘lover’ and worries about her safety given the warning of danger she received upon her father’s death. There’s a complicated maze on the property, complete with a pavilion in the center with its own curious and provocative history! The pace increases towards the end of the novel, secrets are revealed, and there is a very tense scene that left the adventure-craving reader in me quite satisfied! A delightful blend of suspense and romance, Touch Not the Cat has several twists and turns that kept me completely engaged. Mary Stewart is a wonderful storyteller, and this one did not disappoint. 4.5 stars

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a reason why I have always loved Mary Stewart. She can grab me and keep me and not release me until the last word is down on the last page. I love her mix of mystery and romance, and having read this so long ago that I had zero memory of it, it was like a new mystery and a new romance...What Joy!

I know others will always argue with me that she isn't a "serious" writer, but I don't care. All of life doesn't have to be serious or studious, some of it should be fun and enthralling and naughty. Reading this took me right back to my youth in the most pleasant of ways.

[Christmas Carol ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

I've finished & pondering my review.

This tale of Bryony & her cousins was not a comfortable read for me.

This isn't one of my favourites. Part of it might be my modern ideas about property. Maybe in the 1970's Ashley Court would have been a giant white elephant, but Byrony's willingness to walk away from valuable possessions is baffling to me.

Part of it is my lack of interest in the paranormal. I know there are things that can't be explained - I have had brief snatches of conversation turn up where it feels like I have had them before. It feels like a book that has had too many pages turned. So while not a total sceptic, neither am I a blind believer & so a lot of this book was too woo-woo for me.

The cousinly relationships don't usually worry me too much in 20th century books (another place, another time ) but this time it did because Byrony had been brought up with them so much. & because it was more than one! In particular any time James entered the story it felt weird & uncomfortable.

In spite of this the beginning hooked me in, but a lot of the middle story dragged. I was really tempted to start skimming.

Maybe 3.5★? I doubt I'll be rereading this one, but I may tidy this review up when I return from holiday.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A re-read from several decades ago, the suspense novels of Mary Stewart never fail to please. In this offering, penned during the groovy 1970's, Stewart was no doubt making Touch Not the Cat more relevant for the time period by adding the gift of telepathy to her heroine Bryony Ashley, and Bryony's mysterious telepathic lover.

Who is this mind-melding hero? Is it one of her cousins: Emory, James or Francis Ashley? Admittedly, for most American readers, this is a pretty icky coupling, but apparently Brits are/were ok with it, so I tried my darnest to get over the revulsion by placing myself in any perilous situation where romantic attraction to my own obnoxious cousin Scott would ever cause my heart to palpitate with love....uh, nope, can't do it...

But anyway, if you can get past this concept, the plot is pretty good, and has all the suspense you've come to expect if you're a Mary Stewart fan. In fact, Touch Not the Cat really kept me mystified as to the identity of the telepathic lover right up until the reveal...and even then, Stewart didn't make it any easier for the reader to breathe a sigh of relief and mutter, "so that's who it was!".

Not quite as strong IMO as some of her earlier suspense books, Touch Not the Cat is still a fun read, and well worth the time. I shouldn't have waited 30 years for a re-read :)

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this a year ago and from some reason abandoned it and now read it again and what an amazing novel! Mystery thriller, supernatural, romance all in one and such an atmosphere of a over 400 centuries old mansion in 1970s England. Soak up the atmosphere and hang on the edge of your seat. Byrony Ashley is such a lovely interesting heroine and who the villains are is a big surprise.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've recently re-discovered Mary Stewart and even though I read this book many years ago, more than enough time has passed for me to feel it was a brand new read. The only Mary Stewart title I have read often in the last 30 years or so was Airs Above the Ground (there are horses in it, it HAD to get read over and over) but I did not know if Touch Not The Cat would be as fast-paced as Airs. I tried not to expect anything, tried to read it with the fresh eyes that my long absence gave it.

I liked the story, the setting, and the gentle sort of mystery. It is more of a mental mystery throughout most of the book, rather than one with a lot of action. Bryony spends plenty of time thinking about what is happening around her, discussing with everyone, and wondering just who is the mysterious 'fantasy lover' she has had a telepathic connection to practically her entire life.

There are hints throughout the book to guide her (and the reader) but I only guessed one thing correctly, and even after that I changed my mind later, just like I was supposed to do. As in Airs Above The Ground, I appreciate Stewart's craftsmanship, her nice way with phrases....she describes an antiques dealer that Bryony talks with as "impulsive as a two-toed sloth"....that tickled me.

I did not really like Bryony herself though, I wanted her to DO something, but she muddled through and everything came out fine in the end. Plus I learned the reason for the beautiful illustration on the cover of the edition I was reading.

[debbicat *made of stardust* · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. I loved it! It's a great mystery with twins, an old family estate, a pretty large inheritance, paranormal elements, possible murder, a side mystery about two lovers, a moat, the coast, a strong female lead, a maze, and the word "cat" in the title. Works well for me! I am beginning to get to reading or re-reads of all of Mary Stewart's books as I am having a fairly easy time collecting them (good hard backs) at used bookstores and thrift stores. This is one of my favorites! So much I liked about it. An amazing writer of gothic mystery and suspense.

I enjoyed this with 2 buddies, Candi and Julie, in the Reading For Pleasure Book Club. Highly recommended! I will likely read this again in a few years. Sheer escapism.

[Marne Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book far more than I probably should. I read it at such an early age that it imprinted itself upon me and become my image of what the perfect book should be. I know this, objectively speaking, and yet I love it all the same. What I keep telling myself is that it must have been a good book in order for me to fixate upon it the way I did, so I don't feel too terribly guilty about my deep and abiding love for it, misplaced as it may seem to other people.

I first heard about this book when I was four or five years old. My college-age sister was reading it and talked about it all the time, so much so that I decided I was going to read it when I was old enough. Since I was a precocious reader, that time came when I was seven or eight. Although I don't remember exactly, I'm guessing that it was the first romance novel I ever tackled, the first of many in my grandma's set of Reader's Digest Condensed Books that I would devour.

I've read many articles in which women my age confess that Lloyd Dobler, the teenager from Say Anything who dramatically holds a radio over his head to profess his love, forever ruined any chances a normal boy had of sweeping them off their feet. I didn't actually see that movie until I was in my thirties, so Lloyd Dobler is innocent of wrongdoing in my book. Instead, it was Byrony's "lover" in this book who ruined me for all other men. I can't tell you the name of this man in my review, for it would be a terrible spoiler. You see, Byrony doesn't actually know who he is until midway through the book, since until that time, they only communicate telepathically, sometimes across vast distances. No wonder my actual boyfriends and husbands have often complained that I expected them to read my mind! Isn't that what a good lover does? Isn't that what I have the right to expect?

I'm always a little bit surprised that most of the reviews of this book here on Goodreads are so unenthused. I guess to most people, this is just a typical Mary Stewart novel, interchangeable with many others that she has written. To me, though, it will always be the book that started it all for me.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bryony Ashley knows that Ashley Court, the grand estate, is both hell and paradise -- once elegant and beautiful yet shrouded in shadow. After the tragic death of her father, Bryony returns from abroad to find that his estate is to become the responsibility of her cousin Emory. Her family's estate with its load of debt is no longer her worry. Still, her father's final, dire warning about a terrible family curse haunts her days and her dreams. And there is something odd about her father's sudden death...Bryony has inherited the Ashley 'Sight' and so has one of the Ashleys. Since childhood the two have communicated through thought patterns, though Bryony has no idea of his identity. Devastated, she believes, that the mysterious stranger is her destiny... the lover-to-be who waits for her now at Ashley Court. Now she is determined to find him. But passion is not all that will greet Bryony upon her return --for the crumbling walls of the old mansion guard dark secrets, tragic memories... and inescapable peril.

We visit the Ashley Estate, a crumbling mansion house belonging to the Ashley family, who like many such families, found themselves in a growing poverty. They can't afford to live in the house or the upkeep on the estate. Bryony Ashley, the daughter to the current owner, is in her early twenties and works in Madeira. She's contacted to be told that her father is gravely ill in Austria from a hit and run and accident, and then he dies while she is travelling to see him. According to the inheritance rules, the estate goes to the next "male" relative, so it can't go to her. She returns to the estate to settle some things and finds out that items have been either removed or stolen and there may be some "funny business" going on there. There's also a bit of a side plot concerning physic abilities and telepathy between some members of the family. She's been communicating with someone ever since she was very young. "He" has never revealed who he is to her, but she is absolutely convinced that she is in love with him and refers to him as her lover. This follows through to become a very predictable love story.

I didn't think that a heck of a lot happens in this book, and where the heck is that "cat" that the title promised. THERE IS NO CAT or any cat related action other than the misleading title. Also, we are told that Bryony is in her early twenties, but there's something about the way she's portrayed that wouldn't at all have surprised you if you found out that she was in her sixties or seventies. The love story is like lukewarm soup...not very appealing. On the other hand, Mary Stewart steers well away from her usual traits of women apologizing for the fact that they even are women and any troubles that come up are BECAUSE they are women.

The story was just "okay", but it did serve my intention for it to fit a challenge category on a book site. I guess that I expected a bit "more"....and what the heck happened with that DARN MISSING CAT???

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crossposted to Gothic Book Reviews. 2 stars--it was okay.

First, a warning: a character in this book uses the n-word, which shocked me in a Mary Stewart novel.

I liked the telepathy elements of this book, and the setting (a crumbling manor house) is always a favorite. However, not a lot happened here. Mostly the heroine drifts from conversation to conversation and things happen around her--she's not very proactive. The ending is fast, and I'm not sure justice was done.

Not her best, in my opinion.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 Review
Satisfying in the way only Mary Stewart can deliver. Though that said, I still only vaguely understand what happens during the climax.

2019 Review
Some authors woo you slowly; erudite and witty, you don't fall at first glance, but you slowly come to love them.
Some authors never quite win you. The characters, perhaps, or writing lacks something. They're nice enough for a dinner date but nothing more.
More rarely, but infinitely precious for it, you fall for an author at first glance and, more marvelously still, stay in love with them past the cover or the opening line.
That's me and Mary Stewart. We hit it off right off the bat and I haven't looked back. (No, seriously, I think I've read like five of her books over the last three weeks.)
This book in particular caught my attention because it has the same general plot as Unspoken. And do I love Unspoken. I fell so hard for that book. (Alas, less the rest of the trilogy.)
So, the idea of a woman with a psychic bond with an unknown person she calls her Lover?
I'm so down.



Touch Not the Cat lived up to my expectations. Partially because, unlike most Stewart novels, it kept me guessing. Partially because even once the answers become rather obvious, I just enjoyed the story. Partially because I normally do not like flash backs or stories that purport to tell two tales at the same time but this works well and ties together marvelously. And partially because in the end the couple just feels so right for one another.... Even if I did get somewhat tired of the 'marrying beneath you' stuff.
It is not a perfect book. This is no Agatha Christie level puzzle. But at the same time, it was a great escape and kept me quite happy. I don't ask for more from this type of book.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book many years AGO, PRE GR! May have been the first book I read by Mary Stewart.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first by Stewart

***

1992 Jan 01
Holds up amazingly well, still suspenseful, romantic, and surprisingly realistic

***

2009 July 14
One of those early-read and therefor beloved books. Even back in 76 or so, when I had very little experience reading romance, it was clearly a different sort. More like Rebecca than anything else. A romantic thriller with a surprising amount of realism, and the Stewart trademark: tons of literary references.

Still holds up. Still beloved.

[Misfit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bryony Ashley's father is critically injured by a hit and run driver, and he's only able to live long enough to leave a cryptic warning that she's in danger, the rest of his words seem to make no sense at all. Or do they? Devastated, she returns to her cottage near Ashley Court, the family's ancient estate in England, which cannot be sold or broken up without the approval of all members of the Ashley family. As she tries to sort the puzzle left by her father, Bryony also has a secret of her own to resolve - longer than she can remember she's had a telepathic connection with an unknown "lover" who she believes will reveal himself in the flesh to her when the time is right, and she’s always felt it was her cousin James. Or is it James' younger brother Francis? I promise, you will never guess.

Ashley soon finds things amiss at the Court. Small, but valuable items are missing. A mysterious stranger spotted shuffling through church records, and a book of ancient records turns up missing. Who is the Cat her fathered referred to in his last words - the family emblem of the Scottish Wildcat and their motto Touch not the cat? Or is Cat for Cathy, the Underhill's daughter? How is it that the long neglected garden maze is the same design as the family emblem? Is there a secret tied into the pavilion at the center of the maze, and the Ashley ancestor who built it for his lovers? What secret does the book found in the old library with the same family emblem hold?

Need the answers? Read it for yourself. Although this one started off a bit slow and it took me forever to see where Stewart was taking the story, once she gets all the lose ends wrapped up they all came together in a spectacular nail-biting finish in the midst of a whopper of a storm with deadly consequences. There are plentiful twists, turns and surprises that will keep you guessing and turning the pages. A definite must for Stewart fans.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always love anything about crumbling old estates and young generations deciding what to do with the family millstone. Add in some antiques and a family mystery and you've got a winner. Touch Not the Cat never quite reached suspense for me, but it was a fun read and I look forward to more by Mary Stewart. She's funny, clever, and writes well. Not her fault that I don't love a telepathy storyline. Especially when we are expected to believe it's her first cousin who is her telepathic "lover," eugh! No worries, though, since it turned out to be a distant cousin from 140 years ago. LOL. I have my eyes on a few more Stewart titles. I think I can safely add her to my small and protected list of books that are good to read on airplanes, though I read this in the comfort of my home in the perfect atmosphere of late summer rainy days.

[Littlebookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bryony returns to the family home of Ashley Court following her father's death, his mysterious last words still a puzzle to her. Still amidst the tragedy and uncertainty, there is one thing that Bryony looks forward to, and that is being reunited with her 'lover'. Having inherited the 'Ashley gift', Bryony has had a secret friend since childhood, one with whom she can share her innermost thoughts with telepathically and vice versa. The only thing is she doesn't actually know her 'lover's' identity, but assumes it must be one of her cousins, still surely the time has now come for it to be revealed to her? However, danger lurks at Ashley Court, such that Bryony will need to keep her wits about her.

My first read from Mary Stewart, I was drawn to this book after coming across a comparison to Mariana by Susanna Kearsley, which is a favorite of mine. Having now read Touch Not the Cat, I can see why the comparison was made. Both books are set in sleepy English villages, with an old-fashioned feel, and the central heroines have a supernatural sort of connection to an unknown hero. Whereas in Mariana this was due to a bond from a past life, here Bryony and her 'lover' have a telepathic communication between them that is explained via the 'Ashley gift'. Those similarities aside though, where I absolutely loved Mariana, this book fell very short of the mark in comparison for me personally.

First published in 1976, the book does feel a bit outdated for a start. As a warning, there is one instance of a racially offensive word, which did rather take me by surprise. I imagine a fair few readers might also feel rather uncomfortable with the romantic elements between first cousins (I usually don't mind this in historical fiction where such practice would have been much more the norm e.g Austen's Mansfield Park, here though in a story set in the 1970s, it did feel a little awkward, especially as Bryony had grown up with her cousins too).

I did find the idea of this telepathic communication between Bryony and her unknown lover intriguing, though overall I didn't feel it was executed in the best way. When it came to the identity of Bryony's lover I did guess fairly early on who he was, though I have to say I wasn't quite certain why he had kept his identity a secret from her for so long.

With regards to Bryony herself, I didn't exactly dislike her as a heroine, however I did find her far too much a pushover in the way she just accepted things and let the twins walk all over her. Even when it came to her 'lover' she seemed very passive in her decision making, for instance New Zealand was his dream, yet because of this 'shared mind' between them, it just automatically became her dream too.

The book reads as a paranormal mystery novel with romantic elements, however, to be honest I thought the mystery rather obvious and the book seemed to drag at a very slow pace, with endless descriptions and a lot of time spent on Bryony's inner thoughts. Stewart did capture a strong sense of ambiance, and for the most part the story is told with a quaint charm, though steers more towards melodrama as it goes on.

Some of the characters were simply dastardly, and allowed to get away with rather a lot I thought, and as the story went on, it did seem to get more silly and far-fetched in places.

Overall, even with allowances made for the book being a little out-dated, this wasn't really my cup of tea.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touch Not The Cat is a unique offering from author Mary Stewart and it did not disappoint! I loved the heroine, the descriptions of the ancestral home of the Ashleys, and the way Stewart wove a bit of history and Shakespeare throughout. I was swept along as the mystery and the romance unfolded and I was absolutely intrigued by this story. But once again, it's the walk down memory lane that stirred all sorts of nostalgic emotions for me and made me hesitate to put it down for even a moment.

I was still quite young in 1976 but I was old enough to take in the covers of magazines and read lots of articles about topics that fascinated Americans at that time. I mention the date because I want to draw attention to the year this book was published so that I can put this story in historical perspective. How well I remember reading those think pieces of the day that explored telepathy, the Loch Ness Monster, UFO's, and even Big Foot sightings. Not surprisingly, most of those claims turned out to be hoaxes. However, telepathy had some interesting merit and to this day, still piques my curiosity. At any rate, this captivating tale by Mary Stewart has brought back some fond memories of lazy summer afternoons my sister and I spent trying to read each other's thoughts. What can I say - except that in the absence of video games and cable television - we entertained ourselves with an inventiveness not often found in young kids today.

Lori, circa 1976, would have loved this book had she only discovered this wonderful author at the library. Sigh. At least Lori, circa 2017, has not only discovered Mary Stewart but is often found happily curled up with one of her books. :D

[Franky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I tried to get this one finished before Halloween this year, but it didn’t quite happen. I read this along with others for an October buddy read.

This is definitely my least favorite one from Mary Stewart so far. I rather enjoyed the two other books I’ve read from Stewart, “Nine Coaches Waiting” (4 stars) and “The Crystal Cave” (4 stars), but Touch Not the Cat was just lacking in several areas. It just didn't quite gel like the other two.

Bryony Ashley has a “gift,” an ability to communicate via telepathy with her “lover.” Apparently, the Ashley family has an extensive line of those who have also held this gift. At the outset, she is beckoned by her lover to return to the Ashley estate. She details the odd goings that happened at Ashley Court one year earlier, which involved her father dying under very mysterious circumstances.

At one point, she even tries to channel her power to see if she can “speak” to her late father from beyond the grave, but gets a start when she sees a mysterious figure in the dark.

The premise of this novel sounds pretty enticing, right?

It feels like this proposes to be about one thing, solving her father’s death, but it really feels like it is more about property rights, the estate, etc. and this really lessens the impact and focus and suspense. It feels like a good deal of this novel is just dialogue back and forth between characters. The “mystery” is solved in a very off-handed, nonchalant way in a discussion between two characters, and this once again just rendered much of the mystery “meh.”

Also, our narrator is quite naïve and silly a good deal of the time. I felt like the “love” and romance a little silly and over the top as well as the telepathy thing. It also was sort of strange how she has this ability, but then struggles to identify who he is at points.

So, a good deal of this book felt disjointed and contrived.

All this said, Mary Stewart’s novels are at their strongest when she simply creates atmosphere and mysterious ambience, and she does this at points with her descriptions of the estate and the surrounding area while our protagonist explores to some degree. This novel also delves into the dynamics and deep hidden secrets of a family’s past.

All in all, this one is not my favorite from this author, but not bad either. I will still definitely look forward to more from Mary Stewart, and have The Moon Spinners on my to-read list.

[Teri-K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew I'd read this story before - years ago I visited a college friend and it had been printed in a magazine her mother saved for her to read - but picking it up all these decades later it really felt like a new book. I was already a Stewart fan by then, and I liked this, but not as well as the more typical Stewart romantic suspense, (mostly because of the ESP element - which was all the rage when this first came out, but is something I never really believed).

Slight Spoilers Ahead:
The story opens with Bryony's father being killed by a hit-and-run driver. Before he dies he leaves her a mysterious message about danger, "the boy", "William's brook" and "the cat on the pavement". None of it means anything to her, of course, and she returns to the ancestral home determined to figure out the message. What makes this book different from the usual is that all her life Bryony has had the ability to communicate with an unknown person, a young man who is probably a cousin but who refuses to disclose his identity. She calls him "lover", which I thought was a bit much seeing as she doesn't know who he is. And I can't give Stewart high marks for the clue "William's brook". It seems even a child should have thought of that right off. Anyone who grew up on Nancy Drew and Hardy boys would catch that immediately. :)

What Stewart does well in this plot is keep the identity of "lover" a secret. Generally with this kind of book I can tell as soon as someone is introduced who the intended hero is. But, at 1/3 of the way in I still had no idea. I think that's pretty good of Stewart, and it kept me reading even though I wasn't all that fond of Bryony at first. She seemed pretty passive until the story developed more.

However, unlike a lot of author's these days who spend an entire novel setting up a situation and then let the climax happen in a page or two, Stewart knows how to give the reader some bang for their reading time. The heart-pounding climax covered about 20 pages, with still more action to come until the final resounding HEA. So, though this will never be my favorite of her novels, I really enjoyed rereading it.


NB - Though I wouldn't recommend this as your first Stewart novel, I was part of a buddy read where most of the folks hadn't read Stewart before. I believe all of them liked it enough to read more by her, so if this sounds like your cup of tea, go for it. I just prefer My Brother Michael, The Moonspinners, and Airs Above the Ground.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had so thoroughly enjoyed Rose Cottage, that I was eager for another Mary Stewart novel; therefore, I turned to Touch Not the Cat, one of her most famous works.

With a supernatural flavor missing in Rose Cottage, Touch Not the Cat tells the story of 21-year-old Bryony Ashley, the descendant of a ruthless family that predates the Norman Conquest, a family once so exalted that the future Cardinal Wolsey had been their parish priest. How ruthless?

The Ashleys have always had a talent for retaining just what they wanted to retain, while adapting immediately and without effort to the winning side. The Vicar of Bray must have been a close relation. We were Catholics right up to Henry VIII, then when the Great Whore got him we built a priest’s hole and kept it tenanted until we saw which side the wafer was buttered, and then somehow there we were under Elizabeth, staunch Protestants and bricking up the priest’s hole, and learning the Thirty-nine Articles off by heart, probably aloud. None of us got chopped, right through Bloody Mary, but that’s the Ashleys for you. Opportunists. Rotten turncoats. We bend with the wind of change — and we stay at Ashley.

For as long as she can remember, she has received telepathic messages from one of her Ashley kin — but while the communicator knows he’s speaking to Bryony, she cannot fathom which relative he is. He always promises to reveal himself — later.

As the novel begins, Bryony’s father, the current squire of Ashley Court, is killed in a hit-and-run accident. With literally his dying breath, he leaves a message to Bryony: She is in danger and must be careful who she trusts. Thus begins the very suspenseful mystery that will intrigue you, even if, like me, you have little use for the supernatural telepathy. I read much too far into the night and neglected too many chores. Needless to say, Bryony is about to learn more about her family than she ever wanted to know. And readers will be glad to come along for the ride.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I went into this knowing two things: 1) it was written in the '70s, and 2) the main character has some kind of ESP. I did not have high hopes based on these things. I was half expecting something like Dorothy Gilman's The Clairvoyant Countess, which is entertaining but also very, very woo-woo and '70s counterculture. Not my favorite thing ever.

Fortunately, it's nothing like. We're tossed right into Bryony's experience growing up with a mental connection to someone she becomes very close to and then falls in love with, though she has no idea who he is aside from a guess that he's one of her cousins. And the story takes off from there, leading Bryony into a couple of mysteries centered on her family home.

The whole story kept me engrossed from beginning to end, with hints dribbled out here and there and the mystery of who Bryony's unknown lover was being played out until the final revelation. I did not figure out the truth, though I'm not sure it's really that much of a mystery, but Stewart's misdirect caught me off guard, and not for the reasons you'd think: I fell for the class divide between Bryony and Rob, so even though Stewart drops hints at the beginning that he's right for her, she also plays up that class difference enough that I believed it was too big an obstacle. I was so glad to be wrong.

I'm grateful I didn't read this book before writing the fourth Extraordinaries novel, Whispering Twilight, because I would have been too intimidated to try what Stewart did in pulling off a romance where the two fall in love through a telepathic relationship. This is three Mary Stewart suspense novels in a row that have been winners, and I'm starting to get nervous about starting the next on my shelf, This Rough Magic. But it comes highly recommended, so I'll tackle it soon.

[Sally906 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of the best Mary Stewart’s I’ve read – The only thing that saved this book was the wonderful ‘come alive on the page’ setting descriptions. The derelict manor house, the overgrown maze the secret gazebo all became vivid in my mind.

Sadly the story just didn’t grab me. When Bryony's father dies, his house and land will not go to her because she is a woman, but she does have a say in if or when it is sold. Her male cousins also have a stake in it. Bryony has a kind of telepathic connection with someone – she's not sure who – but she calls him her lover (UGH!!!) She enjoys this man in her head and is positive it's one of her cousins; she decides to find out for sure.

On his deathbed, her father makes some cryptic statements which are clues to lead to a hidden treasure. This wasn't touched upon very much in the part I read, which would have made the story more

After the very slow start – there was a bit of excitement in the middle – and then got slow again until the climax at the end.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook Review

I read this originally nearly thirty years ago so when I saw that Mary Stewart's books were getting their American Audiobook release, I was ecstatic. Love Mary Stewart! Touch Not the Cat is one of her few romantic suspenses that got brushed with the paranormal which makes for an additional treat.

Bryony Ashley is working in a hotel when she gets a mental message from her secret friend and lover that her father is near death. She gets to Germany where Jon Ashley had been staying with his medical friend too late to see him alive, but he left her a cryptic message and she means to understand what he was trying to say.

Bryony goes home to England to Ashley Court, the ancient, somewhat dilapidated family seat. She and her father live in a cottage on the grounds while a wealthy American family are leasing a portion of the main house while the historic public rooms are open for tours along with the moat, the gardens, and the maze. All of it is falling down and there is barely funds coming in to hold onto it, but now with her father dead it will fall on her father's cousin Howard Ashley living in Spain. Howard has poor health so Emery the oldest of the twin cousins will likely end up with the court and its upkeep.

Bryony has a mysterious encounter at the old church when laying her father to rest, but that is followed by a warmer welcome from Rob Grainger the caretaker of the court, the Vicar, and the Hendersons. Meanwhile she discovers there has been theft, pressure from the twins to vote to end the entail and sell her strip of land, but worst is evidence that someone close to her might have been involved in her father's death.

Through it all, her secret psychic friend and lover is nearby and staying secret. She wonders which Ashley relation inherited the Ashley gift with her and is the other half of her soul since childhood. She fears it is the one she suspects of a dark deed.

Alongside Bryony's modern story are snippets at the end of each chapter sharing a past time line with the man known as Wicked Nick Ashley sharing the true story of the last events of his life.

I love how Mary Stewart built up the suspense and gave this story atmosphere. Bryony is a likeable and intelligent heroine who has the narration and slowly works out the truth of what is going on and what her father was trying to tell her. Her romance was sweet and the first time I read this, it was a delightful surprise. This time around, I saw the hints at the truth before the reveal and enjoyed that too.

It was fun slipping back into country house England and London of the mid-70's. It felt timeless in ways and yet was fun because it was written as a contemporary at the time.

The narrator, Zoe Mills, was a first time for me, but I thought she nailed Bryony's voice and did great at the rest of the cast which were predominately male. I thought she even got Herr Goddard's German accent and even the American family from California. Most of the time, she narrated with a minimum of acting, but it was great how she swept me up during the climax scene with a bit more. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of her work.

I didn't remember how this ended a little abruptly. Everything of significance happened or was explained, but there was also a bit of speculation, too. Funny how I was satisfied with that back then and now I'm more nosey and want all the details.

All in all, this was a great reunion with a brilliant romantic suspense author's works. I will definitely be availing myself of more and recommend her stuff to those who want some older romantic suspense to try.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adore this book. I love the way it unwinds, I love the characters, I love the peril—which seems so real, and ties into the past so well—and the story-within-the-story at the end of each chapter. Mary Stewart doesn't always allude to another story to tell the current one, but this is one of the books in which she does that, in which the tale of Romeo and Juliet—already familiar to the reader—serves as framework and comparison and contrast to what is taking place on the page. The heroine is likeable and believable, and it all comes together perfectly with a swoonworthy hero. So, so very worth the read. This was, if I'm counting correctly, my fourth time through the book, and still I couldn't put it down.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read my first Mary Stewart (Madam Will You Talk?) recently and it was wonderful. I loved everything about it. This, my second Stewart book, didn’t enchant me as much.

After her father is killed in a hit and run, our heroine, Bryony, receives a transcript of his deathbed ramblings to try and interpret. One word on the list which is pretty clear is ‘danger’.

Bryony decides to return home to live in her father’s small cottage and solve the mystery of what her father was trying to say. The cottage sits on Ashley Court, her family’s estate which, due to an entail stipulating only the male heirs will inherit, will become the property of her father’s cousin, and then subsequently his sons. The other legality in place is a trust that states all family members, including female Bryony, have to agree should anything be put up for sale. Bryony has known these terms her entire life and accepts them graciously. However, it soon seems likely her father's warnings have something to do with this entail and trust.

I love how the mystery/crime is included gradually. Bryony gets the chance to contemplate the small happenings and acknowledge she might be overreacting or jumping to conclusions, or that there’s too many coincidences and she's correct in assuming the worst.

Stewart implicates most of the characters at one time or another including Bryony’s three younger cousins, an American family leasing out Ashley Court, an estate farmer who was a childhood friend of Bryony's, and even the local vicar.

The big miss for me was the fact Stewart felt compelled to add a bit of supernatural into the storyline. The Ashley family members have always had psychic ability apparently. They have ESP and can communicate mentally with one another. Bryony has been connecting to someone whom she refers to as her ‘lover’ her whole life. She believes she is truly in love with this voice in her head and that they will meet in real life and she’ll be swept away with the romance of it all. It just… maybe I'm too cynical and logical for this type of thing.

It is, I admit, an integral part of the plot. And this also threw me. I mean, to rely on a parlour trick?

Many reviewers noted this idea has dated and Bryony’s constant use of the word ‘lover’ was what grated in this department. The word just felt wrong in 2020. I didn’t really want to read how much Bryony adored her secret lover over and over. Ditto to her back and forth inner thoughts supposing just who his identity could be. It was all pretty obvious early on, so I’m not sure why Bryony was so clueless.

Another thing I could have done without were the flashbacks of Bryony’s Ashley ancestor in 1835. These scenes ended each chapter and they were not only unnecessary but..patronising is probably the best way I'd describe them. Because they're there to basically explain a major plot point which I'm sure everyone could easily have understood without their inclusion.

Stewart’s better than average prose and descriptive talent is again apparent with this book though. She has some uncanny ability to make you read the lines and imagine everything so clearly. Again, it’s like some Hitchcock movie playing across my mind as I read and a few times I got so caught up with picturing the characters and setting, I forgot to be annoyed by the actual plotline.

I didn’t think I was going to be scared for Bryony’s life but the climactic scenes did become creepy. Stewart certainly is a great example of gothic style suspense.

And don't get me wrong, this is still a good read (especially when I compare it to some modern romantic suspense novels) but I didn’t completely fall in love with it.

3 ½ out of 5

PS I'm not sure what's going on with the covers of this book. Every edition seems to be horrid. The one that's defaulted here on Goodreads, for example, looks like a movie poster for The Cat from Outer Space (which is at least keeping with the 70s theme).

[Seon Ji (Dawn) · Rating 3 out of 5]

++Spoilers++

WTF did I just read? Ever have one of those momments? I never have until now.

This is not your typical romance by far. The writing is so very different than what I'm use to that it took me a while to get into it.

The author spends far too much time describing in very flowery ways, the scenery, in nauseating detail in fact. I usually love when the author is so descriptive, but here it just angered me, and I ended up skimming through those parts. Perhaps I wouldn't have minded it so much if she spent the same amount of dedication to the acutal love story. It was odd to me that the author TOLD most of the action and SHOWED only the scenery. It was awkward and unbalanced.

This story takes place in the 1970's and has bits of a story that occurred in the 1800's as well.
So IMHO I consider this a HR.

Had I known that the hero was such a mystery and not to be revealed until about 80%, and that it was a clean read, I most likely would have put this donwn as a DNF, AND since no one on friggin GR or Amazon gave the "lover" away in their reviews, I just had to keep reading to find out who it was.

IT'S ROB!!!!!!!!!!!!


There. Save youreself the grief. I kinda suspected it anyway, but thought for awhile it was Nick, then James.

Well now that's done let me try to sort this mess out for you.

I gave 3 stars because I did like it in general. It WAS different, but just plain odd.

It's 1st person POV, which I don't usually care for unless the author switches it to show multiple POV's like AR does, but here we only get inside the heroine's head and that of Nick Ashley the rakish ancestor from the 1800's.

Right, so the heroine, hmm. not quite sure I liked her, not quite sure I hated her. I did hate that she was too forgiving, and a bit spineless. I don't understand how she just let her cousins walk all over her, but I suppose she's just a better person than I.

The whole telepathy thing with her mysterious lover confused me as well. AT first I thought the "lover" was the rakish Nick who is dead, thank God it wasn't. To be honest The idea was a little hokey, and I still don't get why Rob never just out and out told her who he was. Why did he hide it? This is the one part that lacked the most logic.

Anyway, when they do finally come together in real life, I'm thinking FINALLY now they can "get busy" but NOPE! Nothing! All this time suffering through this read and nothing!

I also didn't care for the rushed ending where in the last chapter Francis shows up and all is neatly explained away. What a jip!

I know this review sounds like a disheveled mess, but maybe that's due to the fact the book seemed that way as well. It is just very difficult to explain.

We have the heroine, who's father died in an accident, but it could have been a murder. We have cousins who are greedy and need fast cash and want the heroine's trust. We have glimpses into the past of an ancestor of the heroine and a lot of lines from Shakespere and Romeo and Juliet references.

Perhaps it's because I am not a very intelligent person that I did not enjoy this as much as others. IDK. I mean I DID like it in some ways, but I think it mostly frustrated me because it wasn't what I was expecting.

Enough said. This type of read is just not my thing.

Safety- Nothing unsafe. Except if you get weirded out by the thought of cousins being attracted to each other.

[Angelica Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I enjoy re-reading from time to time, in fact I have just bought it again in hard cover as my old paperback was in pieces.

In this era of portable phones and ever-present electronic communication, the concept of “thought transference” may sound tame and obsolete, but if one is prepared to be transported back to a simpler time (and, let's face it, for most of us fiction represents escapism), entering this novel's atmosphere will plunge the reader into a world at once disconcerting and curiously comforting.

The “gift” of the Ashleys provides an eerie recurring theme which runs through the story like a golden thread, and there is plenty of intrigue, dark deeds and greed-fuelled violence, however, the dominating element is romance. In this novel, Mary Stewart gives us an unashamedly romantic love story, in fact more than one, as there is a parallel subplot running alongside the main one. In fact, we are immediately made aware of the author's intent as the literary quotes that introduce each chapter are all taken from that quintessential celebration of love, “Romeo and Juliet”. Several clichés are used to define some of the characters but the main players are richly nuanced and, as usual, we are never sure of who's who until the very end. The mystery here revolves around the last words of a dying man which seem to make no sense but, in time, provide the solution to many old secrets and also point the way forward for the heroine.

Lady Stewart really is a powerful narrator and many of the scenes, especially those taking place at night, stay with me as if I had watched a film, instead of reading a book. It's difficult to explain why but this story always leaves me with a warm glow.