Madam, want to talk about author Mary Stewart? discussion

Discussion for chapters 13 thru 16. Please comment on anything from these chapters, but remember to hide spoilers within a spoiler tag. Please note which chapter a spoiler is from so other readers will know if it is safe to "peek" or not. You do not have to wait until reading all of the chapters to comment, but please restrict your posts to content from chapters 1 thru 16. Enjoy!

Note: I am dividing the read into 5 sections, each 4 chapters long. I may adjust as we go, so check the chapter numbers for each section! :)

I just finished chapter 13. I think Emory is bad news.

Is Emory the new person you referred to in your last post in chap 9-12?

I don't know that I believe who we are being told it is whenever we hear from one of the twins. MS has me very confused about all of the suspects.

End of chapter 15. To add more confusion, it seems (view spoiler)[the Underhills are up to something. Seems they are trying their hardest to get Bryony out of town. Is that so the twins can look around without bring spotted? (hide spoiler)]

Yes, I just finished the part where they discover William's brook.

I think Bryony can tell the twins apart. Are twins (in real life) really this evil? It seems every story I read featuring twins, at least one of them is a bit creepy (or more), and the other goes along.

Chapter 16
Bryony was very kind to Cathy, she is very young, only 18, and with her past history, it was easy for an older charming man to convince and manipulate her.

Well Jeannette, you called it! The "at last" scene was very, very nice. I always like how MS does the kissing scenes, think of TRM and MWYT.

It does seem that identical twins switch places in many stories! Shades of "The Parent Trap"! Although not always for benign reasons.

I love the line

I do like very much. .

Judith wrote: "Bryony was very kind to Cathy, she is very young, only 18, and with her past history, it was easy for an older charming man to convince and manipulate her.

Well Jeannette, you called it! The "a..."

Which chapter are you at, Judith? If it's beyond 13, I haven't read this yet. ;) Mark the chapter at the beginning of the post, please?

(You can go back and edit your post -- bottom right-hand corner)

Jeannette wrote: "Judith wrote: "Bryony was very kind to Cathy, she is very young, only 18, and with her past history, it was easy for an older charming man to convince and manipulate her.

Well Jeannette, you ca..."

That is from the end of chapter 16.

End of chapter 16:

Oh, my, Judith! That was pretty amazing! (view spoiler)[I was right about Rob, wasn't I? I think you had him pegged, too, didn't you? Such a gentleman, too. You don't think Stewart will do a switch-up, and make him the bad guy, do you? (hide spoiler)]

Still 5 chapters to go, so I wonder what's going to happen now? Those twins are still in need of ready cash.

Diane Lynn wrote: "Jeannette wrote: "Judith wrote: "Bryony was very kind to Cathy, she is very young, only 18, and with her past history, it was easy for an older charming man to convince and manipulate her.

Well ..."

Thanks, Diane. Knowing (view spoiler)[my guess was gonna be right didn't spoil it for me. James just doesn't seem right anyway. (hide spoiler)] Have you read this far?

I'm almost done with chapter 17. At the end of 16 I was surprised at the reveal, not who it was, but how it was just out of the blue in the middle of the night revealed.

I'm just uncomfortable with the feeling that all these young men are manipulating Bryony. This book is well written as far as descriptions go, but emotionally it is leaving me untouched.

Carol ꧁꧂ wrote: "I'm just uncomfortable with the feeling that all these young men are manipulating Bryony. This book is well written as far as descriptions go, but emotionally it is leaving me untouched."

It's not her most "involved" book, is it? I mean, the heroine is certainly in danger and she doesn't realize it consciously, which is the reaction we'd probably all have about having family who'd cheerfully do us in if we get in their ways (look at all the headlines in which families are shocked at the behavior of those who are nearest and dearest), but, somehow, Bryony's capabilities and her dilemmas are a bit removed. The lover reveal is left awfully late, I think, although I understand why it is, but it keeps us from fully being involved in her mind. There's no "two against the world" we see in her previous works, no build-up of the mistaken or suppressed feelings. Although now that I think of it, the reversal of those is rather neat.

Carol, do you think it's the telepathy thing that keeps us at such a distance? I'm puzzling about it.

Karlyne and Carol, I think what keeps us at a distance is not knowing who she is telepathically communicating with, and her never knowing who to trust. I miss the "two against the world" we see in the author's other books.

And she keeps trying to convince herself that her trust is not misplaced - even though she "knows" it is and that she'll have to break with her lover once it's proved. Maybe there is too much confusion in the book because it's all in her mind, and that's pretty much all that we're privy to. Ha! My own mind can get pretty convoluted - I sure wouldn't want to confuse the rest of the world with it!

"Was I, like so many of my generation, so afraid to condemn, so fearful of 'priggishness,' that I was in danger of letting the good things slide, and accepting the far-from-best, till it became the norm, and excellence was forgotten?"

The view from 1976...

I think that the 'whodunit' plot (ie who is Bryony's telepathic lover) messes up other areas of the plot and the answer isn't interesting enough to warrant it. MS might have been better off revealing that early and going for a more straightforward thriller plot of 'how do we get out of this mess'.

Not all the MS stories include uncertainty about who is the hero and those that do aren't necessarily the best. (view spoiler)[Although saying that, Wildfire and The Ivy Tree are my two favourites and they both do. But that isn't why I love them! This Rough Magic does, Moonspinners doesn't and I love them both equally, Airs doesn't, Madam Will You Talk Does... I am not proving anything here! (hide spoiler)]

Annabel wrote: "I think that the 'whodunit' plot (ie who is Bryony's telepathic lover) messes up other areas of the plot and the answer isn't interesting enough to warrant it. MS might have been better off reveali..."

Annabel, I agree with your first paragraph. I think you have put your finger on a major problem in the book.

I'm trying to figure out now why I have always liked this book so much, and its telepathy storyline. I think the idea that you could know someone so well that you would know their thoughts, and yet still misunderstand them--I do like that. It says something about the complexity of people. And then too the thought of having someone always there for you when you needed them, no matter where you were, is a very comforting fantasy.

Also just generally one thing I like about MS is that her stories are often about very rational people flirting on the edge of the magical or irrational--like the opening of Moonspinners, when the main character up and out of nowhere decides to follow the white bird. This book delivers that in spades: rational Bryony having so much difficulty trying to reconcile what she knows internally with what she is objectively observing about the people around her.

Julie wrote: "I'm trying to figure out now why I have always liked this book so much, and its telepathy storyline. I think the idea that you could know someone so well that you would know their thoughts, and yet..."

Lots of conflict within!

Ready for discussion in July 2023.