Mary Stewart's currently best known for her Arthurian trilogy, which is great, but before that she was a big figure in a genre which is sort of at odds with modern publishing (though there are exceptions). I guess you could call it up-market romance, or thrillers, or literary pulp. Whatever the label, she is a fantastic writer, evocative, suspensful and entertaining. All the romantic/thriller/adventure novels have strong heroines and slightly old-fashioned plots, but more than that they are heavily atmospheric evocations of place - France, Greece, the Lebanon, Scotland. The Moonspinners is one of her Greek novels (along with My Brother Michael and This Rough Magic)and they date back to a period when post-war, post-rationing Britons were rediscovering the warmth and vitality of the mediterranean world. IT sounds weird, but if Elizabeth David had written fiction rather than food/travel/cookery books - they might be like this. They certainly tap into the same vein of heat, dust and exoticism that we have largely forgotten in our package-holiday era. I'd love to spearhead a revival of Mary Stewart's fiction - they'd also make fantastic period films or TV series. Someone snap them up. Having done this rave, I like the Moonspinners a lot but it's not my favourite - i'd go for My Brother Michael as a first choice of the Greek books. But I'd still read this next!
