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This Rough Magic: A completely unputdownable adventure set in the South of France (Mary Stewart Modern Classics) by [Mary Stewart]

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Mary Stewart

This Rough Magic: A completely unputdownable adventure set in the South of France (Mary Stewart Modern Classics) Kindle Edition

by Mary Stewart (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

504 ratings

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Stuck inside? Join the original queen of the page-turner Mary Stewart, as she leads you on a thrilling journey through a dangerous and deadly Provence . . .

'Mary Stewart is magic' New York Times

'One of the great British storytellers of the 20th century' Independent

Lucy Waring, a young, out-of-work actress from London, leaps at the chance to visit her sister for a summer on the island paradise of Corfu, and what's more, a famous but reclusive actor is staying in a villa nearby. But Lucy's hopes for rest and romance are shattered when a body washes up on the beach and she finds herself swept up in a chilling chain of events.

I shuddered, and drank my coffee, leaning back in my chair to gaze out across pine tops furry with gold towards the sparkling sea, and surrendering myself to the dreamlike feeling that marks the start of a holiday . . .

'A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors.' Harriet Evans

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

Length: 388 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Audible Narration: Audible Narration Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible narration. Add narration for a reduced price of $2.99 after you buy the Kindle book. Ready	Language: English

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Review

"A magical concoction brewed from the most disparate plot elements. . . . A warm and sunny book, for all its violence." --New York Times

"Romantic, suspenseful, delightful." --Columbus Dispatch

"The best sort of romantic suspense, the kind that only Mary Stewart could write." --Nancy Pearl, author, Book Lust to Go

"Mary Stewart's writing is magical, with every word and phrase carefully chosen for beauty and sound and shape. . . . One marvels at the exquisite evocation of scene." --Los Angeles Times

"Wonderfully evoked atmosphere . . . fine plotting and suspense." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Suspense and romance, expertly mingled." --Observer --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

Suspense and romance expertly mingled - Observer

Keeps one awake through the long night's journey into day - Guardian

A splendid book at any time - News of the World

She set the bench mark for pace, suspense and romance - with a great dollop of escapism as the icing - Elizabeth Buchan

A comfortable chair and a Mary Stewart: total heaven. I'd rather read her than most other authors. - Harriet Evans --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN : B004WJRU62
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton; Digital original edition (26 May 2011)
Language : English
File size : 1582 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 388 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 136,618 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 523 in Sea Adventure Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 615 in Sea Stories
- 2,142 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)

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Fran

Always good

Reviewed in Australia on 15 July 2014

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Mary Stewarts novels always follow the same formula. Independent, adventurous, bolshy young woman who jumps to quick conclusions about the man who she will eventually marry within 2 days of meeting. This dark brooding man is the murderer of whatever exciting murder mystery she finds herself unexpectantly thrown into! The actual murderer you suspect but always comes as a satisfactory surprise as does the reasons for all the main players actions. All in all these are charming books and never get old. There's always an exotic location and her protagonist is always slipping into lovely vintage 50's frocks, powdering her nose and doing other mid 20th century rituals that seem so far away now.
This novel is set in Corfu and you can feel yourself there, yearning to feel the atmosphere of a time when it wasn't filled with horrible tourists!
These are such easy, enjoyable reads. Treat yourself!

3 people found this helpful

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Aussielee

I'm utterly in love with Mary Stewart

Reviewed in Australia on 24 January 2021

This is my 5th Mary Stewart read and I’m still utterly in love with her.

Okay, my cynical heart will admit she sticks to a strict formula. But she does it so well, I don’t care.

Our heroine this time is Lucy, a theatre actress who finally got the lead in a play only to have it be a dud. Licking her wounds, she escapes London to travel to Corfu, where her wealthy sister resides. Expecting peace and tranquility, Lucy instead gets wrapped up in murder.

Stewart’s descriptive passages are, as usual, sublime. If you can’t picture the crystal clear water off the coast of the island, its ancient ruins, the smaller villages of helpful but poor locals, the flowers and lushly landscaped surrounds of the luxury Villas where these rich Brits live, or even the underground caves and wine cellars beneath them, well… Well, that can't happen. Stewart prose makes the reader picture them as easily as a photograph.

Stewart’s action scenes also are so easy to follow and imagine. From scuffles with guns to a tussle on board a boat, the reader never has to pause and just wonder what is going on.

Another thing she can do better than most is suspense and tension. There’s always a subtlety to the suspense at first (the leading ladies always think perhaps they are imagining danger when there might be none), then, Stewart ramps things up until your heart is thumping. And Stewart can make the most mundine moments, like an unanswered telephone call, become sinister.

Talking of tension, Stewart can do sexual tension also like no other. The chemistry between Lucy and her love interest crackles off the page. So often I read a modern romance and whinge that the leading couple has zero chemistry. I don’t imagine I’d ever have that complaint about a Stewart book. I definitely didn’t with This Rough Magic! I was, as they say, shipping it hard!

Out of the rest of the supporting characters, Lucy's sister's neighbour, the world famous actor Sir Julian Gale, is an absolute stand out. He’s hilarious and tragic at the same time and I really can’t understand why this novel was never adapted into a movie somewhere along the line because Sir Julian would have been so much fun on screen and whoever played him would have been instantly up for a supporting actor award. (I love all the reviews where the readers/reviewers have ‘cast’ the book. I will admit that I instantly cast Sir Patrick Stewart as Sir Julian.)

And, of course, Corfu is another character. It’s not really a location I was familiar with before the book but it certainly made me fall in love with it. I also learnt a lot about Albania. I am rather ignorant about its political history and ended up on the internet after finishing This Rough Magic, reading up on the country and, in particular, being fascinated by the length of time it remained isolated due to communism.

Obviously I recommend This Rough Magic and I’m still keen to read some more Stewart titles. My head tells me that the book might be a little dated which should result in a less than perfect rating but my heart says it’s in charge today, so 5 out of 5.

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Samrosie

Sun and Shakespeare , murder and mayhem. Classic Mary Stewart

Reviewed in Australia on 15 April 2015

You can't go wrong discovering or rediscovering this gem of a book
Mystery and romance done with class

2 people found this helpful

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June

A little dated, but stylish and enjoyable.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 April 2016

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Back in the sixties and seventies, I was buying these books as they were being published, and loved them. Some, shabby and with pages brown with age, still live on my bookshelves. I recently reread her Arthurian trilogy - quite superb! - and then this novel came up at a reduced price on Amazon. Perhaps the normal high price of her novels in the kindle format reflect the quality of her writing; the twentieth century certainly produced many excellent writers.

This novel is contemporaneous with the time of writing, so the reader is being drawn back to a time when smoking was considered a sociable habit, drinking alcohol in pregnancy wasn't frowned upon, the word 'marvellous' was still in common use and the heroine was chaste. I found myself wondering what genre this and her other novels fell into. There's usually a death, as in this one, but they don't really amount to murder mysteries. There's romance, but they're certainly not romantic novels. In fact, Mrs Stewart didn't do romance well. In this particular novel, a young woman meets a handsome man and it's a case of dislike at first sight. They barely exchange a civil word - even the uncivil ones are well spaced - until they kiss, which is then a lifelong commitment followed by terms of endearment such as 'darling' and 'my love'.

Then it struck me. They're adventure stories. Like Enid Blyton for grown ups. Strange to think that, when I was first reading them, this didn't occur to me at all.

But I don't mean to belittle them in any way. Mrs Stewart was intelligent and well educated and she wrote with stylish fluency. I intend to make my way through every one of her novels again, and highly recommend them.

18 people found this helpful

Louise Marley

This Rough Magic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 December 2017

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I first read Mary Stewart's books when I was a teenager. I sneaked them from my grandmother's bookshelves and felt very grown-up. Re-reading them now, I'm not quite sure why I felt so daring as they have no sex or violence in them. They do, however, have lush descriptions, sexy heroes, feisty heroines and lots of nail-biting suspense.

This one, unfortunately, was a disappointment and I found it quite hard going. It was originally published in 1964 and the dialogue feels dated. The characters spoke with the same 'voice' and as though they'd stepped out of a Famous Five novel. Usually I love Mary Stewart's heroines, but this one was a bit of an idiot - deliberately putting herself in harm's way just to prove a point.

Lucy Waring goes to visit her sister, who has married into the Italian aristocracy and is currently holidaying at her husband's summer residence on Corfu. There are two other houses on the estate - the original castle, now rented by a famous actor, and another villa on the other side of the bay. But Lucy's plans for a relaxing holiday are shattered when she almost gets shot while trying to protect a dolphin, and then a body is washed up on the beach.

The story is very much of its time, so I would hesitate to recommend it to a modern audience. I loved Julian (the reclusive actor) and hearing about the island's saint, Spyridon, but I did find all the Shakespeare references a bit wearing. Extra points for the dolphin though! If you've never read Mary Stewart, I'd recommend starting with one of her others first, such as Nine Coaches Waiting, which is one of my favourites.

6 people found this helpful

JMaxfield

Well written romance, thriller, corfu guide and it has humour.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2017

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Well written romance, thriller, corfu guide. This being my second Mary Stewart book that I have read I was slightly disappointed as this book doesn't have the same powerful verve that My Brother Michael has. However saying that the book still has humour, a very readable style and was very much a page turner. This book has many references to Shakespeare's - The Tempest which may confuse some readers if they haven't read or are familiar with this work. The book also covers Corfu history & cultural attitudes.

5 people found this helpful

Dean

Classic Mary Stewart

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2019

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I first picked up 'madam will you talk?' and really enjoyed it. I have now read quite a few of her books and find them a delight.

This one is set in Greece, and makes you feel like you're actually there. What she does with her characters and locations is pure joy. It might come across as a bit dated, but it's a brilliant piece of escapism from yesteryear.
If you like her other works, pick this up. You won't be disappointed.

One person found this helpful

Moggy

A joyous rediscovery!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 July 2014

Verified Purchase

I'm currently rediscovering the joys of Mary Stewart's work, after a long gap. This book is a great example - wonderful descriptive prose evoking the sights, sounds and even smells of the place, a heroine who isn't ashamed to admit to fear, and of course a satisfying ending. It's a pleasure to read a book by such a well educated and articulate woman, who doesn't need to pepper her work with obscenities to keep it interesting.

4 people found this helpful

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