Take a young woman, who is intelligent, feisty, independent for her time, and courageous. This is the third novel I have read by Mary Stewart, and while I find them hugely enjoyable, and a cut above what may be expected, because of their elegant prose and literary allusions, I am beginning to recognise what I think of as “the Mary Stewart formula”. The title This Rough Magic is a quotation from William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”, and indeed the novel references this play throughout, with a short quotation heading each chapter. In this way “romantic” should be understood in its earlier, broader meaning, rather than just a love story. A blue tit flew across the clearing, obviously in a great hurry, its beak stuffed with insects for the waiting family.” Bee orchises swarmed by the river, over a bank of daisies. The woods were silent, stretching away dim-shadowed in the heart of the late afternoon. “The trickle of the falling stream was cool and lovely, and light spangled down golden through the young oak leaves. This Rough Magic is typical fare from this author: escapist, suspenseful, occasionally melodramatic and beautifully descriptive: Mary Stewart’s novels are generally classed as romantic suspense, or mystery thrillers with a dash of romance. This Rough Magic is a novel by Mary Stewart, which was first published in 1964.
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