Camilla Haven is on holiday alone, and wishes for some excitement. She had been sitting quietly in a crowded Athens cafe writing to her friend Elizabeth in England, "Nothing ever happens to me..."
Then, without warning, a stranger approached, thrust a set of car keys at her and pointed to a huge black touring car parked at the curb. "The car for Delphi, mademoiselle... A matter of life and death," he whispered and disappeared.
From that moment Camilla's life suddenly begins to take off when she sets out on a mysterious car journey to Delphi in the company of a charming but quietly determined Englishman named Simon Lester. Simon told Camilla he had come to the ancient Greek ruins to "appease the shade” of his brother Michael, killed some fourteen years earlier on Parnassus. From a curious letter Michael had written, Simon believed his brother had stumbled upon something of great importance hidden in the craggy reaches of the mountainside. And then Simon and Camilla learned that they were not alone in their search...
The ride was Camilla's first mistake... or perhaps she had unintentionally invoked the gods. She finds herself in the midst of an exciting, intriguing, yet dangerous adventure. An extraordinary train of events turned on a nightmare of intrigue and terror beyond her wildest daydreams.
MY THOUGHTS:
I won this book from an Instagram competition. I'd never heard of Mary Stewart at the time, and it came as a great surprise to learn what a beloved and prolific twentieth century author she was, famous for using a wide range of exciting travel destinations for her settings. I've seen many of her covers on Instagram since then. Bookworms, don't ever assume you've seen it all.
This one is set in Greece. Camilla Haven is a tourist in a cafe in Athens where she's mistaken for another young woman. The delivery driver of a hire car assumes she's the person who booked it on behalf of a guy named Simon, and Camilla lacks the language skill to explain the mistake. On the spur of the moment, she decides to drive the car from Athens to its destination in Delphi to find Simon.
Camilla locates a stranger named Simon Lester, but he isn't expecting a car (as far as he knows). However, he divulges that he's in Greece on a personal pilgrimage. His brother Michael was killed during the War and Simon wishes to visit his final resting place for a bit of closure. But being right on the spot suggests that foul play was involved in Michael's death, and possible hidden treasure. The pair of them hit it off and decide to investigate the matter further together.
I wanted to love this book but didn't. Now I'll venture into what I'm sure will be unpopular territory, since this book seems to be widely loved.
I learned that Mary Stewart is widely regarded as a master of fast-paced, romantic suspense. But I never really held my breath once. To bust the romance, Camilla and Simon had only just met each other, so never moved beyond a sort of courteous mutual attraction. As for fast-paced, I'm guessing people call it that because Stewart's plots often play out within a brief space of time. (It seems that's one of her hallmarks.) But although this story takes place within three days, it took me waaaaay longer than that to read in real time. Stewart is an extremely descriptive author. Sure, a character's passing observation may take a matter of seconds, but anyone reading about each contour of rock, shimmer of colour, waft of fragrance or puff of breeze can expect to multiply that at least fivefold. And it all adds up.
Near the end were some nasty shocks that upset me. I won't skirt into the minefield of plot spoilers, but they were the sort of discoveries that made me think, 'Whoa, I really didn't think she'd let that happen.' Or cause it to happen more accurately, since she's the author.
Another thing that stands out is all the smoking! Together these characters must smoke a tonne of cigarettes within the span of the few days this story covers. They smoke to conceal uneasiness, express friendship, fill in time, and fiddle with; in other words, any reason will do. Ironically, some of the biggest chain smokers are described as having white teeth. Go figure that one out. The book was published in 1959 and I guess it's a leap back in time when cigarettes were clearly part of the staple budget, and everyone seemed oblivious of any health hazards.
Although negatives stand out for me, I'd hate to give the impression there was nothing good about the book. Mary Stewart's descriptions of her setting are her strong point and she clearly adored Greece. She writes in a way that puts us straight in the picture, if we're prepared to enter her flow and imagine it all playing out as a painting instead of jumping ahead. She knew a lot about the Grecian Classics and ancient history, and reveals some of it naturally in dialogue.
For example, I appreciate it when Camilla tries to explain why the environment makes such a deep impression on her, and Simon replies that in a way, it really does belong to every English speaking or European traveller, since its ancient roots in western thought are part of our deep heritage. He puts it like this.
'We've learned to think in its terms, and to live in its laws. It's given us almost everything that our world has that is worth while. Truth, straight thinking, freedom, beauty. It's our second language, our second line of thought, our second country. We all have our own country - and Greece.' That's the quote of the book for me.
Okay, because of her reputation, enthusiasm and hard work, I'm willing to give Mary Stewart more of a chance. Just not for a while maybe.
🌟🌟½
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