The Ivy Tree
by Mary Stewart
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 321)
Read in October, 2007
THE IVY TREE (Suspense, Mary Grey/Annabel Winslow-England-cont) - Ex
Stewart, Mary – Standalone
Hodder & Stoughton, 1961, UK Hardcover
First Sentence: I might have been alone in a painted landscape.
*** Annabel Winslow has been dead for four years. Mary Grey, over from Canada, looks enough like Annabel to be her twin. When Conner, foreman at Whitescar, stumbles upon her, it takes a bit of convincing that she is Mary. Con, and his half-sister, Lisa, work up a plan for Mary to prete...more
Stewart, Mary – Standalone
Hodder & Stoughton, 1961, UK Hardcover
First Sentence: I might have been alone in a painted landscape.
*** Annabel Winslow has been dead for four years. Mary Grey, over from Canada, looks enough like Annabel to be her twin. When Conner, foreman at Whitescar, stumbles upon her, it takes a bit of convincing that she is Mary. Con, and his half-sister, Lisa, work up a plan for Mary to prete...more
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Read in December, 2007
This was an enjoyable read. It is similar to Brat Farrar, and the author references this fact. I actually preferred Brat Farrar, because I understood the motive of the protagonist much better. I did appreciate the plot twists in Ivy Tree, but thought the suspense was rather contrived. I never bought into the main character the way I did with Brat Farrar. I wasn't able to get this from the library until after our book club meeting, and the main plot twist was revealed there. I don't know if I wou...more
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Read in November, 2007
Started out okay and it had a great premise - imagine a young girl of 19 leaving her home and village suddenly and re-surfacing after 8 years... But the story suffers from too much description - the house, the farm, the horses, the gardens and also the mind games that the imposter Annabel plays - which takes away from the fast pace of the novel. And after so much build-up, it ends a little tamely.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of mystery, descriptive landscapes, actors
I am astonished that this book hasn't been made into a film. It is SO visual and dialogue-heavy, that it nearly reads like a screenplay. (There goes my chance at writing it!) For avid mystery fans, the clues may be too obvious, but i was quite willing to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride taken by a young Canadian who finds herself mistaken for a long-dead British heiress. It came to a near-unbelievable climax before discovering the truth.
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Read in January, 1964
When I was in high school, I discovered these Gothic romances, and they sustained me for several years. After plowing through the ones that were already published, I watched for each new book to arrive. My 5 stars reflect how much I loved them when I was 15! Eventually, Mary Stewart turned to the Arthur saga, about which she wrote some captivating (and captivatingly long) novels, but they couldn't capture my soul like the romances did.
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Read in September, 2007
a little bit of suspense, a little bit of romance, good writing, pretty good pace, and set in the enlgish countryside to boot! i love books set in the english countryside.
basically about a girl who ran away from home at 19, supposedly returns 8 years later. there is of course the heiress/inheritance thing going on involving her dying grandfather, which is always another bonus for a book set in the english countryside.
basically about a girl who ran away from home at 19, supposedly returns 8 years later. there is of course the heiress/inheritance thing going on involving her dying grandfather, which is always another bonus for a book set in the english countryside.
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Read in April, 2008
This was a hard book to put down. It held your interest from beginning to end. I like the way Mary Stewart writes. Her characters are well drawn, but she has a way of holding back information about them that would ordinarily help you figure out the plot and conclusion.This is especially true in the Ivy Tree. The story takes place in England and involves the upper class dilemma of property, inheritance and family relationships.
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I read this book while sitting on Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain (and got soaked for my troubles during the Hexham Fair later that week...) and so I felt right at home in the World of "The Ivy Tree" which takes place in that very place. This is a terrific suspense romance. My wife has currently read it twice since I introduced her to it last year, and I have multipled it myself several times. On my faves list.
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Read in May, 2008
Adultery and sticking up for murderers, what more could you ask for in a heroine? And it had started off so well! If she'd only taken a few different directions with the story I think it could have been great, but as it was I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters, so it made sections rather boring. But the writing was so good it was almost intoxicating.
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Okay, so this is another "old lady book" along the lines of Victoria Holt.
Mary Stewart was one of the first "grownup" authors I ever read, mostly because my mom had all of her books, and because I had seen the Haley Mills movie of The Moonspinners.
This one has an M Night Shamalamalalalalalalayan-like twist at the end that makes it interesting to reread.
Mary Stewart was one of the first "grownup" authors I ever read, mostly because my mom had all of her books, and because I had seen the Haley Mills movie of The Moonspinners.
This one has an M Night Shamalamalalalalalalayan-like twist at the end that makes it interesting to reread.
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Read in April, 2008
This book was lots of fun to read - one of those mysteries with twists and turns and you just never know who to trust and where it's heading. Granted, the last 30 pages fly by and you kind of see bad things coming (I'm not one to need suspenseful music to tell me someone is going to die). But it was fun.
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Loved this book! Slow start, but a grand finale to blow you away! Couldn't put it down. Mary Grey from Canada poses as heiress Annabel Winslow to inherit a pretty fortune, but mystery abounds from the past to confront Mary as Annabel in the present. Thieves, killers, family feuds--it's all in here.
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This is simply the best mystery I have ever read. I went through a binge of reading Mary Stewart mysteries when I was in my 20s. They were all pretty much the same. Then I read this one and was blown away. I had to read it a second time to see what I'd missed the first time through.
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i admit i have a weakness for all that wuthers, so i really enjoyed this. its got everything you need to make your own gothic romance playset, so its a little predictable, but its a quick read and perfectly acceptable (i.e. not to be ashamed of)escapist fiction.
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I absolutely love this book and I read and reread it often!
Nearly as often as Pride and Prejudice. There is mystery and intrigue, which I love.
If they were to make it as a movie I would pick Gwyneth Paltrow to play Mary!
I highly recommend it.
Nearly as often as Pride and Prejudice. There is mystery and intrigue, which I love.
If they were to make it as a movie I would pick Gwyneth Paltrow to play Mary!
I highly recommend it.
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I really love this book. I went through a big Mary Stewart phase in my late teens and pretty much devoured everything in her romantic suspense genre, which she is pretty much one of the queens of. 'The Ivy Tree' is one of my favorites of hers.
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Read in July, 2007
I really liked this -- the writing is a little old-fashioned and the story has become a bit cliche after a zillion soap opera plots involving imposters and/or people coming back from the dead, but it's still a compelling read.
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A classic. The plot revolves around a young woman, long missing, who comes back to claim her inheritance. Or is she an impostor? And, there's a nice romance as well. One of my favorites (along with Moon-spinners.)
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Read in May, 2008
I borrowed this book from Julia after I read her review. It was a pretty quick read, even though it took me a while to get it read. It held my interest and the author, Mary Stewart, is a very descriptive writer.
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Not a gripping page-turner, but the plot revolves around an interesting idea and it was entertaining. I really enjoyed Stewart's descriptions of people--I could see them myself and felt I'd gotten to know them.
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