21st out of 284 books
—
219 voters
Nine Coaches Waiting
by
Mary Stewart,
Sandra Brown (Goodreads Author)
A governess in a French château encounters an apparent plot against her young charge's life in this unforgettably haunting and beautifully written suspense novel. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Château Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems like a wondrous, ecstatic dream. But a...more
Paperback, 342 pages
Published
May 1st 2006
by Chicago Review Press
(first published 1958)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
This is the most suspenseful Mary Stewart novel I have read to date. Linda Martin, raised in an orphanage in England, moves to France to take the position of governess to Philippe, orphaned at the age of 9, and living with his aunt and uncle. The Château Valmy is not a happy place. Uncle Leon was crippled in a polo accident, and his strength and vitality are confined to his wheelchair. He is lord and master of Château Valmy, as Philippe cannot inherit the title or its lands until the age of 15....more
Rating Clarification: 4.5 Stars
Original review:
(view spoiler)...more
Original review:
(view spoiler)...more
Originally published at Book Harbinger.
After ten long years of living as an orphan and expatriate in England, Linda Martin has finally returned to Paris. There is something right about the cool spring night, and how the language has come back like it never fell into disuse. Although she enters the country as a governess and technically hired help, Linda is relieved to come home, even if it is to the great estate Chateau Valmy outside of Paris. Her charge, nine-year-old Phillipe, is an orphan him...more
After ten long years of living as an orphan and expatriate in England, Linda Martin has finally returned to Paris. There is something right about the cool spring night, and how the language has come back like it never fell into disuse. Although she enters the country as a governess and technically hired help, Linda is relieved to come home, even if it is to the great estate Chateau Valmy outside of Paris. Her charge, nine-year-old Phillipe, is an orphan him...more
I have fond memories of Mary Stewart books from my tween days, but I didn’t expect to enjoy one now that I’m old and critical (that's just sad; maybe “mature and learned”?). What a fun surprise! This one has all the elements you could hope for in a 1950’s adventure/thriller/romance — a young woman trying to start a new life; a mysterious French count; suspicious happenings at a chateau; a handsome and swarthy Frenchman who MIGHT BE DANGEROUS; midnight picnics; near-death adventures; and. . . hol...more
Even though I've read this book at least twice before, I still ended up staying up to the wee hours of the morning finishing it. That's how good the suspense is. While this could be considered a period piece (it was written and set in the late fifties), and certainly has gothic elements (the orphaned young English woman serving as a governess in a remote French chateau), Mary Stewart's writing elevates it above the typical genre fare. She is simply the best at romantic suspense, and that is why...more
I bought this book because it was mentioned as being a modern gothic title.
Not quite.
The author tries to convey unease from time to time, but that's not pervasive like one would expect in a gothic novel. 95% of the time, the plot has a light atmosphere. As for the setting, the large chateau seems to fit with typical gothic placings, but its description isn't right for it, nor does the heroine feel scared or intimidated by it at all during her stay. The author probably didn't intend to label this...more
Not quite.
The author tries to convey unease from time to time, but that's not pervasive like one would expect in a gothic novel. 95% of the time, the plot has a light atmosphere. As for the setting, the large chateau seems to fit with typical gothic placings, but its description isn't right for it, nor does the heroine feel scared or intimidated by it at all during her stay. The author probably didn't intend to label this...more
Jan 13, 2012
Chachic
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Chachic by:
Angie
Originally posted here.
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart is one of the titles that Angie suggested when I asked her for recommendations similar to Eva Ibbotson's novels. I've never read a Mary Stewart novel before so I decided I should give her books a try, they seem intriguing. I called the local bookstore and was thrilled to discover that the branch near my house had a copy. This book probably spent the shortest time on my wishlist - bought a copy on the same day I found out about it. Holly...more
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart is one of the titles that Angie suggested when I asked her for recommendations similar to Eva Ibbotson's novels. I've never read a Mary Stewart novel before so I decided I should give her books a try, they seem intriguing. I called the local bookstore and was thrilled to discover that the branch near my house had a copy. This book probably spent the shortest time on my wishlist - bought a copy on the same day I found out about it. Holly...more
Another amazing buddy-read with the Mary Stewart gals. I won't say much because of spoilers but I can say I was not expecting the ending and it all happened fast and furious in the 7th, 8th and 9th coaches.
Linda Martin was a strong resourceful heroine and the lengths she was willing to go to keep her charge Philippe safe--even at the possible expense of her own future happiness was nothing short of wonderful. And the "insta-love" is so like current YA that it makes me wonder how many of todays...more
Linda Martin was a strong resourceful heroine and the lengths she was willing to go to keep her charge Philippe safe--even at the possible expense of her own future happiness was nothing short of wonderful. And the "insta-love" is so like current YA that it makes me wonder how many of todays...more
The first word to describe this novel that came to mind while reading it was "delicious." Mary Stewart's prose is something to be savored like a rich taste. Her artistic use of words and metaphors conjures up vivid, enchanting images. I'd read books set in France before, but I'd never seen France, smelled, tasted and felt France the way I did while reading Nine Coaches Waiting. It's an atmosphere of old-world French chateaux, villages, aristocracy and elegance, with a dash of 1950s glamor and ch...more
I love gothic fiction. I'm a sucker for the dark atmosphere, the intimidating chateau, the foreshadowing, the young yet strong heroine and the swoon-worthy hero. So sue me. I'm a romantic at heart.
The love story, however, wasn't very believable; it's like insta-love 1950-style. They meet, meet again, spend a night together driving around and that's it: Linda is head over heels for Raoul. To be fair, he is quite the charmer, but considering she isn't sure if he's a villain or not, falling in love...more
The love story, however, wasn't very believable; it's like insta-love 1950-style. They meet, meet again, spend a night together driving around and that's it: Linda is head over heels for Raoul. To be fair, he is quite the charmer, but considering she isn't sure if he's a villain or not, falling in love...more
An atmospheric, Gothic mystery. I liked the main character, Linda, quite a bit and the mystery was fascinating. I’m not quite sure what I thought of the hero–I wavered between liking him and feeling a bit annoyed with his caveman tactics, but I think the very end decided me in his favor. [Mar. 2010]
----
I had fewer problems with this one than I did the first time through, partly because prior knowledge made the characterizations seem a little smoother. I was still annoyed by the one bit that had...more
----
I had fewer problems with this one than I did the first time through, partly because prior knowledge made the characterizations seem a little smoother. I was still annoyed by the one bit that had...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I should begin by saying that this is my first Mary Stewart book. I picked it up from the library after seeing repeated references to it on Lauren Willig’s blog. Originally published in 1958, I would call this a “romantic suspense” novel.
Linda Martin was born and raised in France, but has lived the past ten years in a London orphanage after a plane accident that resulted in the death of both her parents. At the beginning of the story, she has been offered the position of governess at the Chatea...more
Linda Martin was born and raised in France, but has lived the past ten years in a London orphanage after a plane accident that resulted in the death of both her parents. At the beginning of the story, she has been offered the position of governess at the Chatea...more
I first read this book when I was 12 and remembered being captivated. So, 30+ years later, I wondered if it would still grip me as it did the first time around. The second read wasn't as memorable as the first but it was more sophisticated than I expected and still a really fun, light summer read. Miss Stewart crafts words masterfully and her descriptions are keen. While the story line smacks a bit of "Harlequin" style (cheap romance) it has superior writing and suspense.The author begins each c...more
Originally published on my blog here& in July 2000.
One of Mary Stewart's best novels, Nine Coaches Waiting takes themes common to most of her stories (isolated young woman under threat has doubts about the man she falls for), but is far more tautly suspenseful than usual. This is partly because the major characters are particularly believable, and you really care what happens to the central character, governess Linda Martin, and her charge Philippe de Valmy.
The plot is simple. Linda escapes...more
One of Mary Stewart's best novels, Nine Coaches Waiting takes themes common to most of her stories (isolated young woman under threat has doubts about the man she falls for), but is far more tautly suspenseful than usual. This is partly because the major characters are particularly believable, and you really care what happens to the central character, governess Linda Martin, and her charge Philippe de Valmy.
The plot is simple. Linda escapes...more
Aug 01, 2011
Danica
marked it as sadly-abandoned
Mary Stewart comes highly recommended by Nancy Pearl and Jenny Davidson, which is why I gave this book a chance. Well. That's a misrepresentation. I also wanted to read this "classic of romantic suspense" because I am trying to write romantic boddiceripper longfic and it is going terribly/badly/like a six car collision on an arterial highway in traffic-packed downtown Los Angeles, with, like flames gouting out of gutted semis and scorched rubber tires rolling jauntily past the windows of horrifi...more
Linda Martin had a lovely childhood in France with her English father and French mother. When she was 13, they were killed in an accident and she was sent to a London orphanage. Ten years later she’s now a teacher but she’s still in London; what she wants more than anything is to return to France.
Opportunity knocks when an acquaintance introduces her to Madame de Valmy. Madame de Valmy is specifically looking for an English governess to look after her nephew, 9 year-old Philippe, the young, rece...more
Opportunity knocks when an acquaintance introduces her to Madame de Valmy. Madame de Valmy is specifically looking for an English governess to look after her nephew, 9 year-old Philippe, the young, rece...more
I kept wavering between four and five star for the this mystery novel and have finally settled on five. It wasn't earth-shattering, it's not like I'll divide my life into the time before I read Nine Coaches Waiting and the time after I read it, but it was really really good and I think that sometimes that is enough to merit five out of five stars!
Mary Stewart's 1958 crime drama feels fresh and modern more than fifty years after it's first publication. The characters are likable, the plot is fun...more
Mary Stewart's 1958 crime drama feels fresh and modern more than fifty years after it's first publication. The characters are likable, the plot is fun...more
I guess mysteries have always been a part of my life. Ever since my mom handed me that first Nancy Drew--The Hidden Staircase--that thirst for the clues, the search, the not knowing has stuck with me. That, combined with the fact that they are very nostalgic for me, and you get to read about a lot of them. Mary Stewart is my very favorite when it comes to romantic suspense and her many mysteries are serial re-reads for me. In the best of times and the worst of times, she comes through with an un...more
I love reading Mary Stewart at any age, even a second time around. Here is the synopsis by Barnes and Noble that pretty well lays out the basic plot of this book.
A governess in a French château encounters an apparent plot against her young charge's life in this unforgettably haunting and beautifully written suspense novel. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Château Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems l...more
A governess in a French château encounters an apparent plot against her young charge's life in this unforgettably haunting and beautifully written suspense novel. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Château Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems l...more
Wow. I'd heard a lot of praises about Mary Stewart but somehow I didn't expect this. The most fitting adjective I can think of is 'lovely'. Stewart's writing is probably the most confident I've encountered in a long time - she has the extraordinary gift of coaxing a setting to come to life effortlessly with very few words. Her characters are fleshed-out and full of life - Philippe, the child, is one of the few portrayals of a lucid, smart child who's not helpless (he knows exactly what's going o...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
When Linda Martin starts her new job as a governess at a big estate in France, she soon begins to suspect that there is something going on there that she isn't supposed to know about. Gradually, the figurative wall guarding the dark secret is crumbling and the world within is a picture totally different from the facade.
I haven't read Mary Stewart before, and didn't know what to expect. I was actually surprised on the positive scale. The writing style is rather good, with a rather suitable pace....more
I haven't read Mary Stewart before, and didn't know what to expect. I was actually surprised on the positive scale. The writing style is rather good, with a rather suitable pace....more
Nov 12, 2012
Kyla Cangemi
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kyla by:
my grandmother
Shelves:
dog-eared-and-well-loved
This amazing little novel is the single most influential (to my life, at least) hue-and-cry story I've ever read. The constant references to Jane Eyre ("Come out, Jane Eyre" was a tingly little quote from the suave patriarch) are delightful in the same way that the chapter quotes are - I found myself constantly copying them down in notebooks during my years in junior high and high school (although I read it in elementary and didn't know many of the words without having to dig through a dictionar...more
I loved the strong gothic elements in this novel. Stewart's writing is absolutely lovely; and she creates the settings of her stories completely picturesque. Linda takes a governess job at Valmy mansion in France and suspects her employers of attempting to murder her young charge and frame her for it. My favorite quote was a description of Madame De Valmy. She looked, "fragile, expensive, and as approachable as the moon."
My main objective to reading Stewart was to compare her to Victoria Holt....more
My main objective to reading Stewart was to compare her to Victoria Holt....more
The first half of this book was surprisingly good. The narrator sets off to France to be an English governess to the child of a strange and charismatic man in a mysterious mansion that has possibly some sort of dark secret. (Where have we heard THAT one before?)
Still, even though we've all been there before, it's interesting, and I really wasn't sure where the story was going (because the man is openly married AND his wife is more Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina and less Joan Crawford in Whatever...more
Still, even though we've all been there before, it's interesting, and I really wasn't sure where the story was going (because the man is openly married AND his wife is more Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina and less Joan Crawford in Whatever...more
Jul 01, 2010
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by:
The Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Shelves:
contemporary,
literary-fiction,
mystery,
romance,
suspense,
ultimate-reading-list,
crime,
fiction,
novels
An author that can be found in general fiction--her Arthurian Merlin Trilogy is among my favorite books. This book published in 1958, a classic of "romantic suspense," is written in first person with a gorgeous, evocative prose style. Generally, the best I can say about a romance novel's prose style is that it isn't eye-bleeding--the prose in this novel invoked writer's envy. The characters are all very distinctive individuals: from the narrator, Linda Martin, who travels to France to take a pos...more
This is the third Mary Stewart book I've read recently and I loved it. She is not only a good writer, but has a great imagination for suspenseful stories. I love that her books are clean and romantic. This book was by far her best performance in writing.
I loved the use of the little clips from poets and authors to introduce each chapter. It only added to the literary depth and suspense and made it hard to put the book down.
And being a great fan of Jane Eyre, of course, I loved the idea of a mor...more
I loved the use of the little clips from poets and authors to introduce each chapter. It only added to the literary depth and suspense and made it hard to put the book down.
And being a great fan of Jane Eyre, of course, I loved the idea of a mor...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I am a HUGE fan of the "Gothic" Romances of the 60's and 70's. Mary Stewart was one of the most popular authors in this period. This book would be placed under the romantic suspense genre today. ( no paranormal activity in this one) I picked this up in a used book store several months back. The copright was 1958, 272 pages long. The story is set in France. A young English orphan takes a job as a governess for 9 year old Phillipe. Phillipe is the owner of the property and a vast fortune. His aunt...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Lady Mary Stewart is a popular English novelist, and taught at the school of John Norquay elementary for 30 to 35 years, but has now retired.
She is one of the most widely read fiction writers of our time. The author of twenty novels, a volume of poetry, and three books for...more
More about Mary Stewart...
Lady Mary Stewart is a popular English novelist, and taught at the school of John Norquay elementary for 30 to 35 years, but has now retired.
She is one of the most widely read fiction writers of our time. The author of twenty novels, a volume of poetry, and three books for...more
Share This Book
3 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“Perhaps loneliness had nothing to do with place or circumstance; perhaps it was in you; yourself. Perhaps, wherever you were, you took your little circle of loneliness with you...”
—
10 people liked it
“ I was thankful that nobody was there to meet me at the airport.
We reached Paris just as the light was fading. It had been a soft, gray March day, with the smell of spring in the air. The wet tarmac glistened underfoot; over the airfield the sky looked very high, rinsed by the afternoon's rain to a pale clear blue. Little trails of soft cloud drifted in the wet wind, and a late sunbeam touched them with a fleeting underglow. Away beyond the airport buildings the telegraph wires swooped gleaming above the road where passing vehicles showed lights already.”
—
9 people liked it
More quotes…
We reached Paris just as the light was fading. It had been a soft, gray March day, with the smell of spring in the air. The wet tarmac glistened underfoot; over the airfield the sky looked very high, rinsed by the afternoon's rain to a pale clear blue. Little trails of soft cloud drifted in the wet wind, and a late sunbeam touched them with a fleeting underglow. Away beyond the airport buildings the telegraph wires swooped gleaming above the road where passing vehicles showed lights already.”

Loading...






































May 22, 2013 02:34am
May 22, 2013 05:49am