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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27695.Nine_Coaches_Waiting?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Nine Coaches Waiting" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1167885626m/27695.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27695.Nine_Coaches_Waiting?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Nine Coaches Waiting</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15590.Mary_Stewart">Mary Stewart</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17124647?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars While I’m pretty sure nothing can surpass my love for Touch Not the Cat, this novel is full of delicious Mary Stewart goodness as well. Nine Coaches Waiting is about an orphaned young woman who arrives in France to become the English governess of a young French comte – who lives in a fabulous chateau with a charming but sinister uncle and a icily beautiful aunt. Eventually the heroine finds herself protecting the little boy from danger and investigating the dark background of his family. Naturally the writing and suspense kept me glued to the book, and naturally it ends with several car chases and finally a deeply satisfying romance.
 
 The title is a quotation from The Revenger’s Tragedy, and throughout the story it represents the world of wealth and nobility and greed of which the heroine, Linda, is not quite a part. In fact, the use of allusion and parallels throughout the novel add a great deal of richness to the writing, and play ironically on the almost ridiculously gothic setting by allowing some metacommentary on the plot.
 
 I was intrigued by Stewart’s parallels with Jane Eyre, which I am convinced she did on purpose, since she throws in several allusions to Jane Eyre early on. Like Thornfield, the chateau in the novel hides dark and ugly secrets under its rich beauty, Linda muses, and her employer mockingly calls her “Jane Eyre” several times. But the similarities run deeper than a few comparisons. The entire plot arc mirrors Jane Eyre in arrival, crisis, flight, and return; and many of the characters have counterparts as well. 
 
 Another thread that runs through the book is the many comparisons with the Cinderella story, but while the writing emphasizes this more, it is actually less apt than the Jane Eyre comparison, at least in my biased eyes. However, these allusions, along with the sensitive characterization, especially of the boy Philippe, do work together to raise the novel from a mere gothic romance potboiler to a real work of art.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/970517?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Katharhino's review
rating:
bookshelves: drama

While I’m pretty sure nothing can surpass my love for Touch Not the Cat, this novel is full of delicious Mary Stewart goodness as well. Nine Coaches Waiting is about an orphaned young woman who arrives in France to become the English governess of a young French comte – who lives in a fabulous chateau with a charming but sinister uncle and a icily beautiful aunt. Eventually the heroine finds herself protecting the little boy from danger and investigating the dark background of his family. Naturally the writing and suspense kept me glued to the book, and naturally it ends with several car chases and finally a deeply satisfying romance.

The title is a quotation from The Revenger’s Tragedy, and throughout the story it represents the world of wealth and nobility and greed of which the heroine, Linda, is not quite a part. In fact, the use of allusion and parallels throughout the novel add a great deal of richness to the writing, and play ironically on the almost ridiculously gothic ...more

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message 1: by Alyson

03/06/2008 08:15AM

Because of your review on this on your book LJ I sought it out and read it. Sofie has gifted me many Mary Stewart books which have become favorites, but I'd never read this one. Thoroughly enjoyed it, probably more particularly because I'd spent so much time studying Jane Eyre last summer. :)