Ride a White Dolphin

by Anne Maybury

304 pages Random House; 1st edition (1971) English 0394462459 978-0394462455 Product 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches Shipping 1.1 pounds

Genres: Gothic, Italy, Romantic Suspense

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Edith Arundel Buxton
aka Edith Arundel, Anne Maybury & Katherine Troy.

Her maiden surname was Arundel. Her ancestors were said to have come to England with the Norman Conquest and she was proud of the heritage which did seem to imbue her with a perceptive appreciation of history. The love of poetry which remained with her always was inherited from her father, a distinguished poet of his time. Her mother was a musician who died at an early age.

She was a writer of romantic suspense whose novels earned her world-wide acclaim and an enormous following. She was particularly popular in the United States. Her finest gift was for lyrical prose and she used her delight in colour and drama to such effect that the reader was immediately plunged into the story and held enthralled.

Her early novels were written also under the pennames of Edith Arundel and Katherine Troy, but it is as Anne Maybury that she will be remembered. She was a true professional who did not believe in wasting time. A promised deadline was adhered to and all social engagements regretfully cancelled. She developed early in life the profound interest in human behaviour and intrigue which was to prove a valuable asset to her writing. Also in good measure she retained the attribute so necessary to an author, a lively curiosity. She travelled widely and brought a sense of adventure into her books derived often from personal experiences of a bizarre kind. She seemed to attract excitement and used to say that she had met more than one murderer during her travels around the world. As a writer she was stylish, and this quality extended to her personality, which was full of vivid charm, lightened by a sparkling sense of fun.

Generous with her time to aspiring writers, she also loved literary chat with her peers. She was interested in new writing as well as the classics and read widely, keeping up with developments. She was a vice-president of both the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. Almost until his death she regularly attended meetings and gave time and care to helping the members and the causes in which they believe. She was a remarkable writer and a good friend and companion.

Reviews

[Peacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific gothic story , sparked mainly by the incredible detail to atmosphere in the sensuous Venice - Maybury even compares a bride in a gondola as looking like a figure sinking into the icing on top of her wedding cake. I love that! The heroine however is flawed - hopelessly naive -having married a moody man on the rebound- so sometimes she’s a little hard to take. Both of them are staying at his Aunt’s mansion in Venice while his top-secret job keeps him suspiciously busy but they’re not alone there’s a free-loader named Willy and a suspicious housekeeper ( aren’t they all?! ) While their extended honeymoon could draw out forever excitement sends our heroine into a whirl of self doubt when someone attempts to fling her into the water sparking off a list of culprits and possible mysteries - does it have something to do with the Aunt’s crazy scheme of turning a dilapidated island into a artist retreat , or her husbands glamorous ex-lover an opera singer? I can’t wait to find some more by the author if they’re as good as this!

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corporate espionage...

y-a-w-n.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leonie Thorburn, 25 years old, has married Rorke Thorburn after a whirlwind courtship. She's met him at a British R&D/tech and security firm where they both work. He's on the rebound from an intense affair with Catherine Mallory, a Callas-like opera diva. Now, nearly a year into their marriage, he's been sent to Milan, so he deposits Leonie with his aunt, who married into Venice and now lives in a palazzo. (The secret agent sort of hero is a trope for Maybury, by the way.) From this set-up, Maybury weaves a tale of marital insecurity and danger. The insecurity comes in the form of Catherine's arrival in Venice, as well as Leonie's own doubts about her marriage, which seems to rest on a foundation of sex and not much else. The danger comes from accidents that seem to be happening to her as she goes about her new life in the city. "Ride a White Dolphin" is a mixed bag. Maybury brings Venice alive, so that it feels like a character itself. As always, her interest in meals, clothing, atmosphere, and settings adds to the reader's absorption. In addition, because this is the early 70s, she textures her characters with more maturity than is usual in a romantic suspense novel: Leonie is convinced the hold she has over Rorke is sexual but like a good modern, she believes in free love and no ties--or thinks she does. The problems with the novel are that first, the mystery behind the mystery is fairly thin and gets resolved fairly quickly. More damningly, Rorke is one of Maybury's unpleasant heroes, the kind who treat their partners pretty shabbily throughout, making it hard for the reader to root for their relationship to work. In addition, some characters just vanish. Despite this, "Ride a White Dolphin" is more enjoyable than not, and until its ending, its suspense and its evocation of Venice both make it a good escapist read from one of the contemporary gothic/romantic suspense world's solid stars.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the age of 10 and against all precedent I was "promoted" from the Children's Room of our small rural town's library to the adult section and allowed to borrow books. Normally you had to be in junior high, but I was one of those kids that any librarian takes one look at and immediately waives the "only two books at a time" rule. This book had just come to the library and I borrowed it and devoured it. I know I read it at least twice, and for years I looked for it without finding it because I couldn't remember the title and mistakenly believed Mary Stewart had written it. I began to wonder if I'd imagined the whole thing, but the other night as I was falling asleep the title came back to mind and I scribbled it down on my notepad in the dark lest I forget it again. To my delight it was on the Internet Archive, so I've spent the last few days revisiting it.

Oh dear. I really must stop rereading books I liked in those days, especially "gothic romance." This one, my first, did not stand up to the test of 50 years. I found myself skimming, and that's never a good sign. I will say I had forgotten most of the story and mis-remembered a great deal of what was left, but also the change in perspective from ten year old smalltown girl to middleaged woman had a great deal to do with it. Leonie and her husband, by her own admission, only have their physical relationship in common; he "needs" her (for sex, I guess) while she (of course!) "loves" him. (This holds to the very last sentence of the novel, when she tells him to "close the shutters" of their room; no sex is shown but every time they get together in the same room, that's all they do.) She's 25 but acts like a teenager, leaping to conclusions and running around ignoring even the safety net she and her husband agree on. She thinks someone is trying to kill her, but that doesn't stop her haring off alone day or night. A great deal of the book wouldn't have happened if she'd just stopped and thought for a single moment. And this woman had a responsible job in a big company?
What I can't understand is what made this book stay with me for half a century. It certainly wasn't worth the space in my brain, but at last I can lay the mystery to rest; it's a great deal more intriguing than Mallory's plot.

[Cindy Witte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eccentric Aunt. Elusive stalker/savior.
Newly married couple. Old flame.
Venice backdrop

[Christine Honsinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A likable enough gothic suspense novel with a ridiculous title. I've yet to find that really great Anne Maybury book, and I will keep reading through her collection to find it. In the meantime I am enjoying the search well enough.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great sense of place in this story (Venice). True to the genre. One of Anne Maybury's better romantic suspense novels. Interesting from an historical perspective.

For my full review: http://leslieinadamsmorgan.blogspot.c...