Nine Coaches Waiting (Stewart)

Nine Coaches Waiting
Mary Stewart, 1958
Chicago Review Press
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781556526183

Summary
A governess in a French chateau 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 Chateau 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 palpable terror is crouching in the shadows. Philippe's uncle, Leon de Valmy, is the epitome of charm, yet dynamic and arrogant—his paralysis little hindrance as he moves noiselessly in his wheelchair from room to room. Only his son Raoul, a handsome, sardonic man who drives himself and his car with equally reckless abandon, seems able to stand up to him.

To Linda, Raoul is an enigma—though irresistibly attracted to him, she senses some dark twist in his nature. When an accident deep in the woods nearly kills Linda's innocent charge, she begins to wonder if someone has deadly plans for the young count. (From the publisher.)

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About the Author Bio
• Birth—September 17, 1916
• Where—Durham, England, UK
• Education—Durham University
• Currently—lives in England

Mary Florence Elinor Stewart (nee Rainbow), a popular English novelist, is best known for her series about Merlin, which straddles the boundary between the historical novel and the fantasy genre.

Stewart was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England and graduated from Durham University, from where she received an honorary D.Litt in 2009. She was a lecturer in English Language and Literature there until her marriage in 1945 to Sir Frederick Stewart, former chairman of the Geology Department of Edinburgh University. Sir Frederick died in 2001.

In addition to her five fantasy novels, Stewart is also the author of approximately 20 others: children's books, crime fiction, gothic fiction and romance novels, several of which have been adapted for television and/or film. Several of her books are set in Scotland; others are set in more exotic locations such as Damascus, the Greek islands, Spain, France, or Austria.

She was at the height of her popularity in the 1960s and 1970s when many of her suspense and romantic novels were translated into many languages. Stewart is considered one of the founders of the romantic suspense subgenre, blending romance novels and mystery. Her novels seamlessly combined the two genres, maintaining a full mystery while focusing on the courtship between two people. In her novels, the process of solving the mystery "helps to illuminate" the hero's personality, helping the heroine to fall in love with him (Adapted from Wikipedia.)

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Book Reviews
(Older works have few mainstream press reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)

A delightful concoction. A beautifully written mingling of romance and mystery.
Washington Post

A wonderful hue and cry story.... A Mona Lisa tale that beckons you on while suspense builds up.
Boston Herald

Readers will be glued to the complex story in which no one seems truly trustworthy.
Vive Magazine

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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Nine Coaches Waiting:

1. What does the title suggest about the kind of story Stewart wants to tell...and the kind of story her readers might expect?

2. What kind of character is Linda Martin? How would you describe her?

3. Why must Linda pretend ignorance of the French language, which she is quite facile at speaking?

3. Talk about young Philippe. How well does Linda relate to him as a charge?

4. What about Uncle Leon as a character? How does he treat his nephew? What might his injury suggest symbolically about him?

5. What makes Linda first suspect that the "accidents" are anything but accidents?

6. What draws Raoul and Linda together? Did you feel their attachment was genuine on both sides?

7. Linda finds herself in the middle of a murder plot and must spirit Philippe away to keep him safe. What will Linda have to sacrifice as she makes her decision? Whom does she suspect ...and whom, at this point, did you suspect?

8. Does this book deliver in terms of its triple objectives: to be a mystery / suspense / and romance in one book? Does Stewart succeed? Did you find yourself quickly turning pages to find out what happens next? Were you surprised by the turn of events, or did you find them predictable? Were you satisfied with the ending of the book? Does it end how you had hoped it would?

9. Loneliness is an underlying theme in this book. How does it evidence itself within the story?

10. Are there other literary heroines of whom Linda reminds you? And if you've read other Mary Stewart works, how does this one compare?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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