TBR Challenge: Madam, Will You Talk?
Mary Stewart’s novels have a marvelous sense of place, and that is one of many reasons I enjoy reading them. They also tend to feature smart, independent women as heroines, which is another huge mark in their favor for me. With this month’s TBR theme of “Location, location, location,” I dove right into a Mary Stewart novel that I hadn’t yet read. Her debut novel, Madam, Will You Talk? was originally published in 1955 and it’s a thrill ride of a road trip through the South of France.
The heroine, Charity Selbourne, is an English war widow on holiday with a friend in Avignon. Charity meets a young boy and his stepmother at the hotel where she is staying, and somehow this chance acquaintance with an obviously vulnerable child draws Charity into the midst of a suspenseful plot. Charity soon learns that her new friend is the son of a man who narrowly escaped conviction for murder back in England, and as events around the boy and the hotel in Avignon grow more mysterious, it’s obvious that something dangerous is going on.
The result is something of a chase through Provence as Charity finds herself pulled into unraveling a mystery, whether she wants to or not. Mary Stewart is credited with being one of the inventors of the modern romantic suspense genre, and this story certainly kept me reading. She does an amazing job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere throughout her stories and this novel was no exception. As Charity finds herself on a quest for the truth, I could picture scenes from the story vividly in my mind.
The suspense plot in this book is quite engaging. Many of the plot points tie back to World War II and I had to remind myself that, at the time this was written, the war had ended only 10 years ago. Many of the parties involved would have been not only still alive, but fairly young and active. Reminders of the war, particularly in Europe, would have been much more present than they are today. That gave the story in this novel an extra weightiness as I read.
While the suspense plotting in this novel is compelling, the romance felt a little uneven. For starters, the hero of the book (giving away his identity would be something of a spoiler) behaves abominably in his early scenes with Charity, ranging from being overbearing to downright stalkery. While I know standards in the 1950s were different, I know my grandmother would have joined me in expecting a lot more groveling from this man before deeming him hero material.
In addition, while the ending is romantic indeed, the romance does develop a touch abruptly. I liked how Ms. Stewart treated Charity’s prior marriage. It was obvious that she loved her first husband and mourned his loss keenly. However, the new romance developed almost out of nowhere, with pacing that felt a little off compared to what I’ve seen in later works of hers.
Even so, Madam, Will You Talk? is a very good read and while not my very favorite Stewart, it’s still awfully good.
Content warning: As mentioned above, parts of the plotting in this novel tie back to events of World War II. At one point, a character recounts witnessing the brutal murder of a Jewish artist by the SS, and the scene could be triggering for some. There are other, less graphic, references to the war and the Holocaust as well.
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One of the things I liked about this book is that she doesn’t overindulge in description yet manages to give you a sense of what people looked like. While my memory may be a bit hazy, I think that when Charity first meets David’s father, his first words to her are “All right, you beautiful bitch, what have you done with my son?” Awful words, but Stewart has them convey not only the anger of a concerned father but tells us without any specifics at all that Charity is strikingly beautiful. So many early romances droned endlessly on about the heroine’s black/midnight/raven hair or the hero’s blue/azure/cerulean eyes that it became boring (not to mention conducive to drinking games each time a body part was mentioned). That never was the case with Stewart.
I read Mary Stewart’s books several times over when I was in my teens and twenties in the sixties and seventies. I will need to read this one again as I am holidaying in Avignon this summer. My favourite book of hers though was This Rough Magic.
That’s one I read years ago. I remember liking it quite a bit, but it’s been a long time. Clearly I need to do a reread. :)
I read almost all of Mary Stewart’s books when I was a teen back in the 60s-70s. I have recently been rereading them and have been pleasantly surprised at how much I still enjoy them. I’ve always loved her vivid descriptions of the countries in which she set her novels. Those settings are an integral part of the story.