Thunder on the Right (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1957; vuoden 1969 painos)

Artist Jennifer Silver has come to the picturesque, secluded Valley of the Storms in the French Pyrenees to meet with a young cousin who is about to enter the convent there -- only to discover that the young woman has died in a dreadful car accident. Or did she? ( )

2020 reread:
This book was not really the best one of Stewart's for me to reread just after finishing "Melmoth the Wanderer" what with the Catholic convent and the evil Spanish bursar Doña Francisco! But once I got involved in the story, I was caught up once again. Romantic suspense, in typical 1960s fashion without the overt sex that is now so common. ( )

This reads like an early effort, not as good as some of hers I've read before. The heroine is a bit dim, the hero pops up at the end like a deus ex machina, and the most interesting person is the male villain. The shifting third person omniscient viewpoint is also inferior to her first-person narratives. Took me a long time to finish it, and I won't bother to reread. ( )

I had forgotten how deftly Mary Stewart weaves a story of intrigue. This little gem, although written in 1957, stands up well to contemporary writers such as Tami Hoag and Nora Roberts. Stewart is a superior writer to those two and the plot line is as good as the best of theirs.

Jenny is the only and cherished daughter of an Oxford professor of music and his upper class wife. Gillian was orphaned when young and came to live with them becoming an older sister to Jenny. Then she married a Frenchman and went to live in France. Her husband died and she has written to Jenny that she is thinking of going into a convent in the Pyrenees. When Jenny goes to try to persuade her otherwise she is told by the Spanish bursar of the convent that Gillian was in a car accident and died of pneumonia a short while later. Jenny is not convinced that it was her cousin who died but when she tells her suspicions to Stephen (the man who has followed her from England with the blessings of her father) he is doubtful. Nevertheless he agrees to help her. Jenny accepts the Mother Superior's offer to stay in the convent and she attempts to find out more details. The two people who nursed the woman who died, Dona Francisca, the Spanish bursar who is not a nun,and Celeste, one of the orphans in the care of the convent, act suspiciously. Jenny is not the delicate English flower that she seems to be and she is determined to get to the root of the matter.

Well worth the read for anyone who takes the time. ( )

Jennifer and Stephen uncover mystery and intrigue in a small village in the Pyrenees, focussing around a convent. Jennifer comes to see her cousin Gillian but is met with shocking news - which makes her very suspicious.

This book has high drama, chases, danger, and a low-key romantic thread to break up the tension. I'm not keen on thrillers in general, but Mary Stewart's writing style is such that I find myself gripped and involved without being terrified! I thoroughly enjoyed this and wish it could have been longer. It was very well-written and exciting with a most satisfactory (though admittedly clichéd) ending.

I read this first in my teens and found it a little scary; re-reading it now I am perhaps more confident than I was then and would recommend it to anyone. ( )