I've been a tremendous fan of Joan Aiken's Gothic novels since I first moved from the children's room of the library to the adult section, where I started with A and grabbed all the books I could find from that name I knew and loved.
Mary Stewart, it turns out, wrote the novels that Joan Aiken loved. I recognized many elements in this book from Aiken's work, though you might need my encyclopedic knowledge to catch them. The long one lane zigzag road appears in Last Movement. The near-accident with the car appears in The Crystal Crow. The entire set-up of the novel can be seen reflected in my favorite of Aiken's books, A Cluster of Separate Sparks. Each of these is too similar in detail and ambience to be anything but loving homage.
Although I've loved Aiken's Gothics my whole life--The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Midnight Is a Place are both clearly Gothics for children--I've never really followed that logical trail and read other authors in the genre, until Sarah Rees Brennan posted one of her excellent parodies of Nine Coaches Waiting. Rees Brennan has been writing about Gothics in intriguing detail recently and made me realize that what I write myself is nearly always Gothic or Gothic-adjacent.
However, as much as I thoroughly enjoyed Nine Coaches Waiting, in comparison with Aiken's Gothics I found it lacking in pace and humor. Aiken writes fantastically evocative and lively stories, with mysteries much more complex and gripping. Introducing the villain at the beginning of the novel with a comparison to Satan doesn't leave a whole lot of room for mystery. And anyone who doubted Raoul's integrity is faithless, I say, faithless! Oh, Raoul!
Hey, while we're on the subject, searching all day for Linda and Philippe kind of assumes they've run away for bad reasons, too, doesn't it? A trusting person would have figured they ran away for their safety. So lay off the blaming, Raoul.
Ahem.
I'm crazy about Gothics. Spunky young heroines foil devilish plots against the unprotected! Great scary houses! Personages of dubious sanity! Wealth misused! Dark and isolated locations straight out of Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre! I prefer the speedier pace and excellent humor of Joan Aiken, but I'm going to read my way right through all of Mary Stewart's Gothics.
As for Sarah Rees Brennan, she's brilliant and funny and you should read this essential post here about Gothics and then read all of the posts tagged "Gothic Tuesday" and then go out and buy all her books, because the Demon's Noun trilogy is awesome and so is she. And thanks for pointing me to Mary Stewart, Sarah!
