Daedalus Books had an amazing deal on Mary Stewart books that swiftly sold out. So many cherished titles - The Ivy Tree, Airs Above the Ground, Madam Will You Talk? & - above all - This Rough Magic. Strangely, no copy of My Brother, Michael, the favorite of all three Lockhart ladies.
Long afternoons replenishing hot cups of tea, devouring Pepperidge Farm sugar cookies & the wondrous adventure of Mary Stewart's adventurous (typically unintentionally) female & male characters, dashing around the British countryside, capitals of Europe & exotic spots along the Mediterranean.
Thinking of Mary Stewart led me to remembering Victoria Holt. How Mim & I loved those novels! Mistress of Mellyn, Bride of Pendorric, Menfreya in the Morning. I haven't thought about them or her many other titles for decades. We'd wear the paperbacks out with reading & rereading. Perhaps not great literature, but they captured our imagination.
Mom was never as fond of Victoria Holt as Mim & I. She loved Rosamunde Pilcher & R.F.Delderfield. Both Mom & Mim were big fans of Helen MacInnes - Decision at Delphi, The Venetian Affair, Assignment in Brittany. She didn't appeal to me, although I did learn from her that the 2nd dining room footman or the chauffeur were more likely to be spies than big wig diplomats or government figures. All it took for Mom to slip over to cozy England was to open up a James Herriott novel - she loved sending them to Jim Peddicord, her veterinarian nephew, when he was just starting out in his practice.
I can always find Mom & Mim in the pages of books. We loved reading & discussing plot lines. It felt like there were figures in books who had more reality for us than actual people.
Going to head downstairs to brew a pot of tea, grab a plate of ginger cookies & settle in for a read. Now, where did I put Mom's copy of Rebecca?
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