Friday, June 10, 2016

Friday Flashback: Rec. #200 and Rec. #201: Brat Farrar and The Ivy Tree

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.




What: Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar and Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree are two glorious examples of mid-century suspense. Each novel centers on a fiendishly clever scheme to impersonate a missing heir. 

But as Brat Farrar becomes Patrick Ashby and Mary Grey becomes Annabel Winslow, the plans start to twist themselves inside out.

Representative quote, Brat Farrar: "But then he had never been interested in other people's concerns: their sins, their griefs, or their happiness. And anyhow, you couldn't be righteous with a man whose food you were eating."

Representative quote, The Ivy Tree: "There has to be luck, certainly, and there has to be careful planning. But it's like murder, isn't it? You only know about the ones that are found out. Nobody ever hears about the ones that get away with it."

You might not like them if: You're not willing to be won over by some charming, gutsy impostors.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Tey also delved into psychological suspense in Miss Pym Disposes (Rec. #75). Stewart also did neo-Gothic in My Brother Michael (Rec. #387). I previously mentioned The Ivy Tree during Personal Wreck Week (List #1).






[Originally posted 10/26/11.]


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