Call number
FIC STE
Collection
Publication
Morrow (1978), Edition: Book Club (BCE/BOMC)
Description
After the tragic death of her father, Bryony Ashley returns from abroad to find that his estate is to become the responsibility of her cousin Emory. Ashley Court with its load of debt is no longer her worry. But there is something odd about her father's sudden death . . . Bryony has inherited the Ashley 'Sight' and so has one of the Ashleys. Since childhood the two have communicated through thought patterns, though Bryony has no idea of his identity. Now she is determined to find him. But danger as well as romance wait for her in the old moated house, with its tragic memories . . .
User reviews
LibraryThing member MyopicBookworm
Stewart ties together crime, history, and the paranormal in a well-crafted romance-cum-mystery novel. The central character, Bryony, has inherited the family's psychic "gift", but she does not know which of her relatives is the unknown lover with whom she has a telepathic link. When her father dies
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suddenly leaving a fragmented message, she returns to the decaying family house in England, and a clutch of tantalizing mysteries: missing ornaments, a cloaked figure in the church vestry, and her twin cousins who amuse themselves by standing in for each other. Outside the run-down Tudor house, a tangled and overgrown maze and its pavilion (made by a romantic forebear for his wife, and used for secret assignations by his philandering son) gradually encroaches on the story. It has the page-turning quality of detective fiction, but without the constraint of that genre. I enjoyed reading this. MB 30-xi-2009 Show Less
LibraryThing member Kasthu
Mary Stewart is one of my favorite authors, and Touch Not the Cat reminds me of why I love her novels so much: she infuses her novels with romance, suspense, and a hint of the supernatural. Her novels usually take place in an exotic location, so I was a bit surprised to learn that Touch Not the Cat
Bryony Ashley grew up at Ashley Court, ancestral home of a family that dates back to Norman times. When her father is killed in a hit-and-run accident, she returns to England from her temporary home in Madeira. She has a “relationship” with a spirit who speaks to her in a kind of psychic way. I rolled my eyes at the opening line of the novel (“My lover came to me on the last night of April, with a message and a warning that sent me home to him”), thinking that the novel was going to go overboard on the psychic thing; but Mary Stewart makes her reader feel as though this psychic element is completely normal. I like how we don’t know for certain who this “friend” is, and are left guessing at his identity throughout the book.
No Mary Stewart novel would be complete without a mystery; part of the mystery lies in the supernatural aspect of the story, while another mystery lies in the truth behind Bryony’s father’s death, and the mysterious warning he left behind him. It’s very cleverly done and not at all expected. I’m glad I saved Touch Not the Cat for nearly last among Mary Stewart’s novels to read; in my opinion it’s one of her best.
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is set in England. It’s a lot more mature than some of her other books.Bryony Ashley grew up at Ashley Court, ancestral home of a family that dates back to Norman times. When her father is killed in a hit-and-run accident, she returns to England from her temporary home in Madeira. She has a “relationship” with a spirit who speaks to her in a kind of psychic way. I rolled my eyes at the opening line of the novel (“My lover came to me on the last night of April, with a message and a warning that sent me home to him”), thinking that the novel was going to go overboard on the psychic thing; but Mary Stewart makes her reader feel as though this psychic element is completely normal. I like how we don’t know for certain who this “friend” is, and are left guessing at his identity throughout the book.
No Mary Stewart novel would be complete without a mystery; part of the mystery lies in the supernatural aspect of the story, while another mystery lies in the truth behind Bryony’s father’s death, and the mysterious warning he left behind him. It’s very cleverly done and not at all expected. I’m glad I saved Touch Not the Cat for nearly last among Mary Stewart’s novels to read; in my opinion it’s one of her best.
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LibraryThing member MerryMary
What a terrific story. Mary Stewart's typical cool but passionate heroine is in love, in danger, and psychic. How cool is that? She can communicate with her "Love" in her mind, but doesn't know which of her distant cousins he is. And now he may have done something unforgivable.
LibraryThing member murderbydeath
This book would have been so much better had Byrony not constantly referred to the man she has had a telepathic connection to all her life - but has never met - as lover. Blech! My lover this, My lover that, Where is my lover? Even if the phrase itself was still 'hip' (and thank god it's not) it
I'm not going to say much beyond that because I think anything else I'd talk about could dim the fun of the story somewhat. It's gothic and oozes mystery and there's a castle and a library and a garden maze. There's even a dark and stormy night where everything comes to a climax (pun may or may not be intended). If only Stewart's editor had nixed the lover crap it would have been an easy 4/4.5 star read.
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would still have been really over done. Throw in that she's a virgin and she thinks her lover is one of her cousins (again, I say blech!), and the book ends up with an air of dated, cheesy, melodrama, which is a shame, because it's a cracking good story.I'm not going to say much beyond that because I think anything else I'd talk about could dim the fun of the story somewhat. It's gothic and oozes mystery and there's a castle and a library and a garden maze. There's even a dark and stormy night where everything comes to a climax (pun may or may not be intended). If only Stewart's editor had nixed the lover crap it would have been an easy 4/4.5 star read.
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LibraryThing member Figgles
A later (1976) work from Mary Stewart. What could just be a family saga / romance is enlivened by the supernatural connection between the heroine, Bryony, and her mystery lover (reminiscent of that in John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids", 1955). Very enjoyable, especially when you are ill, as I was when
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I read it! Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
This is not usually the type of book I would read, but I was drawn solely by the title! ('Touch not the cat bot (without) a glove' is the motto of a Scottish clan which Mary Stewart adopts for her fictional family). I actually imagined I would be getting more of a children's book, for some reason,
Bryony Ashley, who shares a telepathic link with an unknown man she calls 'lover', creepily, is called home from a receptionist's job in Madeira when her father is struck by a car and left near death. Before she can get halfway across Europe, she 'feels' that he has died, and her fears are confirmed when she reaches Germany and talks to his doctor. Along with his personal belongings, the doctor also has a message for Bryony from her father, warning her that she is danger and making cryptic reference to a book and a cat at home. Keen to figure out the puzzle, Bryony returns to Ashley Court, the ancestral home in the Malverns, half of which is currently being rented by an American family. Bryony's twin cousins (identical, naturally), have also arrived at Ashley, their father having inherited the house thanks to the property being entailed to the next male heir. There is a strange 'understanding' that Bryony should marry one of her cousins to keep a share in the house - which might have worked if this was a Jane Austen novel, but not in the 1970s, surely!
Anyway, apart from the incest, the rest of the story is fairly predictable, from the identity of Bryony's 'lover' to the creepy behaviour of her capitalist cousins, and I was only reading every other line! Can't understand why this was such a popular book - the 9th highest selling book in the US, apparently! 400 pages of stilted conversation and references to Shakespeare and Tennyson. Go figure.
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only to find a strange hybrid of Gothic parody and twee romance. I enjoyed the mystery - I love family history and old houses - but there was far too much expositional dialogue and flowery filling to maintain my interest for long, and I soon started skimming.Bryony Ashley, who shares a telepathic link with an unknown man she calls 'lover', creepily, is called home from a receptionist's job in Madeira when her father is struck by a car and left near death. Before she can get halfway across Europe, she 'feels' that he has died, and her fears are confirmed when she reaches Germany and talks to his doctor. Along with his personal belongings, the doctor also has a message for Bryony from her father, warning her that she is danger and making cryptic reference to a book and a cat at home. Keen to figure out the puzzle, Bryony returns to Ashley Court, the ancestral home in the Malverns, half of which is currently being rented by an American family. Bryony's twin cousins (identical, naturally), have also arrived at Ashley, their father having inherited the house thanks to the property being entailed to the next male heir. There is a strange 'understanding' that Bryony should marry one of her cousins to keep a share in the house - which might have worked if this was a Jane Austen novel, but not in the 1970s, surely!
Anyway, apart from the incest, the rest of the story is fairly predictable, from the identity of Bryony's 'lover' to the creepy behaviour of her capitalist cousins, and I was only reading every other line! Can't understand why this was such a popular book - the 9th highest selling book in the US, apparently! 400 pages of stilted conversation and references to Shakespeare and Tennyson. Go figure.
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LibraryThing member SunnySD
A whisper in the night warns Byrony that her father is dying. His death, and her return to the family estate sparks a chain of events which she may not survive. Who is her Love, and will he reveal himself in time to save her?
Stewart has created a gripping mystery with intricately woven historical
Stewart has created a gripping mystery with intricately woven historical
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details, plenty of suspense, and enough romance to wrap everything up quite nicely. One to return to again and again. Show Less
LibraryThing member djalchemi
This isn't the kind of book I usually read, but I picked it up on a whim and enjoyed it. I liked the way the story gradually unfolds, including some elements which are guessable without being obvious, some that completely blindside the reader, and one or two that are left hanging almost until the
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last page. It's very well paced, especially as the last third of the book hastens towards a dramatic dénouement. I know next to nothing about Mary Stewart, the author, except that she also wrote a trilogy of books about Merlin -- the kind of thing that would normally send me running a mile in the opposite direction. But happily the magic/fantasy element in Touch Not The Cat is kept on a tight rein, and I might read something else by her, one day. Show Less
LibraryThing member carlyrose
Thoroughly enjoyable. A sweet romance with a well constructed mystery.
LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
Re-reading an old favourite. In touch with my younger self for a few hours....
LibraryThing member LibraryCin
It's the 1970s. When Bryony's father dies, his house and land will not go to his daughter because she is a woman, but she does have a say in if or when it is sold. Her cousins also have a stake in it. Bryony also has a kind of telepathy, or at least a connection with someone – she's not sure who
Ok, I hated that she called the voice in her head “lover”! Ugh! She thinks this is family (but apparently there aren't taboos against relationships with cousins at this time? It seems kind of current for that to be the case, though?)! However, the storyline was ok. At first, I wasn't very interested and tended to skim things, but it did pick up for me in the second half, so that was much more interesting. I did think the end was tied up a little too neatly. Overall, though, it's an “ok” read for me.
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– where they can read each others thoughts. She enjoys this and is certain it's someone in her family, but would like to find out for sure. Ok, I hated that she called the voice in her head “lover”! Ugh! She thinks this is family (but apparently there aren't taboos against relationships with cousins at this time? It seems kind of current for that to be the case, though?)! However, the storyline was ok. At first, I wasn't very interested and tended to skim things, but it did pick up for me in the second half, so that was much more interesting. I did think the end was tied up a little too neatly. Overall, though, it's an “ok” read for me.
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LibraryThing member Andy_DiMartino
That was an interesting whodunnit. Of course, she will always be my Arthurian legend author but that was a nice change
LibraryThing member EmpressReece
Just love the suspense, action, foreign lands!
LibraryThing member hadden
This is not my usual kind of book. A women with a psychic connection with an unknown man (obviously a relative, but she doesn't know which one of her cousins it is), is partial heir to an estate in England. Her father is killed in a hit and run accident (or is it?) in Germany, and when she returns
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to England, some family members encourage her to break the family trust and sell some land she has so they can qui9ckly recoup their losses of other people's money. This is basically a book about mood and relationships between the heroine and her neighbors, family, cousins and others from the family's past. A love affair from over a hundred years ago re-appears in part at the end of each chapter, and as the book comes to a conclusion the plot and personality strings are all tied up nice and neat. A good read, but not a great one. Recommended for lovers of English rural estate stories, whodunnit mysteries and some ESP stories. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carol420
I read Mary Stewart books from my Grandmother’s library. She was a favorite of hers and soon also became a favorite of mine. I remembered when I saw the reprint of this one how I had once devoured every word this author could put to paper. The atmosphere of this one is enchanting…for lack of a
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better word. It’s a perfect blending of the modern world creeping upon a life and time that has since faded into memory…a time of rambling, pre-war estates in the green English hills, with histories that go even further back. It possesses both originality and subtle suspense and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
Re-reading an old favourite. In touch with my younger self for a few hours....
LibraryThing member atreic
An enjoyable old fashioned romance / mystery. Bryony Ashley's father dies, the victim of a hit and run accident. As her stately home, Ashley Court, is inherited down the male line, it now passes to her cousins. But in post war Britain, the costs of maintaining a huge pile of a house are high, is
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inheriting it a blessing or a curse? Throw in a telepathic lover who has never reveled his identity to her, some flashbacks to Wicked Nick Ashley in the past, and an interesting handful of other characters and you get the idea. Show Less
LibraryThing member Matke
Typical Stewart: young woman investigating odd circumstances in family home. This one has the addition of telepathy and there’s a time slip as well. Certainly not Stewart’s best but a serviceable romantic suspense novel or suspenseful romance.
LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
I do enjoy a good Mary Stewart novel. This one is a great Gothic, with the oh-so-70s addition of ESP. That's okay; I like the novels from that time. There are the old houses, the history, the choice of lovers (Well, not really a choice as much as discovering exactly who is "Lover"), and danger to
Recommended for fans of romantic suspense who don't mind a dash of ESP.
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spice up the story. And as is her usual, Stewart does an excellent job with a good ending.Recommended for fans of romantic suspense who don't mind a dash of ESP.
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