The Gabriel Hounds. Signed copy

by Mary Stewart

Book Overview

It's all a grand adventure when Christy Mansel unexpectedly runs into her cousin Charles in Damascus. And being young, rich, impetuous, and used to doing whatever they please, they decide to barge in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00KH8SPUM
• Release Date: January 1967
• Publisher: Mill-Morrow
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Good Read

Mary Stewart's books are a treasure and a must for your personal library. Service from The Book Man was excellent.

Fantastic

Christy Mansell is on a pleasure trip to Damascus when she meets her cousin Charles. Their great-aunt Harriet lives in the High Lebanon, where she plays a sort of Lady Hester Stanhope role, living in a decrepit old palace secluded from everything. There's an unspoken rule that nobody is allowed to visit her, but Christy decides to pay her great-aunt an unexpected visit. Met with resistance at first by Harriet's doctor, Christy gains entry into the palace, but she and her cousin soon discover that not all is as it seems. Christy Mansell is typical of Mary Stewart's heroines; she's young and spunky, and used to doing whatever she pleases. Under any other writer, this sort of thing might get annoying, but somehow Stewart manages to make each of her heroines unique. Also expected is the romance aspect of the book, which I wasn't quite as satisfied with as I was with the rest of the book, but enjoyed nonetheless. The romance story lines of Mary Stewart's books are always gentle and understated. As with all of her novels, The Gabriel Hounds moves at a tight, rapid pace; I don't know how Mary Stewart ever did it, but her books are always infused with the right amount of suspense. And yet, the outcome of the story totally came as a surprise. It's this combination of the expected and the unexpected that make Mary Stewart's books so appealing.

Interesting little changes in versions of this book

I first became acquainted with this wonderful thriller in an American paperback version and have read it often enough to be very familiar with the story. I just bought a first edition hardback version and was surprised to note several differences between the old and newer versions. I don't know if these were inserted for an American audience, or if Ms. Stewart revised the original copy. In the first edition, Charles is a first cousin, son of the other identical twin. Perhaps this consanguinity made some readers squeamish, hence(in later editions)the relationship is outlined as a more distant cousin adopted by the protagonist's uncle. The other items changed in subsequent editions are some ugly, racist adjectives used to describe the doctor and the servant Halide. Still love the book, but it's interesting that these few things were changed in later editions - American tastes or just good taste?

1002nd Tale of the Arabian Nights

When Christy meets up with her second cousin, Charles, on a street called Straight in Damascus, she has no idea that her harmless foray into the Middle East will end behind a locked hareem door. As members of a well-to-do and filthy rich banking family, both Mansels are a little spoiled and very used to getting their own ways. Hence, it does not seem out of order or intrusive for them to look up great-aunt Harriet, an eccentric old lady who has shunned life in England while living like a pasha for almost a decade in a palace called Dar Ibrahim in the high Lebanon. On impulse, Christy goes solo to the palace, meeting an ecletic cast of characters straight out of the Arabian Nights. Strangest of all is her elderly aunt who has taken the pasha descriptor a little too seriously, dressing in male Arab garb and smoking a hookah. The backdrop, in true Stewart style, is drop-dead-gorgeous; the palace, its gardens, the prince's divan, the seraglio, the darkened corridors and treasure troves are all perfectly illumined for the reader by the author's rich use of language and a seemingly photogenic memory for even the smallest detail--the baying of the locked hounds as Christy wanders about the crumbling palace is just the thing to raise the hair off the back of any reader's neck, while the heady scents of herbs and flowers act as a profuse intoxicating calmative. Of course, there is a mystery which Christy unwittingly stumbles upon like all the other Stewart heroines. But, in this case, as well-off Christy is so very different from the working girls of the other novels, she meets mayham with an outraged aplomb which is marvelously comedic especially during the novels more crucial dramatic moments. I listened to the audio version of this book read by Davinia Porter who has read other Stewart novels but somehow manages to get across Christy's spoiled yet kindly dispostion in a fresh style that makes the listener wish the reading would never end. There is romance, again underplayed in Stewart's signature style; as with all her male leads, the hero acts as a buttress to make sense out of Christy's spirited insights. I recommend this whole-heartedly; the language is unsurpassed; the conjuring of the Middle East of the 60s romantic and whimsical.

not as occult or romantic as many of her other gothic novels

I love all of Mary Stewart's books and am especially drawn to them because of the elements of paganism and the occult that Stewart adds to her stories. The Gabriel Hounds is mysterious and has slight spiritual overtones but doesn't really have the occult flavor I've come to expect from Stewart's writing. There is a romance in the story, revealed in the first pages, but it is not the typical Mary Stewart romance, either. In many ways, despite the exotic setting and mysterious events, this is a rather subdued book compared to Stewart's other writing in the gothic romance genre. Still, those who love Stewart's writing -- or who love a good gothic romance -- will not be disappointed by The Gabriel Hounds. The mystery is built up thrillingly slowly but the climax is explosively tense. As always, Stewart uses language in a way that is simultaneously down-to-earth and lyrically poetic. Altogether, an enchanting story.