British actress Lucy Waring believes there is no finer place to be "at liberty" than the sun-drenched isle of Corfu, the alleged locale for Shakespeare's The Tempest. Even the suspicious actions of the handsome, arrogant son of a famous actor cannot dampen her enthusiasm for this wonderland in the Ionian Sea.

Then a human corpse is carried ashore on the incoming tide ...

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 10 reviews)

This Rough Magic

If you appreciate an 'old fashioned' tale free of graphic intimacy and violence, if you appreciate vivid description, romance and intrigue this is for you. I read all but one of Mary Stewart's books in my early twenty's through late thirties. Now, nearing seventy, I am rereading them and cherishing the stories I read in my young years. I have divested myself of hundreds of books. Mary Stewart's remain a constant. Though I prefer some over others "This Rough Magic" is a favorite. It tells of a young woman needing employment with limited accomplishments. She becomes governess and, of course, falls in love with one of the family members who own an estate. "Jane Eyre" is actually used in comparison within the story. Fun reading...
September 30, 2008

Fun and suspenseful mystery (even for blokes...)

Mary Stewart's This Rough Magic, published in 1962, tells the story of Lucy Waring, an out-of-work actress. Killing time after her last show abruptly closed, she decides to visit her pregnant sister on the beautiful island of Corfu. She soon learns that the island is swarming with mysterious characters - including a legendary actor, his composer son, a toff-stroke-photographer, a friendly dolphin and a host of naive natives.

Although I knew this was going to be a mystery (bloodshed - huzzah!), I approached the book with trepidation. As much as I like John Fowles, I'm certainly not up to re-reading The Magus during rush hour. Similarly, the cover hinted toward some sort of neo-Gothic monstrosity - dispossessed noblemen and philosopher-heiresses dash around quoting poetry and invariably becoming trapped in the bell-tower.

My worries grew - and I'm sorry to confess this, as it only reflects badly on me - when I discovered it was written in the first person. Not only, I worried, would I have to read about the insecurities of some vapid philosopher/poetry-quoter, I was actually being assigned to empathize with her. (Kind of like I've being doing with the post so far - get it?)

The book quickly put all my fears to rest. By the end of the first chapter, I was very happy seeing the world through Lucy Waring's eyes. I think the ultimate bonding occurred when she confessed that she really wasn't a very good actress - at that point I knew that this wasn't going to feature some sort of plot-swept, wind-swept Gothic heroine, but actually a very good yarn, with a very, enjoyable, human narrator.

As a thriller, the danger is small-scale and intimate, but no less suspenseful for it. Although a vague Communist threat is presented, explained and promptly ignored, Lucy and her friends' efforts to fight the forces of evil are much more personal. The murders, even of strangers, are acutely felt, and Lucy's reaction to them (no fainting, just steely resolve) helps make them more real.

There are a few notable concessions to genre conventions. All the members of the opposite sex on the island are, of course, very attractive. Corfu is swarming with handsome young men, all of whom find Lucy irresistible.

Also, as with any good internationally-placed thriller, the natives have very little to do with anything. The Greek people come across as generous and naive, but not very bright. Most of them are possessed with typical peasant mojo - they're able to repair a car, but not drive one. And, of course, they're completely incapable of solving a crime (or even noticing one). Thank god for the British, eh?

These concessions to conventions are balanced out by a few deliberate attempts at subversion as well. One exceptional moment has Lucy captured by the enemy. Although fiercely intelligent, she acts the stupid little ingenue in order to wiggle her way out of the situation (all the while looking for a serviceable weapon). It is especially entertaining given the immense vanity of the villain - who strikes me as a pretty good imitation of the typical Sixties pulp hero. As much as I like Shell Scott and Chester Drum (and James Bond, for that matter), it does raise the question, 'How many of those women would rather just be hitting you over the head right now?'.

After some commutes filled with truly horrific fiction, I was starting to dread the morning train. This Rough Magic, however, arrived just in time to restored my faith in cheap fiction. Fortunately, it isn't my place (or my goal) to do a deep and insightful analysis of gender roles. Instead, I'm just happy that I finally got a decent book to read on the tube.

May 22, 2008

All right, not great

Having read Stewart's Arthurian saga, and thoroughly enjoyed and admired them, I was a bit disappointed in this book. It is an adventure and mystery novel, with no real magic in it (as exists with Merlin and The Crystal Cave and the rest). I found her writing amateur and struggling, not the masterful work she put forth in the Arthurian saga books.

I could picture something of Corfu, and I substituted Ian McKellen for Sir Julian Gale (this was a good character). I liked her descriptions of the old houses and the hidden cellars and passages, the rich rose garden, the dolphin element, but for the most part it felt like a setting, and the characters worked to move the plot along.

However, I was touched by some bits of the romance, the tension of the mystery, and the fear of what-if towards the end.
November 12, 2007

A Masterpiece of Magical Writing

As in other Mary Stewart classics, the action of "This Rough Magic" takes place in a mere matter of days. Lucy Waring, a twenty-something actress steps off the London stage and onto the idyllic Ionian island of Corfu. In a the course of a morning swim, paradise transforms to a place of sinister doings: someone shoots at a tamed dolphin, a young Greek drowns off the coast of Albania, and a smuggler washes up dead in a nearby cove. Stewart uses all her formidable skill, crafting a strong story that is both literary and fast moving. Told from Lucy's point-of-view, the reader's is kept as taut as a wire as the tension mounts not only while Lucy attempts to determine the identity of the wrongdoer and the reason for his misdemeanors but as she inadvertently puts herself in harm's way.

Playfully, Stewart pulls out all the stops, introducing one of her most cleverly contrived secondary characters, Sir Julian Gale, a Lawrence Olivier facsimile whose theory that the island setting of Shakespeare's "Tempest" and Corfu are one and the same adds much charm and ambiance to an already gloriously depicted exotic locale. Cleverer still, she employs the idea of the deus ex machina in a most enjoyable sequence, where the 'god' is a young Greek male and the 'machine', his improbable motorcycle.

As always, the Stewart heroine impeccably relates each event as it occurs with an astonishing literacy--the language employed borders on poetry; the reader actually smells every flower, is blinded by the lush colors of the foilage and stung by the salt of the Ionian Sea. In kind, Stewart characterizes her Greeks with an affectionate curiosity and love of the stranger; their traditions and rituals are reported with much respect and admiration.

As noted in some of my other reviews of Stewart's work, this author's masterly use of plot, character, language and style puts her in a genre all her own. She is quite definitely incomparable. 'This Rough Magic" is one of my favorite Stewart selections: one of a trio of novels set in Greece and the Greek Isles that uses the strained politics of the late 50s and early 60s as a backdrop to catapult a rather normal UK female protagonist into an abnormal situation where the British sense of responsibility is shown to positive advantage.

Recommended with the wish that all the Stewart suspense tales are reissued in trade paperback with Reader's Questions.
September 16, 2003

A Great Read!

I love everything Mary Stewart has written. Her books are classics. This was the first book I read of her's, and to this day I think it is still her best. This Rough Magic is a truely charming story. When I think of the story I get a smile on my face. That's how good this book is. I highley recommend this book and all her others.
March 09, 2003

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