Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
ThORNYHOLD
MARY STEWART
The rambling house called Thornyhold is like something out of a fairy tale. Left to Gilly Ramsey by the cousin whose occasional visits brightened her childhood, the cottage, set deep in a wild wood, has come just in time to save her from a bleak future.
With its reputation for magic and its resident black cat, Thornyhold offers Gilly more than just a new home. It offers her a chance to start over. The old house, with it tufts of rosy houseleek and the spreading gilt of the lichens, was beautiful. Even the prisoning hedges were beautiful, protective with their rusty thorns, their bastions of holly and juniper, and at the corners, like towers, their thick columns of yews.
review
Thornyhold was first published in 1988 towards the end of Mary Stewart’s writing career and was a departure from her previous romantic suspense stories as this tale is lighter in tone with a sprinkling of magic.
Our main character is Gilly Ramsey who we first meet as a young girl growing up in her father’s vicarage where she has a lonely childhood with a distant mother and an oblivious father. The only bright spot in her young life is when Cousin Geillis makes one of her infrequent visits and Gilly, who was named after her, basks in the attention. Cousin Geillis tries to make Gilly’s life easier by giving her pets which disappear as quickly they appear as Gilly’s mother does not approve of them. Seeing how lonely Gilly is, Cousin Geillis persuades her parents to send her away to school but the idea backfires when her parents chose an austere convent school where Gilly is bullied mercilessly. Yet, Cousin Geillis always seems ahead of the situation and Gilly removed from the school.
The story quickly progresses through the rest of Gilly’s childhood and her decision to leave university after the death of her mother to go home to look after her father. But, when her father dies, Gilly receives a mysterious letter from a solicitor notifying her that Cousin Geillis has died and they had explicit instructions to pass on a letter to her on a specific date. Gilly is astounded by the letter and the fact she has inherited Thornyhold, the only place Cousin Geillis called home, at a time when she was being forced out of her childhood home.
Gilly is excited at the prospect of living at Thornyhold but soon discovers the place has been neglected somewhat. The house has at least been cleaned for her arrival by Agnes Trapp, a local who sometimes worked for Cousin Geillis, who makes it clear Gilly is not at all what she was expecting and seems to resent her presence. Gilly is rather dismayed by Agnes’ habit of letting herself into the house whenever she pleases but she is told it is the country way. It soon becomes apparent that Agnes has an agenda of her own and appears to be desperate to get her hands on a missing recipe book that belonged to Cousin Geillis.
Gilly also meets ten-year-old William who had a close relationship with Cousin Geillis and was convinced she was a witch as she helped care for his animals with her homemade cures. Even more incredibly, William now believes Gilly is a witch too and he reveals the whereabouts of a key that opens the mysterious room where Cousin Geillis made her potions. Was Cousin Geillis a witch and has Gilly inherited that magic? Gilly certainly feels the presence of Cousin Geillis in the house but knows she has a lot to learn. Things take another positive turn when Gilly meets William’s widowed father, Christopher, and there is an immediate spark between them.
However, Gilly soon realises Agnes Trapp’s strange behaviour is down to her having romantic feelings for Christopher and that she has been making potions which may have robbed her own mother of her senses. Agnes mixes her potions in with food and Gilly realises she has fallen victim to at least one of these potions after experiencing a powerful hallucinogenic dream. When Christopher reveals he was given the missing book for safe keeping, Gilly realises Agnes has been desperate to get her hands on a love spell to make Christopher return her feelings and has made her own version which she has put into her fudge, however the spell is also dangerous as it is extremely potent.
The book has an overall nostalgic feel to it due to its post-war setting and idyllic countryside descriptions but there is still a menacing overtone to make things a little more interesting. Gilly is a lovely character and it is nice to see her blossom from that lonely child to a confident young woman. You could almost imagine this book as a film with her childhood years in black and white, then the sudden explosion of colour when Cousin Geillis visits and when Gilly moves to Thornyhold. We are never certain whether Gilly has inherited some real magic or not but it really doesn’t matter as she seems to be so good at creating her own.
