Due to complicated circumstances, Vanessa March finds herself traveling to Austria to try and locate her husband, who has apparently been lying to her about his whereabouts. She’s accompanied by Timothy Lacy, a young man who at age seventeen has his own reasons to leave England, hoping to see his estranged father. Their separate personal problems quickly become much more complicated and larger, their initial annoyance with each other becomes a close friendship, and after solving mysteries and crimes, and being involved in various chase scenes, they end up much happier than before.

It’s a bit of a silly story involving a traveling circus, the Viennese Lipizzan stallions, a mountain train, a courteous Austrian Count now running a hotel in a castle, a veterinary emergency, cloak and dagger assignments, a deadly fire, and assorted villainy. Some of the attitudes about gender are a bit alarming for today’s reader, but overall, it’s a fun romp, and Timothy, Vanessa, and her errant husband Lewis, are all good company.

HOW TO PURCHASE: AMAZON

NOVEL: Airs Above the Ground

AUTHOR: Mary Stewart

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1965

LEAD-IN IMAGE

"Two horses on the "Postalm" alp near Salzburg, Austria," Photo by Christian Lendl on Unsplash