This book is totally bonkers, but in the best possible way. Oh, to be a heroine in a Mary Stewart novel! Young, attractive, bright, well-educated, independent, possessed of a true moral compass, and with romance and adventure right around the corner. The author herself described Touch Not the Cat as “a modern adventure story spiced with romance (or romance spiced with adventure; it depends whether you are advertising it for men or for women).”

Paranormal romance isn’t as recent a genre as you might think it is, and it sure wasn’t invented when Stephanie Meyer introduced the world to her sparkly vampires. This 1976 novel features telepathic communication between our imperiled heroine (Bryony Ashley) and an unknown man she calls her “lover,” presumably a cousin due to the second sight that runs in her (ancient) family. There’s a mansion in ill repair, mysterious thefts, twins, ghostly figures in the courtyard, scandalous ancestors, an entailed estate, literary references galore, an overgrown and neglected garden maze, a moat, lovers reunited after death, a missing parish register, new money in the form of some wealthy American renters, scheming relatives, and a mysterious deathbed warning. You might find the entire thing preposterous, and you would not be wrong. But Mary Stewart was an exceptionally good writer, with tremendous descriptive powers. The place feels real when you read the book, and somehow or other, the ridiculous Gothic elements work. 

If you can get past the cousin romance, the class bias, and the racism (it’s not Bryony, but there are some extremely alarming remarks by a minor character), and the ESP doesn’t put you off either, you may find this book enormously enjoyable. I rather understand if you don’t, but I first read this one as a girl, and I’ve always had a soft spot for this quite strange, and yet somehow sweet, story.

HOW TO PURCHASE: AMAZON

NOVEL: Touch Not the Cat

AUTHOR: Mary Stewart

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1976

IMAGE: Book cover, Hodder & Stoughton