The Moonspinners

by Mary Stewart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was happy to be able to enjoy this book again after reading it first almost half a century ago. It has stood the test of time pretty well. I was tickled to read little passages that were so important to many of us young girls at the time, particularly the author reinforcing the idea that women were not to be considered weak, helpless and good for nothing much.

It was a battle for the heroine of the book Nicola Ferris to be taken seriously on the one hand, while on the other she was able to accomplish quite a bit just because she was underestimated as a woman! After coming across an injured man she goes looking for his brother who is possible a hostage held in secret and thus she explores the area and it's small buildings.

I was not as impressed by the romance as I was on the initial reading. Nicola seemed a bit gullible and she wore her heart on her sleeve after meeting a poor sick and injured individual, Mark who was far from his best. Not that we were given much detail about Mark's character.


Nicola was living an adventurous life because she had left her home country England and was working in a very minor capacity at the British Embassy in Athens. She travels to different parts of Greece when ever she gets so time off. Now in the spring she takes a trip to Crete where she is going to meet up with an aunt of hers who is also travelling in the area. She has made reservations in a new small hotel in a little town on the coast. Stewart draws a very nice picture of the location emphasizing the wildlife and the and the flowers. Here swift references to Google images helped me get a better idea what was being described.

I will look forward to reading one or two more of these stories!