The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart ~ 1967. This edition: Coronet, 1974. Paperback. ISBN: 0-340-04353-9. 256 pages.
Oh. My. Goodness. This was utterly over-the-top, and if it had been written by anyone lesser (say Phyllis A. Whitney) I would have savagely panned it. But I’ve now embraced this author fully, and therefore completely forgave her the bizarre plot and the very weird and unlikely “drugging” scenes. (And the slightly ick-inducing cousinly love.)
Drum roll, please (or you may substitute the snarl of an accelerating Porsche engine here) …
My rating: 9.5/10
Loved it.
Okay, this isn’t even going to be a “proper” review, because I want you to come to it with no idea of where the plot would go, like I did. I will instead throw out these teasers. This story contains:
- A lovely, unapologetically wealthy, 22-year-old sophisticated world traveller as the heroine.
- An eccentric old lady who has completely channeled Lady Hester Stanhope and has created her own legend in a decaying Lebanese castle.
- A ne’er-do-well young Englishman, handsome and intelligent but fatally weak-willed, who has gotten into a situation very much over his head; perks being the privilege of enjoying the favours of a dusky local maiden and galloping about the countryside on a beautiful Arab horse, accompanied by two gorgeous saluki hounds.
- A scene in which the heroine unwittingly (???) smokes three “marihuana” cigarettes and only succumbs to their “self-will erasing effect” until the end of the third one, after which she is unable to walk and is carried away giggling.
- A dastardly villain who eventually confesses absolutely EVERYTHING in a long, rambling monologue.
- A handsome young man who can scale steep cliffs (and crumbling castle walls) without benefit of climbing gear, and who (bonus feature!) drives a white Porsche 911 S with utter aplomb and finesse.
- Oh, and a fabulously unique and valuable ruby ring, which no one of the evil-doers seems to be able to recognize for what it is. (Among other priceless heirlooms which they casually dismiss and bundle away as “junk”. Hmmm, not quite as sophisticated as all that, then, these out-for-the-main-chance types.)
There. How can one resist all of that? And there’s more. Oh yes, much, much more!
Enjoy!
Couldn’t find a white 1966 Porsche 911 S, but here’s one in an elegant shade of cream, suitably posed against a Mediterranean-looking setting. How’d you like to tootle about the Levant driving this?
“Self-will erasing effect” is a rather good description though! That is what happens to me when I have a few glasses of wine. I am still fairly sensible, but I just become terribly lazy and abandon all hope of doing any virtuous plans I had had for the evening (housecleaning or anything like that).
But wouldn’t you notice that you were drinking wine? Instead of, say, grape juice? Because our heroine smokes THREE joints before realizing they aren’t regular cigarettes, and doesn’t feel the effects until right near the end of the third one, when she goes completely silly. All I could think was that if she couldn’t tell there was something awfully funny about those Mary Jane cigarettes, her regular brand must have been fairly harsh! 😉
I couldn’t get past the bizarre plot or the cousinly love – which seemed unnecessary as well as icky, but I’m glad you appreciated it a little more, because I did like the setting and the idea of it. Maybe I just picked the wrong book at the wrong time.
In this case, it was the right book for the mood I was in. I just wanted to be entertained, and I embraced it fully, even though I chortled out loud at the ridiculousness of many of the plot twists, especially the drug stuff. It was just so completely 1960s (or even 50s?) in its treatment of the subject. Totally gothic – absolutely hit all the clichés!
Sounds like good hilarious fun! Especially with the accompanying Porsche snarls. Even if I never read this book, I enjoyed this review very much.
The only way to come at this one is completely tongue in cheek – it’s pretty silly! I do believe it was one of the last of the 1950s and 60s romantic thrillers, before the author turned to the Arthurian books, and though it was undoubtedly well researched regarding the Lady Hester Stanhope elements, the improbabilities of much of the rest of the plot have to be described as pure romanticizing. But it was the right book at the right time; I enjoyed it thoroughly once I abandoned any idea of treating it seriously. Loved the Porsche; what a great touch! Mary Stewart did seem to appreciate European sports cars; they appear quite frequently in her books, with enough verisimilitude to show that she knew a lot about what she was talking about. 🙂
Sounds like lots of fun! Great review.
Silly, etc, yet you gave it 9.5. Well done.
Okay, the cousinly love thing. We’ve had a few discussions about this over at the DEStevenson group (yes, our discussions ramble onto other authors). Yeah, the ick factor, but not too many generations ago, it was not an issue. Rose in Bloom and Mansfield Park come to mind. Okay, those are both 19th century, but my old Book of Common Prayer (Canada, 1962) didn’t rule it out it in the Table of Kindred and Affinity. (e.g., a man may not marry is grandfather’s wife.)
Notice how, although their respective dads are identical twins, their mothers are about as different as possible, bringing in all kinds of various heritages.
However the American version completely avoids the controversy by making our hero (if I’ve got this right) the son of a distant cousin, adopted by the identical twin brother. So all is okay, apparently. Whew!
Oh, did it get changed in another version? Meh – hate that when things get tamed down. The cousin thing – it actually mattered in the plot, I thought. (Which was – yes! – downright silly. But good gothic fun, cousins and all!)
I’m surprised this one wasn’t made into a movie the way the Moon Spinners was. There’s a lot of Mary Stewart that I haven’t read yet–I am waiting for the right moment and I’ll definitely read this one.
Hmmm, maybe the theme – it was completely wound up with drug dealing and addicts – made Disney et al shy away. One of those untouchable subjects (at the time) for the family-friendly genre which they shoe-horned The Moon Spinners into! (Maybe?)
I re-read this a couple of years ago, so I looked up my notes: ‘Strange mixture of old-fashioned and surprisingly modern. Exotic setting – Syria and Lebanon – nearly feminist heroine. 1967. First read a few years after that, when it all seemed impossibly glamorous.’ How I loved them when I was a teenager, I could only hope that life would hold such adventures….
What an apt summation. A mixture, indeed. “Impossibly glamorous” – even more so as each year passes!
I haven’t read Mary Stewart since I was in high school. You’ve spurred me on to reread them and despite their occasional silliness they do really hold up rather well. I love her descriptions of the settings. The picture she paints is so complete, down to the roadside flowers and other minute details.
Her descriptions are absolutely brilliant; one of my favourite things about Mary Stewart’s writing. A painter of word pictures, indeed.