The Moon-Spinners

A Wonderful story by a great author ... just avoid any temptation to see the Disney movie version!

I've been a fan of Mary Stewart's mysteries since my late teens (back in the dark ages...) and am delighted that they are being reissued. I was lucky enough to visit some of the settings of these books and her descriptions are so vivid that rereading the stories can take me back to some of my very favorite places. Having said that, Moonspinners was off my favorites list for years because I couldn't separate the book from the Disney movie. In the early 60s when the movie was made, British actress Halley Mills was very popular with the preteen girl set and I think for that reason, she was very badly cast as the books heroine, Nicola Ferris. I can't even count the ways that this was a horrible decision. I guess what offended me most was that Mills was too young for the role by at least 10 years. What I've come to treasure in Mary Stewart books is that she makes her heroines fully-formed - albeit young -- adult women. In addition to possessing good sense and maturity beyond their years, each has a special ability -- not necessary revealed at the outset to other characters or even to the reader. In the case of Nicola Ferris (the book version, definitely NOT Ms. Mills), that 'ace in the hole' is that she speaks fluent Greek, a fact she fails to mention to the injured young man and highly protective Greek friend she encounters in a half-ruined shepherd's hug near a remote village on the isle of Crete. Far from fleeing this unsavory -- and malodorous -- scene, she calmly takes over - - no fainting Gothic romance or teenie bopper indeed. Her involvement in the plots and counterplots is as an adult among adults. Having made the disastrous choice of having a girl so far below the age of consent as the heroine, the Disney movie made a total mess of the books plot and totally wasted the talents of a wonderful cast. Mary Stewart was far from the only offer to have her talents and works sacrificed on the altar of Mickey and Friends, but she deserved far better. With that in min...