The Moon-Spinners

Rating:
Summary: great descriptions of Crete and a good story besides
Review: A favorite mystery that is worth reading again over time. Story is set in Crete and includes a lot of description of countryside, people, and customs without distracting from the story line. An interesting collection of characters, all unique and believable in their own way.

Rating:
Summary: Good fun in a splendid place
Review: A young English woman who lives in Athens chooses the small town of Agios Georgios, in Crete, for her vacation. One day, she walks along a hidden and lonely path, and there she finds a wounded man. He warns her to stay away, but then something happens... Nicola, the woman, is thus thrown into a wild mess of murders, kidnappings and trouble, related to a band of jewelry-smugglers. The scenery is lush, sun-bathed Mediterranean shores, it has romance, intrigue and suspense. Very good fun to read.

Rating:
Summary: moonspinners stands the test of time.
Review: does anyone remember the hayley mills/walt disney movie based on this book? it was excellent but didn't come close to capturing the suspense and imagery for which mary stewart is famous. I wish they would re-publish her books; they would have a wide market, i am sure.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books of all time
Review: From the first moment I picked up this book, I knew I was in love. Stewart's tale of murder, mystery and romance set on the sunny shores of Greece thrilled me to my very core. I usually don't care for books with much discription, but the vivid detail Stewart gave instantly transported me to Nicky's side as she struggled to find the truth about her new friends and dangerous circumstances. I had never read any of Stewart's books before, but I have not stopped since picking this one up. It stays so fresh and exciting that I never tire of re-reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I loved the movie and when my mom found the book for me, I thought that it might not be as good, but it was even better. Mary Stewart understands a person's mind and also writes scenes that make me feel that I am at Crete itself. You feel both the danger and the beauty of what is happening all around Nicola.

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I loved the movie and when my mom found the book for me, I thought that it might not be as good, but it was even better. Mary Stewart understands a person's mind and also writes scenes that make me feel that I am at Crete itself. You feel both the danger and the beauty of what is happening all around Nicola.

Rating:
Summary: Her stories are timeless!
Review: I loved this book as a teen-ager and I have begun re-reading all of them again 40 yrs later and they still are as good as I remember. Why have they not been all re-issued??? This is a wonderful story. I urge young readers to give her a try.

Rating:
Summary: Her stories are timeless!
Review: LOVED IT!!! Such a masterpiece by Mary Stewart. I first got interested when I chanced to see the Disney movie on one night this past summer at two in the morning. I was hooked by the movie, and the book was even better! It was almost like being in Crete with Nicola... You could practically sense the danger, smell the smells, see the sights... READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: LOVED IT!!! Such a masterpiece by Mary Stewart. I first got interested when I chanced to see the Disney movie on one night this past summer at two in the morning. I was hooked by the movie, and the book was even better! It was almost like being in Crete with Nicola... You could practically sense the danger, smell the smells, see the sights... READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Most writers and other English major types had their middlebrow beginnings as young adult readers. I had Mary Stewart's THE MOONSPINNERS. I just returned to it after, ahem, 36 years, and found that in many ways it held up the 14-year-old's original assessment. It is witty, the characters attractive, the action spritely and believable. The scenery of the Greek isle of Crete is rendered intoxicatingly, so much so that I can see why it helped inspire the 14-year-old to become the 16-year-old who went off on her own parentless adventure overseas. The almost 50-year-old is surprised to relearn that the oh-so adult heroine and hero are in their very early twenties. Mere children! Ultimately, the book does not hide its romance genre genes or its era. The heroine, who initially bristles at the male characters' sense of superiority does give in a little to it, and a little gratefully at that, at the end. There is use of the word "greedily" in place of "hungrily"--a pet peeve of mine. The author's ability to quote classic works at the drop of a hat was awe inspiring to the 14-year-old reader; it has all the suspicious cache of Bartlett's to the almost 50-year-old. There is a bit of a nationalist subtext, too: the Brit abroad sees American characters as friendly and na?ve and the native Cretes as rather primitive and amusing. The 14-year-old went on to read other novels by Mary Stewart and others like her but none matched THE MOONSPINNERS. There is something about it that is better than what I know of its genre, and it may have sent me on the path to serious literature sooner rather than later as much as it sent me abroad.