Airs Above The Ground Author:Mary Stewart With a backdrop of a fairy-tale castle set in the Austrian alps and the music of Der Rosenkavalier playing below from a traveling circus, an old horse dances in a meadow, executing the precise dressage movements called the "Airs Above the Ground" of the famous Lippanzaners of the Spanish Riding School. The only witnesses are Londoners, Vanessa M... more »arch, and her companion teenaged Tim Lacy thrown together by chance as Tim pursues his dream of untying his mother's apron strings by applying for a job at the famous riding school and Vanessa searches for her errant husband, Lewis, supposedly away on business in Sweden, but documented on a UK newsreel with a beautiful blonde during an out of control circus fire near Graz.
As usual, Mary Stewart creates a fine story where intrepid characters move along a lushly described exotic locale. The delineation between good and evil is clearly defined.
note: this is an almost 50 year old paperback, considering the age it is in good, readable shape.« less
I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. It was a great mystery with some suspense and romance mixed in. Very interesting. I would say this would be a great beach read that will keep you hooked and interested, but not one that will keep you up at night, as in, you can put it down and go for a swim without a problem. I would certainly recommend it though.
This is my second favorite of Stewart's novels - the Lipizzan horse caps it off. Even without the horse it would be one of my favorites of hers. Vanessa, Lewis and Tim are such appealing characters, if this were written today they would be part of a series I'm sure. Great pacing, every character is perfectly delineated, good believable dialogue, and excellent sense of place. The crime aspect does make the book a little dated - in 1965 that was a major event but today, although serious, seems like small potatoes. And of course the relationship between the sexes is from 1965 too, but Vanessa is not a subservient character nor do the men act as though she is. I loved how even after the bad guy is captured there is still a scene of great peril, which Vanessa averts. There is one scene that has always stayed with me (and partly because I first read it as as a teen) - the scene where Vanessa watches the old horse dance in the moonlight. I know it's not Great Literature, but I love it anyway.