Memorial Service
This is the third novel in the Oxford quintet entitled ‘Staircase in Surrey’. Duncan Pattullo returns in middle age to his old college. The Provost is heavily engaged in trying to secure a benefaction from a charitable trust which the old and outrageous Cedric Mumford influences. One significant complication is the presence in college of Ivo Mumford, Cedric’s grandson. He is badly behaved and far from a credit to the college. His magazine, ‘Priapus’ proves to be wholly objectionable. Stewart explores the nature of the complicated relationships between the characters with his usual wit, literary style and intellectual precision and turns what might otherwise be a very common and ordinary situation into something that will grip the reader from cover to cover.
The Madonna of the Astrolabe
In the fourth of J.I.M. Stewart’s acclaimed ‘Staircase in Surrey’ quintet the gravity of a surveyor’s report given to the Governing Body is the initial focus. The document is alarming. The Governing Body, an assembly of which Pattullo was in awe, was equally awed by the dimensions of the crisis revealed. It would seem that the consideration was whether there would literally be a roof over their heads for much longer. The first rumblings from the college tower brings the thought well and truly home to Pattullo. ‘Professor Sanctuary,’ the Provost said evenly, ‘favours the immediate launching of an appeal . . .’ And so it begins . . . In J.I.M. Stewart’s superbly melding of wit, mystery, observation and literary prowess a gripping novel develops that will enthral the reader from cover to cover. This can be read as part of the series, or as a standalone novel.
Full Term
The final volume in the ‘A Staircase in Surrey’ quintet. Duncan Pattullo is coming to the end of his term as ‘narrator’ and is thinking of re-marrying, although his former wife continues to cause difficulties. His intended is also providing gossip for the college, but that is as nothing compared to the scandal caused by Watershute, an eminent nuclear physicist. His misdemeanours range from abandoning his family and conducting an affair in Venice, to being drunk at High Table. However, things get very serious when he appears to be involved in activities that might amount to treason. An interesting and convoluted plot, which is a fitting end to this acclaimed series, is carried forward with J.I.M. Stewart’s hallmark skill and wit. Full Term can be read in order, or as a standalone novel.
Other Fiction
Andrew and Tobias
The Feltons are a family with a long lineage stretching back beyond the Norman Conquest. They now have a daughter, Ianthe, but prior to her birth Tobias, or Toby, was fostered and then adopted as their heir after he had miraculously survived the sinking of a refugee ship by a German U-Boat. Then, someone who is clearly Toby’s twin turns up as an under-gardener. He had been fostered by a Scottish couple, now dead. There is now general and disturbed confusion on everyone’s part – including the boys themselves. Stewart explores magnificently the nature of the complicated relationships, including those from outside of the family such as Toby’s lover; the irony of the situation; and the many ramifications of class and culture in the absurd situation the characters find themselves.
Avery’s Mission
Bannerman is a schoolmaster on his way to Florence to do some research. On the plane, he meets a recent pupil, Avery Brenton, who is travelling to see his divorced father. However, Avery is young and naïve and is being unwittingly used by his domineering mother. Bannerman finds himself being drawn into matters. Avery’s father is working on a lifetime study of Italian art and is not that pleased to see him. Enter Mrs Mountpatrick, a friend of Avery’s mother, along with another youth who is helping his father. Very soon, a delightfully entangled and complex situation develops, only to be exacerbated by the arrival of Avery’s mother, a dominatrix who uses sex-appeal and a natural upper class manner to exert her will. The tale is told by Bannerman as narrator and is full of suspense to delight the reader right up to the unexpected end.
The Aylwins
This novel yields high comedy and mystery surrounding an Oxford College, told by a schoolmaster narrator, and written by J.I.M. Stewart, himself an Oxford Don and master of dry wit and surprise. Supported by his wife, Arthur Aylwin’s desires to be Provost of the College – so much so he is prepared to give up a University Chair so as to achieve it - but there are family scandals and other prejudices and situations to deal with. The reader is drawn into the closed, but convivial atmosphere of college life, described by Stewart himself as ‘impressively circumstanced in relation to the outside world’. The finale nonetheless takes place in Perugia, after an unexpected meeting.
Bridge At Arta
Lady Cameron and Charles Hornett had been married some fifty years before, but Hornett has now forgotten all about it. Embarrassment is therefore evident when they find themselves as part of a party holidaying in Greece. Meanwhile, the Balmaynes realise they nothing about Roland Redpath, who is about to marry their daughter, but he is in fact the son of their onetime dishonest butler. But that isn’t the end of it, as yet more shocks and surprises are forthcoming as the story unfolds. In other stories in the collection there is a hitherto unknown Wordsworth manuscript and sensational development with regard to Coleridge. We are also taken to Vienna and to a rural location in an effort to reveal the identity of an arsonist. Full of wit, humour and suspense, these stories bear all of the hallmarks of the expected first class Stewart penmanship.
Cucumber Sandwiches
In ‘Laon and Cythna’ scandals are to be avoided following the death of Lord Lucius, but what emerges is more mysterious – the legend of a past relative who fell in love with a peasant girl, and a more recent deathbed confession by the heir’s mother. This is a ‘ghost’ story in the best traditions of that genre. In ‘Cucumber Sandwiches’ an Oxford don’s researches put him on the trail of a youthful indiscretion of a famous Victorian novelist. In ‘The Men’ we meet another don who strays into what he perceives as the alarming world of young people, whilst in ‘A Change of Heart’ strange and macabre events follow the grafting of a finger and thumb, from another patients amputated arm, when Michael Firth awakes in hospital after a car accident.
The Guardians
Willard Quail, an American citizen, re-visits Oxford many years after leaving the University so as to look after railroad and other businesses following the death of his father. Now, he meets old acquaintances, such as a former tutor, old Dr. Stringfellow, and comes into contact with a convoluted and seemingly connected bunch of people as he pursues the Fontaney Journals. Quail’s motive and purpose in making the journey may not be immediately apparent, but with his usual wit and skill J.I.M. Stewart leads the reader to the story’s satisfying conclusion. As for Quail? Well, he returns to New York. Mission accomplished?
The Man Who Won The Pools
Phil Tombs’s wins almost a quarter of a million pounds. Many try to take for a ride and relive him of his new found fortune, but Phil is no fool, and he makes an enterprising and amusing hero as he learns the social nuances and the power of money, going from one adventure to another with what has been described as ‘proletarian gusto’. In this entertaining novel, J.I.M. Stewart depicts the social pitfalls for an ordinary person assuming riches and how basic instincts and sense prevail so as to permit him to weave his way through.
The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories
In ‘The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories’ an emissary from Scotland Yard visits Freddie Seston in Venice, who happens to have bumped in to an old school friend, now a QC. Freddie is the supposed secret author, under a pseudonym, of a string of novels. Now, a murder has been committed using the same methodology as in one of the books. The only problem is, that title has not yet been published …. In this, and three other stories within this volume, J.I.M. Stewart does not disappoint, writing with his usual clarity and wit, along with the mystery and surprise readers have become accustomed to through the titles published under the his own pseudonym of ‘Michael Innes’.
Mark Lambert’s Supper<
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Mark Lambert, one of the finest authors of his generation, is dead and his final masterpiece is missing. Dauncey and Lambert’s daughter both believe it to be in Italy, but in an effort to recover it there they face adventure and secrets never dreamed of. How far away is danger? This is a masterly work from J.I.M. Stewart, with all of his expected twists and turns for the reader, right up to his usual satisfying end.
Mungo’s Dream
Mungo Lockhart goes up to Oxford and find himself sharing a room with the Honourable Ian Cardower, who is heir to a rich title and estate. Unimpressed by rank or riches, Mungo is nonetheless wary in his exchanges with Cardower, and this is reciprocated. However, the two do become good friends and Cardower takes Mungo on visits to his parents’ home, to visit the head of the family, Lord Audlearn at Bamberton Court – a stately home in the grand style – and then to Mallachie, the true family seat, where the eldest son Lord Brightmony lives in splendid isolation, save for his companion; Leonard Sedley, sometime novelist. All seems well, except for Mungo noticing the interest shown by the family in a young Scots boy of uncertain parentage. The story takes on an obvious twist with the usual suspicions and uncertainties mounting, lawyers being called in, and general acrimony, but the final crisis and confrontation is of a surprising nature and an unusual explanation unfolds. On the way, Stewart of course introduces sub-plots and high comedy in his usual literary style. The novel is thought provoking, teasing, and thoroughly entertaining and fascinatingly descriptive of the various locations; Oxford, Perugia in Italy, and Scotland.
The Naylors
George Naylor, an Anglican priest, has doubts about his faith. He goes to stay with his brother’s family, who unfortunately regard religion with some disdain and George as a bit of a joke. Enter Father Potter, sent by the establishment to regain their wayward cleric. There then occurs a series of adventures including the discovery of a secret research laboratory which is conducting testing on animals, and the prospect of George and Father Potter being involved in a protest rally which includes nuclear disarmers and anti-vivisectionists. All is brought to a hilarious conclusion in this fine example of Stewart’s witty writing.
Open Prison
The Head of House at a minor public school, Robin Hayes, has to break the news that his solicitor father has been found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to two years in an open prison. He now feels he needs to prove himself afresh, but complications arise when another junior pupil turns out to be the grandson of the judge who passed sentence on his father. Nonetheless, the boys do form a relationship. A strange intervention in Robin’s life comes with generous gifts of cash from his uncle, who is also seemingly similarly supporting his father. This, however, is only the background to a typical Stewart mystery. There occurs a double kidnapping, the father suddenly and inexplicably rejects his son, the son goes to pieces and there are sufficient sub-plots to provide enough twists and turns to grip the reader as the final twist in the tale develops.
Palace of Art
Gloria Montacute is in Venice, having temporarily removed herself from England following the death of her mother and inheriting a great collection of art treasures. The monetary value of these is of no consequence to her – she has previously worked in a lowly capacity in a London hospital and possesses a strong sense of social responsibility which outweighs any material wealth. This is in stark contrast to her dead mother who did not really appreciate the ‘art’, but viewed the treasures as rapidly soaring investments. Dealers gather and salivate, and one of them sends a handsome young man to Venice. Jake, Gloria’s cousin, and Henry, a neighbour, also pursue her. Gloria harbours suspicions that this be because of her inheritance. The conclusion is as much a surprise as we have come to expect from Stewart’s novels, on this occasion weaved by Gloria herself in a splendidly romantic manner. With wit and humour, yet with a vein of seriousness running throughout, Stewart manages to bring all of the characters to life and grip the reader right to the end.
Parlour Four and Other Stories
A small boy is kind someone disabled, with unexpected consequences. A young lover presents a ring found on a French beach to the girl of his dreams, but doesn’t appreciate its history and value. Meanwhile in Oxford the Bodleian Library is mysteriously empty, whilst one of the dons very unwisely turns to writing fiction, but becomes a bestselling author. And in yet another tale, a cruel ending brings the absurdity of death into sharp focus. All of the stories in this collection focus on life’s ironies and absurdities and are told with Stewart’s usual wit and wisdom, with due attention to detail.
A Use Of Riches
Rupert Craine is a wealthy, cultured banker, who treats problems of high finance and additions to his collection of paintings with equal seriousness. He is aware, however, that his wife’s first husband, who was killed in the war in Italy, was a brilliant artist. Something strange occurs when drawings by the latter suddenly appear on the market and a telegram summons Craine and his wife to Italy. There, the past grotesquely and irresistibly explodes into the present. ‘The author manages to depict the English social maze through his hero’s intrigued and piercing gaze.’
A Villa In France
Penelope, the daughter of a local priest, is lured to a villa in the south of France where she is the victim of a cruel hoax. As to how she came into the situation, we are first introduced to her as a child and the background is set out with Stewart’s usual wit and highly descriptive writing. Fulke Ferneydale, now a rich novelist, knew Penelope then – indeed, in her later teenage years he suddenly proposed to her, but she turned him down. At the time, he had something of a chip on his shoulder as his father was ‘in trade’, which is something Penelope’s father looked down upon in a snobbish manner, although it didn’t affect her. Accordingly, Ferneydale went off and married Sophie, although he subsequently managed to enjoy a string of mistresses and young boys. Penelope married Caspar, but he is withdrawn, scholarly and boring, not to mention materially unsuccessful. So what is to become of her in France? There are many twists to this tale, not least the final surprise.
Non-Fiction
James Joyce
The definitive biography of James Joyce by John Stewart, himself a successful and wide-ranging writer and critic, who was also a tutor and reader of English Literature at Oxford University. Stewart covers both Joyce’s life and works and gets to the heart of the influences in each of the various ‘periods’ in his writing. There is also included an extensive bibliography for further reference.
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy was considered a Victorian sage, but not everyone fully appreciated his worth and genius. T.S. Eliot stated that Hardy wrote ‘as nearly for the sake of self-expression as a man well can’ and that the outcome was not to be described as ‘particularly wholesome or edifying’. J.I.M. Stewart famously defended Hardy against these charges in a paper and has now expanded his views in this comprehensive biography. Stewart’s work is not, however, any form of apology for Hardy; he critically examines the life and work of the genius that emerged from humble origins and notes that he often wrote sensationally and outside of his own social experience. This volume describes the genesis of Hardy’s more famous works, along with the minor ones, and shows how the biographical background influenced his writing. What emerges is a picture of Hardy the artist, carefully building a symmetry in his works, along with immense narrative powers, and developing a deep understanding of rural life and community. Attention is also given to Hardy’s poetry and the manner in which this is distinguished from others poets of the age. This is a masterful biography from a man who in turn was an author and scholar of high literary ability and reputation.
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