Airs Above the Ground

The suspenseful, romantic story that will sweep you off your feet

By: Mary Stewart

Narrated by: Antonia Whillans

The original writer of romantic suspense, Mary Stewart leads her readers on a thrilling journey across mid-century Europe in this tale of adventure and deception, sure to be loved by fans of Agatha Christie and Barbara Pym.

Vanessa March's husband, Lewis, is meant to be on a business trip in Stockholm - so why does he briefly appear in newsreel footage of a fire at a circus in Vienna, with his arm around another woman? Vanessa flies to Austria to find her husband, inadvertently becoming involved in a mystery that spans three countries...and the famous dancing stallions of the Spanish Riding School.

The moonlight flooded the meadow, blanching all colours to its own ghostly silver. The pines were very black. As the stallion rose in the last magnificent rear of the levande, the moonlight poured over him bleaching his hide so that for perhaps five or six seconds he was no longer an old broken-down piebald but a haute école stallion of the oldest line in Europe.

©1965 Mary Stewart (P)1965 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Vintage Mary Stewart with special appeal to horse lovers

A very pleasant story, just enough suspense, with a lovely descriptions of Austrian countryside and loving descriptions of the Lippizaner horses. I found the narrator’s tone to be rather flat, with no appreciable difference between one character and another, although she was very easy to understand.

Old Book, Still Good

Having grown up reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in the 1950s and then moving into Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes, how had I never heard of Mary Stewart before? I enjoyed this book quite a bit until the too-lengthy denouement toward the end. it would have been better broken up just a bit.

However, the story is intriguing and educational about the Lipizzaner horses. I will read more Stewart.

The narrator is quite good, but I felt that she mispronounced several words. One obvious one was saying that someone took a bow and pronouncing it like a bow one ties or holds to shoot an arrow. With that overlooked, she did a good job.

Good story about a little known subject

I liked the narrative and the accuracy of the horses involved in the circus potion and the Spanish Riding School portion. I like the well written characters and the little surprises along the way.

Great Period Mystery!

This was published in 1965, and is a fascinating look at the time period! Mary Stewart sets it in Austria, and includes elements of both a circus and the famous Lippizaner horses. There a number of sections of high tension, as well as mystery.
I liked the narrator, and found her easy to understand.

great book, average reader

competent but understated reading, and more differentiation of voices would be good. book is lovely despite being a bit dated in spots.