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The Ivy Tree is a novel of romantic suspense by English author Mary Stewart. Her sixth novel, it was published in 1961 in Britain by Hodder & Stoughton and in 1962 in the United States by William Morrow. As usual with the author, the novel is narrated in first person by a bold and intelligent young woman, and the setting is picturesque - in this case, Northumberland.

Characters

Mary Grey, protagonist: a new arrival in England from Canada, working in the Kasbah cafe in Newcastle and renting an old run-down flat. Her alternate identity (later confirmed to the reader) is Annabel Winslow: the well-liked but wayward favorite of her grandfather, Matthew (see below).

Connor Winslow, the handsome but hot-tempered and ruthless manager of Whitescar Farm.

Lisa Dermott, Connor's half-sister, loyal only to her brother and anxious that he become the Farm's heir.

Matthew Winslow, the elderly patriarch of Whitescar: the grandfather of Annabel and Julie and uncle to Connor. Although a stroke has weakened him and death is imminent, Matthew continues to control his household and enjoys keeping everyone in suspense regarding his final wishes to his heirs.

Julie Winslow is the pretty, vivacious young cousin of Annabel. Julie adores Annabel and freely confides about her feelings concerning Whitescar, her boyfriend Donald, and her knowledge of the affair between Annabel and Adam. When Connor threatens Julie, Annabel and Adam rescue her.

Archaeologist Donald Seton, Julie's boyfriend, is captivated with his work on Roman excavations, and his proportionate lack of attention towards Julie induces her to doubt if she and Donald will ever marry. When he almost dies in a cave-in on Forrest Hall property, his survival draws them closer.

Adam Forrest, owner of Forrest Hall, is a neighbor of the Winslow family, and sometime the paramour of Annabel, even during his wife's lifetime. At the end of the story, he is identified with the Biblical Adam.

Plot

Narrator/protagonist Mary Grey, who has come from Canada to the land of her fore-bearers, leans against Hadrian's Wall, near a cliff overlooking the waters of Crag Lough, when Connor Winslow, a local, accuses her with hostility of being his long-lost second cousin "Annabel". Aware of her closeness to the cliff’s edge, Mary persuades him, with difficulty, that she is not his prodigal relative. Connor is astonished at her resemblance and sees an opportunity.

Days later Connor and his sister, Lisa, offer Mary money to impersonate Annabel Winslow at Whitescar, the Northumberland family farm that Connor manages. Despite running off to the States 8 years earlier and cutting off ties to the family, Annabel remains heir to her perversely loyal grandfather’s financial estate. Connor wants Mary to “reestablish” herself with Annabel’s ailing grandfather, Matthew Winslow, inherit his estate, and then transfer it to Connor. For reasons initially only partially explained, Mary agrees and over 3 weeks is coached by Connor and Lisa in the essentials of the impersonation. Her Canadian accent can be explained as acquired over the years. She succeeds in convincing the household—Grandfather Matthew, Cousin Julie, and Mr. and Mrs. Bates (employees of Whitescar)—that she is Annabel.

There are two weakness two this impersonation. One is Mary's fear of horses, which contradicts Annabel's natural horsemanship and must be rationalized to others. The second weakness—an unanticipated major pitfall in Connor’s scheme—is Connor’s lack of awareness of the adulterous relationship that had existed between Annabel and Adam Forrest, married owner of neighboring Forrest Hall. Forrest’s intimate knowledge of Annabel now poses a threat to the impersonation.

Annabel’s younger cousin, Julie, 11 years old at the time of Annabel’s departure, reveals that she knew of Annabel and Adam’s trysts and letter exchanges in the hollow of an old ivy tree. Julie informs “Annabel” that Adam is now a widower, whose hand has been disfigured in saving his invalid wife’s life in the fire that destroyed Forrest Hall (an echo of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre), though she succumbed later. Alarmed, Mary decides that an encounter with Adam is inevitable and that she must carefully control the circumstances of the awkward first encounter. Correctly anticipating that Adam will be drawn to the rendezvous spot upon learning of Annabel’s return, she makes a late night visit to the ivy tree. To keep him at a safer distance, she tells Adam unequivocally that his relationship with Annabel is years dead. Adam is persistent at first in his plea to renew their love. When she stays in the shadows to avoid his scrutiny and remains intransigent, he becomes increasingly suspicious. He draws her into the light and declares that she has changed too much to be Annabel, but his attraction to her is apparent. Sensing and exploiting his ambivalence, Mary persuades him to keep her identity secret as long as no one is hurt.

In a plot twist echoing Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar, the reader eventually leans that Mary Grey is indeed Annabel Winslow. Initially denying her identity over fear when Connor accosted her near the edge of the cliff back at Hadrian’s Wall, she saw a chance in Connor’s confusion to go back to Whitescar to visit her dying grandfather under Connor’s radar. The night of Annabel’s departure had been doubly traumatic. She had given Adam an ultimatum to leave his wife, and had been emotionally devastated when Adam had insisted he could not just abandon his invalid wife. Following the drama with Adam, Connor had pressed her menacingly over his repeated urging of a marriage that would give him future control of Whitescar. When she had rejected him emphatically, Connor had intimidated her, nearly pushing her off a cliff.

Seeing “Mary’s” rapport with Matthew Winslow and her genuine grief at his deathbed, Connor becomes suspicious and confronts her. Realizing that she is again in danger from his obsession to inherit Whitescar, Annabel manages to reassure him once again and plans to leave Whitescar for her safety.

Meanwhile Adam discovers her late at night, skillfully riding a difficult horse, and tells her he knows for sure she is Annabel. They discuss Annabel’s motives for leaving and admit their lingering love for each other.

Through Julie’s embarrassed belated realization and acknowledgment, they learn that the Ivy tree, fatefully, still holds the letter that Annabel wrote to Adam weeks after her departure. Before leaving for the Americas, Annabel had mailed a letter to Adam urging him to run off with her. The postman, meeting Julie on his rounds, had improperly given the letter to Julie, who in her childish understanding had placed the letter in the hollow of the ivy tree, where she had seen the two lovers leave messages. Not expecting to find a letter from Annabel so long after her departure, Adam had never looked for it. (The symbolism of the ivy tree, delaying their improper union until a more honorable time, again echoes the relationship of Jane Eyre and Rochester.)

At the climax, Annabel gives herself away to Connor when Adam is trapped in a cave-in of an old cellar, and she must ride the spirited horse to seek help (Mary is supposedly afraid of horses).  Upon her return, Connor confronts her angrily in the stable and attempts to kill her. His violent actions spook the horse, who bucks and tramples him to death.

In conclusion, Annabel’s relationship to Julie is affirmed, Julie will marry her boyfriend, and Annabel and Adam are presumed to marry and inherit Whitescar.

Reviews

Mary Stewart was already a popular author of romantic suspense and most reviewers felt that this novel was up to her standards. The Atlantic Monthly said, "The author has a neat touch with red herrings and cambric-tea romances." The Christian Science Monitor said: "If the reader feels cheated by the denouement, the author has earned forgiveness by her exciting, belief-suspending account of Mary Grey's sensitive groping for the right response to those who are more sure than the reader that they have known her all her life." The eminent mystery-novel critic Anthony Boucher said, "No one writes the damsel in distress tale with greater charm or urgency."

Jo Walton, in a conflicted but mostly negative critique ("It's very clever indeed, too clever for its own good. ... It's a load of nonsense, really"), compares and contrasts the novel with Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar, which "Stewart clearly has read and been influenced by". Martin Edwards observes more neutrally that the "fraud in Brat Farrar is discussed and emulated in Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree" in a section on the "Prodigal Son/Daughter" theme in the encyclopedia Whodunit? (2003).

Notes

1. Stewart, Mary. The Ivy Tree. William Morrow, 1962, p. 10.
2. Stewart, Mary. The Ivy Tree. William Morrow, 1962, p. 13.
3. Walton, Jo (September 14, 2010). "Eve dreaming of Adam: Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree". Tor.com. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
4. Edwards, Martin (2003). "Prodigal Son/Daughter". In Rosemary Herbert (ed.). Whodunit? A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 159. ISBN 9780198035824.

References

• Adams, Phoebe. The Atlantic Monthly, April 1962.
• The Christian Science Monitor, January 11, 1962.
• Boucher, Anthony. The New York Times Book Review, January 7, 1962.
• Stewart, Mary. The Ivy Tree. William Morrow, 1962.

• Novels by Mary Stewart
• 1961 British novels
• Novels set in Northumberland
• Hodder & Stoughton books