Lady Mary Stewart was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in 1916. After boarding school, she earned a B.A. with first class honors in English Language and Literature from Durham University, and went on for her M.A. Later, she returned to her own University as a Lecturer in English. She married a geologist, F. H. Stewart, who was Regius Professor of Geology at Edinburgh University and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Lady Stewart's career as a novelist begain in 1955 with the publication of Madam Will You Talk? Since then, she's published over 20 books, including the Merlin books, and a volume of poetry called Frost on the Window. In 1968 she was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 1971 the Scottish Chapter of the International PEN Association awarded her the Frederick Niven prize for The Crystal Cave. She won the "mythopoeic award" in 1971 and in 1974.

One of my favorite features of Lady Stewart's books is that, when a villian reveals his fiendish plot to a hero, or to someone who will report back to the hero, the villian usually lies. He implicates people who aren't involved, he protects people who are involved; in short, he acts like any human involved in evil. This isn't an episode of James Bond. This makes the villians very believable, and the stories all the more suspenseful.

My favorite books of hers are the Merlin books, followed by Wicked Day. She really brought Merlin, and the Arthurian Myth history, alive. She sparked an interest in and love of Arthurian Myth in me. She is also the only mystery author that I like. I've read most of her books and haven't disliked any of them, which is more than I can say for most other authors.

I am currently writing reviews for all the Mary Stewart books I have read.

I wrote her a letter and, gracious lady that she is, she wrote me back. She has very lovely penmanship.

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