Ever wondered about the title of Madam, Will You Talk? Me too.
Well, for starters the book wasn’t originally called Madam, Will You Talk?. Mary Stewart mentions that the novel was called Murder for Charity (in ‘About Mary Stewart’, p8) but she doesn’t say anything about the name it has on her Wildfire at Midnight manuscript: Decoy to Danger has been scored out and replaced with the title Madam, Will You Talk? in the author’s own handwriting.
The book was written in 1950-51, re-written in 1952-53, accepted for publication on Christmas Eve 1953, serialised between October and December 1954 and came out in hardback in February 1955. Somewhere along that timeline, the name changed to Madam, Will You Talk? This seems a strange title but as we read the novel, key chapter headings let us know that it comes from an old song. Chapter 16 is headed Madam, will you talk___? (OLD SONG) (Ch. 15 has Madam, will you walk___? and Ch. 17 has Madam, will you walk and talk with me?) So, what is this ‘old song’?
A quick look online turns up an old Cheshire song called I Will Give You the Keys of Heaven which includes the lines quoted above: take a look at the lyrics and music. For me, knowledge of this song adds to the rich texture of the book. I love the depth and breadth of literary allusion in Mary Stewart novels.
-Oh, and have a look at this short 1946 British pathé video, just over 2 minutes of fabulousness called Madame Will You Walk and Talk. I admit it’s nothing to do with Mary Stewart really but it does show, I think, that the song or at any rate the phrase wasn’t too obscure. Or, who knows, perhaps this short film was her inspiration for the name of the book. If so, perhaps it was partly as a reaction to the helpless femininity in the video that Mary Stewart’s Charity is such a good and knowledgeable driver! Right, I must nip to the butcher’s for some offal…
Mary Queen of Plots 
I was recently able to obtain the 1956 hardback edition (pictured above). I know you can’t judge a book by its cover… But I really like this one!
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It is a good one, isn’t it? I have a sneaking love for all the pulpy covers – but if I were the author of beautiful writing like Mary Stewart, I might have hated them because they certainly pin the books down as, I think, throwaway trashy fiction. What do you think?
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I call these covers “solving a mystery in high heels”! Book covers are a hidden art form, are they not? I am always going thru book covers for the book club I moderate. Since we only read classics ( nothing published after 1920 )… it’s fun to see the book covers through the ages! Our most recent book was strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Wow… The book covers over the years on that story! But even a book like Jane Eyre… Is going to have probably a very different look when it was published in the 1950s. Was Jane in high heels on the moors?? 😂
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Analysing book covers is great fun! What gets me is the suggestion that Mary Stewart actually did clothe some of her characters like that – it always struck me how Danielle was dressed half-way up Mount Parnassus. Which implies that perhaps women in the 50s did actually tackle mountainsides in frocks?! So yes, 50s covers probably would put Jane on the moors in stilettos!
Your book club sounds fun. I attended a Wikipedia editathon day – managed to tie it in to Mary S so there is a blog post here somewhere! – and the day included a fun talk with illustrations of Jekyll and Hyde covers over time, there have certainly been sinister and just plain odd covers!
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I remember the song from my primary schooldays in the 1950s. We used to listen to a schools broadcast on traditional songs and sing along to them. I can’t remember the name of the programme offhand – it might have been “Singing Together”. Madam Will You Talk would have been a familiar title for an earlier generation.
And I loved that Pathé News clip, thank you!
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How fascinating, Lucina, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the song! It seems such an obscure book-title to me, so it is interesting to know that when the novel was released the song reference would have been readily understood.
I simply had to share the news clip, it is entirely fabulous, isn’t it?
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I wonder if Stewart might have been inspired by M.R. James’s use of the song Madam Will You Walk? in his ghost story Martin’s Close, which is a tale of love and murder?
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Hello Violet, thank you for getting in touch, I’m just sorry that it has taken me so long to reply. My blog is inactive but I am now finally picking up the comments and questions that have been left here. I have never read Martin’s Close and had no idea that it references Madam Will You Walk? but I’m pretty certain that Mary Stewart would have known, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she had been inspired by the story as much or more as by the song itself. Thanks for sharing this great insight – I must get hold of a copy of Martin’s Close!
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Great post – which explains the setting of the book around 1950 (that’s where I calculated it) while it was only published in hardback in 1955, thank you! You might be interested in a piece I’ve just written about the landscapes of this book.
https://perfectlyprovence.co/provencal-armchair-travel-mary-stewarts/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Perfectly%20Provence&utm_content=Provencal%20Armchair%20Travel:%20Mary%20Stewart%27s%20Madam,%20Will%20You%20Talk%3F&fbclid=IwAR118Aya4lbwSSjaAs5z38JJPpIwXug749CZm51ySM41BfragPUVZRWzos8
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Hi Deborah, I’m sorry it has taken me so long to pick up the comments on my old blog but I am delighted to encounter another fan of Mary Stewart’s writing. I have read your post now and enjoyed it very much, I am especially interested in your comments on Les Baux – several years ago I enjoyed a Mary Stewart-imbued holiday in Avignon, as chronicled on this blog, but did not manage to reach Les Baux.
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I remember this as a skipping song so it may come was an old folk song. I was at primary school in the 60s in Lancashire. Madam will you talk madam will you walk madam will you marry me.
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Hello Jane, thanks for your comment! Interesting that the song was still going strong in the 60s, I do like the idea of it being used as a skipping song.
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