Today is the third anniversary of the death of writer Mary Stewart. She lived to the age of 97, having published 24 books before her death on 9 May 2014. This date also marks exactly 72 years since she met her husband Frederick Henry Stewart on 9 May 1945. He died in 2001.
I was not sure how to mark this date, all I knew was that I didn’t want to let the day go past unremarked. And then I remembered BookCrossing, the website where you can ‘release your books into the wild’ for someone else to enjoy. Introducing an unknown book-finder to the novels of Mary Stewart seems like a good way to commemorate her life – what do you think?
Deciding to give away three Mary Stewart books from my collection (regular readers of this blog know that I am unable to resist buying copies old and new of Mary Stewart’s books, so it is probably very good for me to give some away!), I chose Thunder on the Right, The Gabriel Hounds and Thornyhold. By registering your book at BookCrossing, you can track its progress via its unique BookCrossing Identification (BCID) number – look on the website for full details of how this works. Here are my books, registered on the BookCrossing website:
Next, I typed up labels to stick inside the books.
Today, I left these books at three different locations locally. Here’s The Gabriel Hounds…
Thunder on the Right was to have been left in the Abbey below – but I got chatting to the lady working in the giftshop there and gave it to her! Hopefully she will pass the book on once she has read it.
The final book, Thornyhold, was left here:
Then I left release notes on the BookCrossing site. I hope that the finder of at least one of these books will register its journey on the website – and hopefully all who read the books will become lifelong Mary Stewart fans!
Has anyone else given away or found books on BookCrossing? I’d love to know your story.
So today I have given away three books and written two posts in honour of Mary Stewart. Now I am going to read a chapter or two of one of her books – will you join me in enjoying her writing today?
Mary Queen of Plots 
What a lovely and perfect way to honor this anniversary. I love it. Perhaps you have just helped three people discover Stewart!
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Thank you so much! This is all I could think of to mark today, and as you say, there is a chance that it may lead people to Mary Stewart who would never have heard of her otherwise. Here’s hoping they all enjoy the books!
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What a great idea! I’m a day behind on this (as I live in Australia), but I’ll still join you in enjoying Mary Stewart’s writing… and planning which books to give to my grandmother-in-law for her birthday, as I’ve recently introduced her to the romantic suspense novels and definitely need to get some more for her.
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Thanks, Laura! Do you know which book you will dip into? Your grandmother-in-law is a lucky woman to have such treats in store.
Do you have frost again today? In my part of Scotland it has been beautiful blue skies for days and it is really very warm in those rare moments when the chilly wind stops blowing…
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I dipped into the Ivy Tree – the chapter where Adam’s walled garden is described (it almost had to be a garden section, didn’t it :)). This was actually one of the ones we gave her as a present, looking forward to choosing more for her (it’s a tough decision :)).
It’s been frosty every morning this week; I’m glad you’ve had a few warm moments
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Lovely choice – and very fitting! I read a few more chapters of The Gabriel Hounds. Thank you for joining me in remembering Mary Stewart in this way.
I’ve just been putting a bit of thought into which Mary Stewart to lend to a currently housebound friend (going for Wildfire at Midnight). Fun but I’m also a little nervous in case she dislikes it!
It’s overcast here this morning but I’m hopeful against all evidence that it might brighten. Have a lovely weekend whatever your weather.
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A fabulous commemoration ritual! Well done. I’m sure Mary would be best pleased.
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Thank you so much! It was really enjoyable to do, and I am very glad that I had such a bright sunny day in which to figure out places to ‘release’ the books. BookCrossing is fun, I’m sure it is something I’ll take part in again.
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