Recently I started a poll to explore just who are our favourite Mary Stewart characters. That survey aimed to find out our favourite heroine/narrator from the five earliest Mary Stewart books, from Madam, Will You Talk? to My Brother Michael. So far, the vote between Charity and Linda in particular is close. If you have not yet voted in this first poll, please do so!
Next up was the poll on the ‘middle’ five novels, that is the heroines of The Ivy Tree through to The Gabriel Hounds. Not very many votes have been cast as yet; Lucy and Vanessa are faring best so far. If you would like to vote, please go to this second poll.
Now I am posting our poll for the latest five suspense novels, published between 1968 and 1997.
Again, I really hope that you will vote – and please leave a comment too if you can. The comments from the earlier polls are well worth reading for how different readers made the decision they did, and which of the five heroines they struggled to choose between.
Finally, can I again ask you to spread the word about these polls, please? It would be great to have many votes cast to give us a true picture of just who is our most popular Mary Stewart heroine. Thank you!
Featured image information.
The latest heroines are much more difficult to find images for, as book cover trends (in the UK at any rate) have moved away from representing characters in favour of place.
Clockwise from the largest image we have:
Perdita (from Woman’s Journal, Fleetway Publications Ltd, June 1960, short story ‘The Lost One’, illustrated by William Rose)
Bryony (from The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd, 1976, of Touch Not the Cat, illustrated by Robert McGinnis)
Kate (from Hodder paperback, 2011, of Rose Cottage)
Gilly (from The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd, 1989, of Thornyhold, illustrated by Sergio Martinez)
Rose (from Hodder paperback, 2011, of Stormy Petrel, illustration © Robyn Neild, © Lordprice Collection/Alamy)
Mary Queen of Plots 
Hi Allison. I voted for Perdita, even though I only discovered her a month ago in Wind Off The Small Isles and like nearly everyone, am yet to read The Lost One. (I can’t wait!). Again, like a lot of people, I don’t rate the later Mary Stewart novels as much as the early ones and Kate, Rose, Bryony and Gilly all fail to inspire me. But Perdita, despite being nominally ‘late’, charmed me instantly and I found her much more reminiscent of lively, adventurous and baggage-free ‘early’ MS heroines such as Nicola Ferris and Lucy Waring. So Perdita it is.
On the dustjackets, the one of Perdita seems to owe a lot to the film of Psycho. The yellow dress Rose is wearing is gorgeous and is my favourite thing about Stormy Petrel, which I sadly didn’t enjoy. With Mary Stewarts, dustjackets really are an additional treat to enjoy alongside the book itself.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Annabel, Thanks for voting. I completely agree with you about Perdita, but I like the others too – as you might expect! I think they are all charming, in different ways.
I hadn’t thought of Psycho but you’re right! I somehow don’t picture Perdita with coloured nail polish but it is a strong image and I like it – I’m not at all keen on the pink Rose Cottage cover but it is the sole image of Kate that I have. Even so, I agree about the covers generally – as you say, they are an added treat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I knew this one would be difficult. I thought about this on and off over the whole long weekend and the decision didn’t get any easier. I decided on Rose in the end as I love how cool and practical she is, but Perdita was a very, very close second (and I wonder if reading the Lost Ones when my copy arrives would have affected my decision). I also love Bryony, Gilly and Kate/Kathy – they all seem to have similar stories (the search for a home), which makes them seem a bit more wistful than the others to me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Laura, I hadn’t thought of waiting until The Lost One is available but it did occur to me that the publicity about Perdita might have a bearing on her popularity in this poll – she is the heroine right in front of our noses since the re-issue of Small Isles last year. It will be interesting to hear if ‘The Lost One’ causes readers to like Perdita even more, or puts them off. Not too long to wait now!
I like your comment on the search for a home too – that is a feature in so much of Mary Stewart’s writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person