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Airs Above the Ground
First published 1975 · 384 pages
A glamorous, mid-century European adventure where marital doubts unravel against a backdrop of circus secrets and dancing white horses.
What it feels like
Reading this classic romantic suspense feels like stepping into a beautifully tailored mid-century travelogue laced with creeping danger. The narrative moves at a brisk, elegant clip, sweeping you from the cozy comforts of London to the atmospheric, pine-scented mountains of Austria. The mood is a delightful paradox: tense and suspenseful, yet wrapped in a glamorous, comforting warmth that makes it the perfect escapist read. The prose is lush and observant, lingering on the breathtaking grace of Lipizzaner stallions and the vibrant chaos of a traveling circus just as carefully as it traces the heroine's internal doubts. It is a story that delights readers who crave capable, witty protagonists, scenic European backdrops, and a mystery that relies on sharp observation rather than gratuitous grit.
- Mood
- scenic
- atmospheric
- tense
- glamorous
- Tone
- elegant
- observant
- witty
- suspenseful
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- marital trust · hidden identities · unexpected courage · the beauty of tradition
- The writing
- Lush, descriptive, and elegantly crafted, balancing sharp wit with breathtaking evocations of the Austrian landscape.
- The arc
- Moves from unsettling domestic doubt to thrilling, high-stakes international adventure, culminating in reaffirmed trust.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love vintage romantic suspense, capable heroines, and armchair travel to glamorous mid-century European locales.
Content notes
- murder
- fire
- mild animal peril
About the book
Lovely Vanessa March, two years married and very much in love, did not think it was a strange for her husband to take a business trip to Stockholm. What was strange was the silence that followed. She never thought to look for her missing husband in Vienna -- until she saw him in a newsreel shot there at the scene of a deadly fire. Then she caught a glimpse of him in a newsreel shot of a crowd near a mysterious circus fire and knew it was more than strange. It was downright sinister.
Vanessa is propelled to Vienna by the shocking discovery. In her charge is young Timothy Lacy, who also has urgent problems to solve. But her hunt for answers only leads to more sinister questions in a mysterious world of white stallions of Vienna. But what promises to be no more than a delicate personal mission turns out to involve the security forces of three countries, two dead men, a circus and its colourful personnel. And what waits for Vanessa in the shadows is more terrifying than anything she has ever encountered.
Description from Open Library.
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