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''Nine Coaches Waiting'' is a then-contemporary suspense, Gothic Romance novel by Mary Stewart published originally in 1958. The setting is the late 1950s — contemporary to the time of its first publication. The novel tells the haunting tale of a young English governess, Linda Martin, who travels to the Château Valmy, near Thonon-les-Bains, France, to take care of nine-year-old Philippe de Valmy. There she finds herself tangled in a plot to murder her charge and tries to save him, which eventually results in the revelation of a dark secret. Linda's name is short for Belinda, "or for pretty" as her mother used to say, but she goes by Linda throughout the book. In keeping with Linda's background in poetry and other literature, Stewart employs chapter epigraphs with quotes from the works of numerous poets, playwrights, and authors, that fit the themes or actions of each scene. Among these are lines from ''Macbeth'', ''King John'', and ''Hamlet'', by William Shakespeare, as well as from his Sonnets 88 and 90. Others are from John Milton; Charles Dickens; John Keats; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Robert Browning John Donne; George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham; William Blake; George Meredith; and John Webster. All epigraphs are much briefer than Cyril Tourneur's lines that head the first chapter and whence Stewart derived the book's title. (See notes.) A good example is that from ''King John'' that introduces Chapter VIII: ''Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer. '' ''There is none yet so ugly a fiend in hell '' ''As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child.'' And the final epigraph (at Chapter XXI): ''Look you, the stars shine still.'' — John Webster, ''The Duchess of Malfi'' Cinderella is referred to by Linda, as is Jane Eyre, for obvious reasons. Mary Stewart's vast literary knowledge and background is particularly, yet seamlessly, manifest in this book. ==Synopsis== Linda Martin lands in Paris on a cold, grey, rainy day. She is on her way to her new post as governess to the young Philippe, Comte de Valmy. Linda, who had been orphaned herself, quickly befriends Philippe, who has also lost both his parents in a tragic accident. The nine-year-old boy lives with his aunt and uncle in the vast and ornate Château Valmy in the alpine French countryside not far from Geneva, Switzerland. Léon de Valmy, Philippe's uncle, runs the estate on behalf of his under-age nephew until the boy inherits in six years and has arranged for a proper English governess for his charge. When Linda arrives at the imposing eighteenth-century manor she is at once enchanted by its beauty and history, but is also immediately struck by the sense of menace and doom surrounding its inhabitants. Léon is a charismatic force of nature and quite charming, and, when Linda meets his dashing and devastatingly handsome son Raoul, she understands a bit more about the de Valmy heritage and what makes this family tick. As she becomes closer to Philippe and Raoul, Linda draws ever nearer to putting her finger on the source of the threat, but the layers of danger and darkness run deeper than any of them guessed, and she may not be able to trust those she wants to, no matter how innocent or attractive they may seem. Soon it is up to the shy, young governess to beat the clock in order to save Philippe's life as well as her own. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nine Coaches Waiting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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