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Recent reading
Oct. 9th, 2023 12:28 pmI would like to recommend The Oak and the Ash by Annick Trent, a third stand-alone queer historical romance set in the 1790's! Since the author is a friend of mine and I have beta-read the book, I am not at all objective about it, and also I haven't yet read the final version. But you might like it if you enjoy:
- working-class protagonists,
- characters struggling to reconcile their political principles with loyalty to a partner,
- characters being nerdy about science,
- attention paid to the historical and material setting.
Striden må fortgå (The Struggle Goes On) by Gun Hedlund (2023)
I read a Swedish historical novel! It's the story of the author's grandparents' lives during the 1910's: how they met, got married, and had children, but also about their social milieu, political discussions, union organizing, personal and political struggles when food was scarce in 1918-1919, etc. I enjoyed it a lot for the portrayal of a supportive marriage which nevertheless had its differences. Also, this book nails the portrayal of being engaged in a social movement without falling into the trap of writing the characters as being lone heroes engaging only in the cool parts. Yes, they go on strike, but they're part of a larger group which also organizes meetings, needs to do the accounting, has disagreements on tactics and strategy, arranges picnics for families where they take away the alcohol from those who brought it, etc.
Also, this book is set in the middle of the pronoun transition, where singular second person was taking over and the singular/plural distinction was being abandoned when addressing one person, and I enjoyed the attention paid to that. Actually people also used third person pronouns to address each other in formal situations ('Would she like some more coffee?'), which I haven't thought about before.
Proper English by K J Charles (2019)
I enjoyed this and found it page-turney, but I also agree with other reviews in that it didn't have quite the zing and satisfying tropeyness of Think of England, where the male protagonists spend much a longer time wondering if they can trust each other, having personality clashes, and having obstacles in their way.
Re: f/f with more antagonistic elements (which the above book is not), I recall that while I was still in due South fandom, I actually had a great idea for that: a Maggie Mackenzie/Victoria Metcalfe fic where Maggie chases after Victoria to protect her brother. Unfortunately I didn't stay in that fandom long enough to write it.
- working-class protagonists,
- characters struggling to reconcile their political principles with loyalty to a partner,
- characters being nerdy about science,
- attention paid to the historical and material setting.
Striden må fortgå (The Struggle Goes On) by Gun Hedlund (2023)
I read a Swedish historical novel! It's the story of the author's grandparents' lives during the 1910's: how they met, got married, and had children, but also about their social milieu, political discussions, union organizing, personal and political struggles when food was scarce in 1918-1919, etc. I enjoyed it a lot for the portrayal of a supportive marriage which nevertheless had its differences. Also, this book nails the portrayal of being engaged in a social movement without falling into the trap of writing the characters as being lone heroes engaging only in the cool parts. Yes, they go on strike, but they're part of a larger group which also organizes meetings, needs to do the accounting, has disagreements on tactics and strategy, arranges picnics for families where they take away the alcohol from those who brought it, etc.
Also, this book is set in the middle of the pronoun transition, where singular second person was taking over and the singular/plural distinction was being abandoned when addressing one person, and I enjoyed the attention paid to that. Actually people also used third person pronouns to address each other in formal situations ('Would she like some more coffee?'), which I haven't thought about before.
Proper English by K J Charles (2019)
I enjoyed this and found it page-turney, but I also agree with other reviews in that it didn't have quite the zing and satisfying tropeyness of Think of England, where the male protagonists spend much a longer time wondering if they can trust each other, having personality clashes, and having obstacles in their way.
Re: f/f with more antagonistic elements (which the above book is not), I recall that while I was still in due South fandom, I actually had a great idea for that: a Maggie Mackenzie/Victoria Metcalfe fic where Maggie chases after Victoria to protect her brother. Unfortunately I didn't stay in that fandom long enough to write it.
