Recent reading

[luzula]

I wish I could write book reviews as long and interesting as regshoe's, but alas, you must make do with this instead...definitely looking forward to her review of this book, though, when she gets around to reading it! And hyarrowen, you should read it as well. : )

Flemington by Violet Jacob (1911)
Oooh, this is excellent! I very much see why Broster dedicated Flight of the Heron to Jacob, because she must have been inspired by this book. However, the characters are quite different even if the basic theme is the same (tragic romance between two men on opposite sides of the '45). I enjoyed it more than garonne did, I think (her review is here), though I do agree with a lot of her points. It's definitely a lost opportunity that Archie Flemington and James Logie meet so few times, although they continue to be very important to each other to the end. It would not have been difficult to have them meet at least once more, either.

But Garonne, you didn't say that there was also a second slashy pairing in it! Flemington and Captain Callandar also definitely have chemistry, and those last words to each other, wow. There really ought to exist at least one Flemington/Logie fic, and one Flemington/Callandar fic in the world. Will request it for next Yuletide. And I can see myself recording the book for Librivox eventually--there's a bit of Scots dialogue, but not that much, and I could get help with it.

I find it hilarious that the Duke of Cumberland is actually even more of a dick in this book than he is in FotH! I think it's the misogyny.

Comments

[regshoe]

Hehe, I'm looking forward to reading it—maybe after I've tackled the rest of the Jacobite trilogy :)

I can imagine the main characters being spies would make for quite a different mood—I think Keith and Ewen would find that kind of thing highly distasteful, if not actually dishonourable.

I find it hilarious that the Duke of Cumberland is actually even more of a dick in this book than he is in FotH! I think it's the misogyny.

:D Good to know our historical authors take such a unanimously dim view of him, I suppose...

It would not have been difficult to have them meet at least once more, either.

Well, that's what fic is for, right? (I'm getting a lot of potential Yuletide requests from my Broster read-through—will have some fun sorting it all out come September :D)

[luzula]

I can imagine the main characters being spies would make for quite a different mood—I think Keith and Ewen would find that kind of thing highly distasteful, if not actually dishonourable.

Yes, I agree. Though, for a spy, Flemington is very honourable!

I'm not sure the extensive Hanoverian spy network in Scotland which is portrayed in the book is very realistic, though--Duffy does not seem very impressed by the Hanoverian intelligence network in Scotland.

I'm getting a lot of potential Yuletide requests from my Broster read-through—will have some fun sorting it all out come September :D

Yes, me too!

[garonne]

Haha, yes... I think I was so busy hoping for another Flemington/Logie meeting before the end that I hardly even noticed the Flemington/Callandar bits! I just re-read the Callandar scenes this evening and discovered them to be rather slashier than I had picked up on the first time... making the last Flemington/Callandar scene hit all the harder *sniff*

I read Flemington the very next day after I had read FotH for the first time, so I guess it was always going to compare unfavourably to the book I'd loved, but after my mini-re-reading of Flemington this evening , I'm thinking probably I'll give it a second chance some day.

Also, Yuletide! Some years I have struggled to make the required number of fandoms, but not this year, I'm thinking...

[luzula]

Callandar is even kind of jealous of Logie, and I liked that meeting between them at the end!

Well, if you read it just after FotH, I can understand why it didn't quite compare. I mean, it's a hard act to follow. : )

I'm thinking probably I'll give it a second chance some day.

I guess you could wait until I record it. : ) In fact it's possible that I might do that this fall, since I can't legally tackle Broster's books until next year...and it would only be about eight hours. Ha ha, it's hilarious that I now think that isn't very long, because I'm on such a recording spree.