Recent reading

[luzula]

The Sheep-Stealers by Violet Jacob (1902)
So I wanted to see what else Violet Jacob had written. She is the author of Flemington (1911), a very slashy book set in Scotland in 1745; D K Broster dedicated Flight of the Heron to her, so clearly she must have been inspired by it. I hope they met and fangirled together at some point...

This is the only other novel of Jacob's available as an ebook (the others are scanned on archive.org). It's her first novel and is set in Wales in the 1840's, during the Rebecca riots where people smashed up toll-gates because they were angry about raised tolls. The characters are Rhys, a prosperous farmer who takes a leading role in a local riot and becomes an outlaw because of it; Mary, his soon-to-be-estranged lover bearing his illegitimate child; George, a poor but honest man forced by debt into working for a gang of sheep-stealers, with whom Rhys takes refuge; Harry, who is in the yeomanry and is the son of a local squire; and Isoline, a young woman with whom both Harry and Rhys fall in love. The book was very readable, but after the ending I couldn't quite decide what I thought.

I was annoyed by how the book treats Isoline. I did not particularly like her when we were in her POV, but the degree to which the book heaped disapproval on her was a bit overdone! She is young and shallow and a bit mercenary, and likes pretty dresses and being admired by men; older and wiser characters as well as the narrative voice boldly assert that her character is fixed for life and she will be forever shallow and cannot possibly change, and will inevitably make her future husband unhappy. But, like, she's nineteen. (OTOH, the narrative lays no blame on Mary for her illegitimate child.)

So is the book slashy? Yes, in the beginning it is, and in the same way as Flemington: Harry and Rhys meet by chance and Harry tries to convince Rhys to join the yeomanry; Rhys, on his part, gives Harry false information about where the riot is rumoured to take place. Harry "was strongly attracted by this man and longed to see more of him." After he sees Rhys in the riot Harry is furious, and there is a dramatic chase on horseback. This obviously has the potential to continue, but the plot goes in another direction, with various het romance plotlines and individual reversals of fortune. Much of the het romance is not very romantic as such, but focuses on how blinded one can be by love--although there is also one happy couple. Two of the characters end up happy, two are "happy" but heavily foreshadowed not to suit each other, and one tragically dies--a death more tragic than in Flemington, I would say, because it was not necessary and was less the outcome of a deliberate choice by the character.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

The things we read for the love of fandom. I admire your perspicacity (ZOMG I spelled that correctly).

[regshoe]

That does sound interesting!—and possibly a similar style to Flemington (and similar contrast to D. K. Broster) in the lack of romanticism. IIRC you mentioned it when I reviewed E. A. Dillwyn's The Rebecca Rioter—I must read it so I can compare them. Although the 'shallow silly young woman will never be any better' thing does sound annoying!

[luzula]

If I was in a large fandom I would no doubt be reading fic! Instead: non-fiction about the 18th century and tangentially related fiction. : )

Ha, fitting icon.

[luzula]

Do you think Flemington is not romantic, then? I mean, it's less so than FotH, but still, the narrative voice does take Flemington and Logie's attachment quite seriously. The Sheep-stealers has people in it who are romantic, but the narrative voice is more distanced from it.

Although the 'shallow silly young woman will never be any better' thing does sound annoying!

It's not that liked her, I just felt that the narrative was too sure of where she would end up. I suppose this is one potential drawback of omniscient POV, if it won't let the reader form their own opinion of the characters but insists on a particular interpretation...

[regshoe]

I suppose I meant 'romantic' in the more general sense of being cynical/less generous about the characters and their relationships, which seems to be one of the biggest differences between Jacob and Broster—but you're right that Flemington is pretty romantic about Flemington/Logie!

And hmm, that's a good point about omniscient POV—I like omniscient narrators with strong opinions and personalities (like Susanna Clarke or Anthony Trollope), but unjustified opinions that the reader doesn't agree with are the downside of that.

[sovay]

Much of the het romance is not very romantic as such, but focuses on how blinded one can be by love--although there is also one happy couple.

Is the blinded-by-love theme in play with Harry and Rhys as well, or does the slashiness not go that far?

[luzula]

Harry and Rhys' encounter before the riot is just one short conversation. I suppose it's true that Harry is blinded by his instant liking for and attraction to Rhys, which is what makes him angry afterwards, but the slashy theme is dropped early on. But I did find it interesting that it has exactly the same structure as in Flemington: two people on opposite sides who are attracted, one of whom is undercover, and then the eventual identity reveal. I suppose it's a little seed of her later book!

[sovay]

it has exactly the same structure as in Flemington: two people on opposite sides who are attracted, one of whom is undercover, and then the eventual identity reveal. I suppose it's a little seed of her later book!

I always like being able to see artists working their own patterns out!