Recent reading

[luzula]

For the White Rose by Katharine T. Hinkson (1905)
I had high hopes for this book, since it is a Jacobite adventure with f/f potential! Alas, it was not very good. The main character is Lady Nithsdale’s loyal lady’s maid, and the climax of the story is the actual historical event when Lady Nithsdale helped her husband escape from the Tower after the ’15. Lengthwise, it is more of a novella than a novel, and it feels very... simplified? It has more the feel of a fairy tale than a story set in an actual historical time and place. To exemplify, at one point a riderless horse comes back to the house, and I would not have been surprised if the horse had started talking of what happened to its master. It seems like the book thinks that Scotland consists only of the Highlands? The Earls of Nithsdale and of Kenmure are both turned into Highland chiefs. And I suspect that this book may actually confuse James III with BPC?? For one thing, he turns up before the rising begins, and for another, they consistently call him the Prince… *facepalm* The main relationship doesn't get much space to develop: the main character is instantly devoted to Lady Nithsdale, and we don't really get to see their relationship change and evolve.

Mr Justice Raffles by E W Hornung (1909)
This is the last of the Raffles books, and while there were elements I enjoyed, this was not my favorite (my favorite is A Thief in the Night!). The villain is an unfortunate antisemitic stereotype, and I guess I feel that the short story format worked much better than the novel-length one. But now I have read them all, and I can check out more of the fic…

Comments

[solo]

t seems like the book thinks that Scotland consists only of the Highlands? The Earls of Nithsdale and of Kenmure are both turned into Highland chiefs. And I suspect that this book may actually confuse James III with BPC?? For one thing, he turns up before the rising begins, and for another, they consistently call him the Prince…

Oh dear god. Being an Irish Nationalist, you'd think she'd have taken her research more seriously. Mind you, if she really wrote more than 100 novels (wikipedia) I guess there wasn't much time for that.

[luzula]

Oh, interesting about the Irish nationalism. There is a definite Catholic element, so I guess I now understand where that came from.

[regshoe]

The combination of historical specificity (I didn't find out about Lady Nithsdale and the daring escape until I was deep into Jacobite minutiae) with blatant historical inaccuracy is really weird! And I see what you mean about it being fairytale-ish—it just doesn't have the sort of psychological depth that you need to get really into a relationship.

I agree that A Thief in the Night is the best Raffles book! Hmm, I think this is the only one of my fics that requires knowledge of MJR... ooh, and this one of Wolfie's has some nice future!Camilla and Teddy.

[garonne]

It's a shame about For the White Rose. I so want to read an F/F Jacobite story!

(And on that topic, you once mentioned an idea you had set in '15, I think... Is it something you still have on the back burner, by any chance?)

[luzula]

It is weird! Well, I suppose we can keep hoping some other Jacobite f/f story will turn up… or one of us will have to write it. : )

Thanks for the Raffles recs! *opens in tab*

[luzula]

There was also that other disappointing Jacobite novel with f/f in it, sigh.

Well, I suppose one of us will have to write our own. : ) I do have a vague ambition to write one, but sadly I only have small glimpses of it so far, and not an actual plot. Maybe one will turn up eventually. Yes, I did talk about the '15, because of the inspiring women during that time: the Oglethorpe sisters, and Anne Drummond, Countess of Errol.

[regshoe]

or one of us will have to write it. : )

If I did ever write anything original, it would be a priority... But I see from your reply to garonne that you have ideas about this? What are they? :D

[luzula]

Well, I have a vague idea that it might someday be fun to write something for the Lesbian historic motif podcast. But sadly I so far don't have any ideas for an actual plot. I mean, it would be fun with some sort of enemies-to-lovers situation with two women, and there are a lot of interesting women around the ’15. I have this scene in my head where one woman is tempted to sleep with another, but she's wearing her seditious Jacobite garters, and she doesn't know if she can trust her. : ) But one scene does not a plot make.

[regshoe]

XD You must find a story to put that scene in! And I like these ideas a lot, despite the present plotlessness...