More thoughts on Flight of the Heron

Got some good news today—the library had told me they didn't have one of the history books I wanted (Culloden and the '45 by Jeremy Black) but it turns out they do have it after all, so my Jacobite researches can continue :D (I'm reading another of Black's books, a general history of eighteenth-century Britain, at the moment and getting sidetracked by enclosures and turnpike roads and the development of industry—although I did learn today that apparently the Bank of England only avoided financial crisis during the '45 'by ordering clerks to work slowly'—it's great fun). Anyway...

OK, this, here, might possibly be my favourite Ewen/Keith line in the whole book: 'You gave me hope; and above all you gave me back that night in the hut.' Ewen is so happy to learn that Keith didn't really betray him—and much more obviously happy later on than in the moment of realisation, so he's clearly thought about it at some length—and the memory of Keith's kindness and care means so much to him... no, we may hear more about it but the feelings are definitely not all on Keith's side. <3

Second favourite shippy line: certainly not philanthropy. Oh, Keith.

I think I've got my explanation for how Ewen avoids having his property forfeited: it sounds as though without the opportunity to have him identified by the people in Fort William, and without Keith's evidence, the authorities couldn't conclusively prove that he took an active part in the rising, and as a result, as Archibald Cameron says, he is 'not on the list of attainted persons'. Apparently going into exile isn't damning enough evidence to undo that!

Speaking of which, I'm kind of curious about what might have happened if Ewen hadn't escaped and had ended up at Carlisle. How credible is Keith's threat that his giving an account of Ewen's good treatment of him might convince a jury not to convict? Cumberland certainly thinks it is—but what if he was also conclusively identified by the people from Fort William? Hmm, I need to find some accounts of the trials of Jacobite rebels to find out more about how this sort of thing went (the one at the end of Waverley was very memorable but maybe not very relevant)...

Why is there so much confusion around the numbering of the five meetings? The characters themselves don't seem sure whether the two meetings at Fort Augustus count separately or not—the narrator refers to their parting there as their 'last meeting', despite what happens later, but the numbering of the sections suggests otherwise. I mean, I assume it's to obscure exactly what/how much is going to happen at Morar, but it feels kind of odd all the same.

I have an irrational love for the scene where the Yorkshiremen turn up out of the blue to rescue Ewen. It's so random and yet somehow not only not inappropriate but kind of charming. I'm not even offended by the dodgy phonetic dialect. They're just great.

Actually, you know what, forget Ewen/Keith, forget Ewen/Alison, the real OTP here is Ewen/Scotland. That scene at the beginning of part 5 where he's being taken to Fort William and looking at the Highland mountains and lochs thinking he's seeing them for the last time is utterly heartbreaking, beautiful, and one of my absolute favourite passages in the book.

Broster. Was it really necessary, really, to have one of those omniscient-narrator-authorial asides right at the end just to establish the fact that Ewen never realises just how much he meant to Keith? Really?

the last thing he ever does is ask for his hand, oh no, why ;___;

Right, to cheer myself up, one more favourite shippy bit: just after Keith's 'lightning flash' moment of realisation that he really does want to be friends with Ewen, he thinks: here was a man who would never willingly fail friend or lover, much less play them false—thinking of Ewen in terms of what he means to himself, he immediately thinks of how Ewen would treat a lover, not just a friend. I have to think that meant something. <3

I could say more, but I think that's enough for now :D