The Gleam in the North by D. K. Broster
Aug. 9th, 2020 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeAll right, here we go.
The Gleam in the North (1927) is D. K. Broster's eighth novel, and it is a sequel to The Flight of the Heron. Now, before I read this one I was somewhat questioning the choice of FotH as a book for which to write a sequel—the story is so well-structured and contained in itself, and of course killing off one of the main characters at the end means it's not really possible to add anything to it. If I was choosing one of Broster's first seven books to write a sequel to I'd go with Sir Isumbras at the Ford, or perhaps 'Mr Rowl', both of which have fairly open endings with all the main characters still alive. I think I understand rather better now why Broster chose FotH instead—but I still don't really agree with the choice.
The action opens in 1752, more than six years since the ending of FotH. Ewen Cameron is back at Ardroy, with Alison and their two young sons, one of whom has a minor adventure and ends up requiring medical treatment. Ewen finds a doctor for him—but it's Archibald Cameron, who, still under an attainder, is back in Scotland secretly on Jacobite business. Appearing at Ardroy is therefore a risk for Archie, and one which, unfortunately, doesn't pay off. Archie escapes from the resulting redcoat raid, but Ewen is captured on suspicion of sheltering him and imprisoned at Fort William. From there... things go downhill, and, well, the rest is history.
The plot is based much more closely around specific historical events than Flight of the Heron—there, while the '45 is portrayed in brilliant historical detail, it's the setting for a fictional plot, but here, particularly later on, the main details of the plot simply are what historically happened to Dr Archibald Cameron in the first half of 1753. The early part of the plot focusses on Ewen's various adventures following his capture and escape—meeting a priest and having some thoughts on religion, meeting Major Guthrie and having some thoughts on revenge, meeting his cousins and having some thoughts about the Jacobite cause, and finally meeting Keith Windham's brother Francis and having some thoughts about Keith (<3). But then, despite Ewen's best efforts, Archie is finally captured, and the rest of the book follows Ewen as he tries in vain to prevent history from taking its course. It's an interesting structure, in that our protagonist is, for much of the time, not really the main character of the actual plot, so the story ends up being more about Ewen's reactions to events and his character development as a result.
And the historical stuff is really interesting! Broster is meticulous about accuracy as ever, and portrays the events leading up to Archie's fate in brilliant, dramatic detail. I was pleased to recognise several little things near the ending (the steel buckles...) from The Lyon in Mourning, which contains copies of Dr Cameron's last writings and an account of his execution. The character of Finlay MacPhair, a spy who apparently plays a role in Archie's capture, appears to be a fictionalised version of Alastair MacDonnell of Glengarry, the real 'Pickle'. I also enjoyed (sad as it was) the stuff earlier in the book about Ewen's life at Ardroy as it is in the wake of the Rising, with redcoats posted up and down the Great Glen and his former way of life largely proscribed. And, against this background, the book contains a lot of very interesting reflection on the ultimate fate of Jacobitism. Ewen wavers at the start between supporting ongoing Jacobite plots and acting to protect his family; later on, of course, he's determined to save Archie, but by the end he has pretty much accepted that for the Cause he loves it is, as the chapter titles put it, 'after sunset'. Broster gets in her honour and loyalty, but in a rather different form—Ewen has to let go of his desires for revenge and a resolution to the events of seven years earlier, and learn to move on. This, and his pre-emptive grief at Archie's death, which is described in some detail, were pretty heartbreaking. And in all this lovely historical detail, I feel like I'm getting to share with Broster a developing and extended interest in this period of history and the story of Jacobitism—it is a fascinating story to explore in more depth, and she certainly does it justice.
But then there's the other thing.
As I mentioned, Ewen meets Keith's brother Francis in one of the dramatic twists of the plot; later, he also meets Keith's mum and his step-dad, the Earl of Stowe, who attempts unsuccessfully to intercede for Archie on Ewen's behalf. While this is all very involved with the plot, it also provides Ewen with lots of opportunity for thinking about Keith, and we see very clearly that he's not over the ending of Flight of the Heron. He calls Keith his 'best friend', has more than one moment of more or less breaking down while thinking about Morar, declares that he will wear the ring Keith gave him until his dying day... Well, I appreciated getting to see that. I like Francis, the charming and hot-tempered, for his own sake as well—the misunderstandings and eventual friendship between him and Ewen are amusing and lovely—and Masters, the devoted old servant who's thrilled at the chance to speak about Keith to Ewen. (Although the episode with Lady Stowe is a bit grotesque, considering the context!).
And I wasn't as upset by seeing Ewen and Alison happily married with children as I might have been (there's a certain tinge to the whole thing, set alongside the rest—beautiful conventions received them; while out beyond the barrier... and all that; but I'm being unfair). Frankly, I think that knowing what was inevitable after the ending of FotH, and having heard many of the details from others in the fandom, I was pretty much already over it, and even I have to admit that, while it's of course the wrong thing, this is a plausible, and plausibly happy, future for Ewen. And the existence of a small boy called Keithie is rather affecting (or, at least, it would have been if his dialogue wasn't so atrociously written—seriously, Sir Isumbras at the Ford wasn't bad but Broster is not good at writing children).
...and yet. It's not that the things I discussed earlier—the plot and history and character development—aren't done really well, because they are. And it's not that the mentions of Keith felt at all perfunctory or insincere—they're neither. But they do seem to sit uncomfortably alongside the rest of the book, an odd idea that doesn't really fit here and doesn't have much to do with what the story is otherwise about. This book is not, in short, the story I love Flight of the Heron for; and I can't help but feel that it's in a sense undermining the significance of FotH to present this as an appropriate continuation of the story. And I think the resulting emotional detachment made it difficult for me to get properly invested in this book, either the story of Archie's fate or Ewen's character development. (Being so fannish about FotH probably doesn't help here; at this point I basically accept as canon the version of events where Keith survives and he and Ewen live happily ever after, and I can't really see a continuation where that's not the case as fully real).
So, to conclude, I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I totally understand why Broster chose to write this story, and I think she does it very well for what it is; but, on the other hand, I don't think there was ever any way she could have written it while really doing justice to Flight of the Heron—and that makes me sad, because I feel like she's almost forgetting the most important thing.
(Oh, one other thing—why so little Aunt Margaret? She's away for the entire early part of the plot set at Ardroy, and only appears very briefly in the epilogue. I was disappointed! Although it was amusing to see that sending her away on a visit apparently wasn't as implausible a contrivance as I thought it was while writing 'It Will Be Summer' :P).
Anyway. I'm going to go and bake some shortbread biscuits and read Flight of the Heron fix-it fic.
The Gleam in the North (1927) is D. K. Broster's eighth novel, and it is a sequel to The Flight of the Heron. Now, before I read this one I was somewhat questioning the choice of FotH as a book for which to write a sequel—the story is so well-structured and contained in itself, and of course killing off one of the main characters at the end means it's not really possible to add anything to it. If I was choosing one of Broster's first seven books to write a sequel to I'd go with Sir Isumbras at the Ford, or perhaps 'Mr Rowl', both of which have fairly open endings with all the main characters still alive. I think I understand rather better now why Broster chose FotH instead—but I still don't really agree with the choice.
The action opens in 1752, more than six years since the ending of FotH. Ewen Cameron is back at Ardroy, with Alison and their two young sons, one of whom has a minor adventure and ends up requiring medical treatment. Ewen finds a doctor for him—but it's Archibald Cameron, who, still under an attainder, is back in Scotland secretly on Jacobite business. Appearing at Ardroy is therefore a risk for Archie, and one which, unfortunately, doesn't pay off. Archie escapes from the resulting redcoat raid, but Ewen is captured on suspicion of sheltering him and imprisoned at Fort William. From there... things go downhill, and, well, the rest is history.
The plot is based much more closely around specific historical events than Flight of the Heron—there, while the '45 is portrayed in brilliant historical detail, it's the setting for a fictional plot, but here, particularly later on, the main details of the plot simply are what historically happened to Dr Archibald Cameron in the first half of 1753. The early part of the plot focusses on Ewen's various adventures following his capture and escape—meeting a priest and having some thoughts on religion, meeting Major Guthrie and having some thoughts on revenge, meeting his cousins and having some thoughts about the Jacobite cause, and finally meeting Keith Windham's brother Francis and having some thoughts about Keith (<3). But then, despite Ewen's best efforts, Archie is finally captured, and the rest of the book follows Ewen as he tries in vain to prevent history from taking its course. It's an interesting structure, in that our protagonist is, for much of the time, not really the main character of the actual plot, so the story ends up being more about Ewen's reactions to events and his character development as a result.
And the historical stuff is really interesting! Broster is meticulous about accuracy as ever, and portrays the events leading up to Archie's fate in brilliant, dramatic detail. I was pleased to recognise several little things near the ending (the steel buckles...) from The Lyon in Mourning, which contains copies of Dr Cameron's last writings and an account of his execution. The character of Finlay MacPhair, a spy who apparently plays a role in Archie's capture, appears to be a fictionalised version of Alastair MacDonnell of Glengarry, the real 'Pickle'. I also enjoyed (sad as it was) the stuff earlier in the book about Ewen's life at Ardroy as it is in the wake of the Rising, with redcoats posted up and down the Great Glen and his former way of life largely proscribed. And, against this background, the book contains a lot of very interesting reflection on the ultimate fate of Jacobitism. Ewen wavers at the start between supporting ongoing Jacobite plots and acting to protect his family; later on, of course, he's determined to save Archie, but by the end he has pretty much accepted that for the Cause he loves it is, as the chapter titles put it, 'after sunset'. Broster gets in her honour and loyalty, but in a rather different form—Ewen has to let go of his desires for revenge and a resolution to the events of seven years earlier, and learn to move on. This, and his pre-emptive grief at Archie's death, which is described in some detail, were pretty heartbreaking. And in all this lovely historical detail, I feel like I'm getting to share with Broster a developing and extended interest in this period of history and the story of Jacobitism—it is a fascinating story to explore in more depth, and she certainly does it justice.
But then there's the other thing.
As I mentioned, Ewen meets Keith's brother Francis in one of the dramatic twists of the plot; later, he also meets Keith's mum and his step-dad, the Earl of Stowe, who attempts unsuccessfully to intercede for Archie on Ewen's behalf. While this is all very involved with the plot, it also provides Ewen with lots of opportunity for thinking about Keith, and we see very clearly that he's not over the ending of Flight of the Heron. He calls Keith his 'best friend', has more than one moment of more or less breaking down while thinking about Morar, declares that he will wear the ring Keith gave him until his dying day... Well, I appreciated getting to see that. I like Francis, the charming and hot-tempered, for his own sake as well—the misunderstandings and eventual friendship between him and Ewen are amusing and lovely—and Masters, the devoted old servant who's thrilled at the chance to speak about Keith to Ewen. (Although the episode with Lady Stowe is a bit grotesque, considering the context!).
And I wasn't as upset by seeing Ewen and Alison happily married with children as I might have been (there's a certain tinge to the whole thing, set alongside the rest—beautiful conventions received them; while out beyond the barrier... and all that; but I'm being unfair). Frankly, I think that knowing what was inevitable after the ending of FotH, and having heard many of the details from others in the fandom, I was pretty much already over it, and even I have to admit that, while it's of course the wrong thing, this is a plausible, and plausibly happy, future for Ewen. And the existence of a small boy called Keithie is rather affecting (or, at least, it would have been if his dialogue wasn't so atrociously written—seriously, Sir Isumbras at the Ford wasn't bad but Broster is not good at writing children).
...and yet. It's not that the things I discussed earlier—the plot and history and character development—aren't done really well, because they are. And it's not that the mentions of Keith felt at all perfunctory or insincere—they're neither. But they do seem to sit uncomfortably alongside the rest of the book, an odd idea that doesn't really fit here and doesn't have much to do with what the story is otherwise about. This book is not, in short, the story I love Flight of the Heron for; and I can't help but feel that it's in a sense undermining the significance of FotH to present this as an appropriate continuation of the story. And I think the resulting emotional detachment made it difficult for me to get properly invested in this book, either the story of Archie's fate or Ewen's character development. (Being so fannish about FotH probably doesn't help here; at this point I basically accept as canon the version of events where Keith survives and he and Ewen live happily ever after, and I can't really see a continuation where that's not the case as fully real).
So, to conclude, I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I totally understand why Broster chose to write this story, and I think she does it very well for what it is; but, on the other hand, I don't think there was ever any way she could have written it while really doing justice to Flight of the Heron—and that makes me sad, because I feel like she's almost forgetting the most important thing.
(Oh, one other thing—why so little Aunt Margaret? She's away for the entire early part of the plot set at Ardroy, and only appears very briefly in the epilogue. I was disappointed! Although it was amusing to see that sending her away on a visit apparently wasn't as implausible a contrivance as I thought it was while writing 'It Will Be Summer' :P).
Anyway. I'm going to go and bake some shortbread biscuits and read Flight of the Heron fix-it fic.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 05:43 am (UTC)Yes, exactly! Ewen's cousin is pretty much the main character. Even though I felt this book was more honest (because it didn't feel like it had much to do with Tfoth and so didn't use it as emotional blackmail for me as a reader, like Tgitn did at times) I kind of hated the central storyline--so I won't say anything (also because I don't know how to do it and avoid spoilers, so I will just wait for your review! :)
And you made *such* a good point about Broster and her research process! I quite like the idea of her starting out with a time period she found boring and knew little about, and then becoming fully invested in it! :D
And it makes so much sense that her research sources might have inspired her and given her ideas for the rest of the trilogy! There's "The lyon in mourning", of course, and I also think it's interesting that she dedicated Tfoth to Violet Jacob, but bits from "Flemington" pop up later on as well (but how I wish she had paid homage to her by making TFoth be a stand-alone book, instead of part of a trilogy!)
I would dearly love to see her list of the 80+ sources she used, because although I haven't read a lot about this time period and know very little about it, several of the tropes and situations that pop up in her books remind me of what little stuff I've read before (not counting Violet Jacob's novel, which I read afterwards) so I'd love to know if they are just coincidences, or if she actually read other novels set in the same time period and went "hmmmm... maybe I can do it better (and gayer)" ;) <3
And, to close this very random, late-night comment: I'm very disappointed that I couldn't find any non-fiction stuff about Jacobites, because if she'd written about them like she did about Royalists, I feel I'd have such a better understanding of what/who inspired her!
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 04:20 pm (UTC)Ooh, was the spy subplot in GitN one of those bits? I thought it was pretty interesting, although it could have been explored in more depth.
I'd love to know if they are just coincidences, or if she actually read other novels set in the same time period and went "hmmmm... maybe I can do it better (and gayer)" ;) <3
Haha, I'd like to see her source list too...! Apart from Broster's books the only other Jacobite fiction I've read is Walter Scott's novels, and I have to say the main characters in Waverley do come across kind of like perfect opposites of Ewen and Keith—I wonder if she had them in mind? :D
Aww, that is a shame that she apparently didn't write any Jacobite non-fiction, though.
no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 05:04 pm (UTC)Now that you mention it, that could be *yet* another thing! I was thinking of stuff like significant birds, sleeptalking, firing squads, accidentally wounding the other person, tokens of remembrance... and other more specific situations too, but they would be spoilers for both Flemington and Tdm. I should have made a list, because there was also minor stuff that still looked like it was directly inspired by it, though!
Oh, I remember you recced "Waverley" before! I must keep it in mind!
When I first read Tfoth, I immediately thought of R. L. Stevenson's David Balfour novels, set in the Highlands, which I read when I was young. I remember they were great, full of adventures and suspense, and very exciting and fast-paced, great reading for when you're a kid! And, from my current perspective, I remember they had a very intense male/male friendship (well, like many of his books!) But I didn't know anything about the history back then (I must have been ten or so) and I probably missed everything, so I should re-read them and see what I think now! But ten year old me already recs them, for being great fun! :D
And I've also read an adventure novel by Edward Prime Stevenson, "The white cockades", also from the 1880s, and it's super gay--not because I say so, but because the author was himself gay and openly gave hints about the queerness in his books (this one isn't his best, it's a bit too sentimental and OTT and unrealistic, probably--but I forgive him, because his unapologetic gayness is the best thing ever and I love him!) I read this one in more recent years (while looking for any of his books that I could get my hands on) and then spotted some things in Broster's books that reminded me of it (like a secret passage to hide in, a ring as a gift, etc) and of course they could be coincidences, they aren't exactly rare things, right? But what if they aren't? Broster seems to have been extremely-super-well read and research-savvy, so it's not that far-fetched! :D
(Oops, this ended up being another super long comment--I can't seem to shut up about books, sorry not sorry, haha!)
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 05:22 pm (UTC)Waverley is the original romantic novel about the '45, and it's great fun—the main characters are a scheming Jacobite chieftain and a rather naive English officer who ardently admires this chieftain and ends up fighting for the Jacobites more or less by accident after visiting him in the Highlands. There's also Rob Roy, which is set during the '15 and features an amazing Northumbrian Jacobite heroine (she should have been the main character, honestly, but unfortunately Scott's preference for forgettable everyman protagonists lets him down :P).
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 05:47 pm (UTC)And oh man, I shouldn't start about EPS because I wouldn't shut up--he's one of the people I always include in my mental list of lesbian icons, haha! He was such an interesting person--a music writer/critic from the USA who later went to travel and live in Europe. Besides his adventure novels, he wrote and self-published a treaty in defence of homosexuality, and (significantly--to me at least) a novel called "Imre", about openly gay men, with a 100% unapologetically, joyously, queer Happy Ending... in 1906! I love him! <3
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 06:49 pm (UTC)he wrote and self-published a treaty in defence of homosexuality, and (significantly--to me at least) a novel called "Imre", about openly gay men, with a 100% unapologetically, joyously, queer Happy Ending... in 1906!
Oh wow, that's certainly something! I'm not finding very much of his stuff on archive.org etc., but I'll keep a look out for this.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 06:57 pm (UTC)Aha, thanks for clearing it up! I will definitely keep my eyes open for this book! Speaking of books, I seem to remember that Gutenberg project also had stuff by EPS?? And I have "Imre" as an ebook, and will gladly send it to you, if you want! More people should know about him! <3
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 07:02 pm (UTC)And I have "Imre" as an ebook, and will gladly send it to you, if you want!
Ooh, yes please, that'd be great!
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2020 09:41 pm (UTC)