regshoe: A grey heron in flight over water (Heron)
regshoe ([personal profile] regshoe) wrote2021-09-25 06:10 pm

Flight of the Heron read-along: Prologue

The news frae Moidart cam yestreen will soon gar mony ferlie...

Welcome everyone to the Flight of the Heron read-along! I'm delighted by the amount of interest there's been in this lovely book recently, and I hope this will be a great opportunity to discuss it in more depth.

Some notes:

A reminder of where to find the novel as a free ebook and a free audiobook.

My plan is to cover two chapters in most weeks, but I thought we'd start with just the Prologue, partly to provide a gentle introduction and partly because it makes it easier to split the rest of the book up in a way that makes sense.

We have a mixture of people re-reading the book and people reading it for the first time participating, so, if you've read the book before and would like to discuss earlier chapters in the context of what happens later on, please warn for or hide spoilers! I suggest using rot13, if that works for everyone.

Next week we'll read Part I chapters 1 and 2, and meet Keith Windham...
dr_zook: (esca & marcus)

[personal profile] dr_zook 2021-09-26 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the bits about the wigs! I always wondered why some wore them, and on which occasions? Do you know if it was a thing to do both, wear one in public on one day and not on the other?

Ewen is just as much the educated gentleman of the Enlightenment as Keith is, dismissing superstition. And of course, he was educated in Paris.

I really liked how he and Lachlan discussed the latter's sword (dagger? dirk.), Lachlan's all, "WOE!" while Ewan just points out at first, "Eh, you should keep it in better condition," only to realize a mistake in his perception and finds no problem in correcting himself. It tells a lot about his relationship with "his servant". :)

Also thank you for translating m'eudail, haha, love that bit!

I read that Broster served during WWI as a nurse in France, which I reckon made her one of these women who earned not only money for herself, but also recognition for her commitment. From what I learned, the end of the war made it difficult for the men and women who survived to realign with what was their "usual place": many soldiers were drastically wounded, maimed not only physically but also mentally, and thus couldn't provide for their families like before war. On the other hand women who worked during the war (because the men who did the work before were gone) were supposed to do what afterwards? I guess one could assume this: Alison could have kept her name in the 18th century, but Broster letting her taking her husband's can be read as a re-establishing of post-war certainties? (I know, that's a pretty big swing, haha!)
owl: Stylized barn owl (Default)

[personal profile] owl 2021-09-26 01:11 pm (UTC)(link)
This chapter has a similar feeling to me of novels set around the outbreak of WW1. The young men excited to go to war, with no idea that their lives and the whole fabric of their society is about to change forever.
dr_zook: (esca & marcus)

[personal profile] dr_zook 2021-09-26 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I think one could write some very interesting meta on her portrayal of the disruption and ruin of Highland society during and after the '45 in Flight of the Heron and Gleam in the North and her own experiences of the effects of World War I.

I would definitely read it! :)
Edited 2021-09-26 15:52 (UTC)
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)

[personal profile] luzula 2021-09-26 09:37 am (UTC)(link)
I always wondered why some wore them, and on which occasions? Do you know if it was a thing to do both, wear one in public on one day and not on the other?

Well, first off, it was a thing for the elite. So Lachlan would never be wearing one, or you know, someone in working-class England. And it was a thing for social occasions, so probably you're not wearing one when you just got up and you're puttering around at home. But if you do wear one in public, I think you do it consistently.

It's a weird fashion! When writing sex scenes, don't forget to take Keith's wig off... : )

Re: Broster's wartime experience, I don't know if it influenced Alison's name, but I'm sure it influenced other aspects of her writing. She writes surprisingly few battle scenes for books set during wartime. Maybe she didn't want to re-live the bloody parts of war...
dr_zook: (esca & marcus)

[personal profile] dr_zook 2021-09-26 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
When writing sex scenes, don't forget to take Keith's wig off... : )

Haha, good point! (Now I imagine him with his wig hanging askew from his temple whilst lost in fornication. Ewan, moaning: "Goddammit! You should have taken it off, you look overly ridiculous! I cannot continue like this.") Thank you for explaining proper wig decorum. :D

She writes surprisingly few battle scenes for books set during wartime. Maybe she didn't want to re-live the bloody parts of war...

That would make so much sense, really. The idea about her experience and Alisons's name was really only a shot in the dark. :)