Flight of the Heron read-along: Part I chapters 1-2

[regshoe]

Hark! now the drums they beat again for all good soldiers, gentlemen...

Welcome back to the Flight of the Heron read-along! This week we read the first two proper chapters, and meet Keith Windham—and Keith meets Ewen Cameron.

As you'll have noticed, Broster is fond of including both Gaelic and Scots words in dialogue; this online Gaelic-English dictionary and this one for Scots may be of use if you'd like to look anything up.

Next week we will continue with chapters 3 and 4.

Comments

[hedgebird]

Keith: There is neither beauty nor love in the world, or at least the Highlands
Ewen: cool cool I'm just gonna wait over there. Being quietly decent and really, really, ridiculously good-looking
Horse: a sacrifice to Fate

Ah, enter my grouchy fave. I learned about the pre-Romantic view of mountains shortly before I first read FotH and it amused me no end to find it there. I think I also warm to Ewen, the Ideal Man, more in these chapters than in the prologue, because the admiration for his manifold good qualities feels like it's coming from Keith instead of directly from the omniscient narrator.

I really appreciate the map, and the historical commentary you guys are providing. It's not a period or place I know a lot about, so it's always interesting to learn what is and isn't factual.

[regshoe]

:D

I think I also warm to Ewen, the Ideal Man, more in these chapters than in the prologue, because the admiration for his manifold good qualities feels like it's coming from Keith instead of directly from the omniscient narrator.

Yes, that's a good point—of course I enjoy the OTT admiring descriptions for what they say about Keith and his feelings, but it's a more... natural-seeming? sympathetic? way to hear about Ewen himself too, in a way.

I've had so much fun learning about Jacobite history since getting into this fandom, and I thought this was a good place to ramble about the random facts I've picked up—I'm glad you're enjoying the commentary!

[dr_zook]

I love how you break down the main characters here, haha! ♥

I think I also warm to Ewen, the Ideal Man, more in these chapters than in the prologue, because the admiration for his manifold good qualities feels like it's coming from Keith instead of directly from the omniscient narrator.

Very good point, same here. :)

[cahn]

ahahaha so true! (I felt bad for the horse, though :( )