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

[regshoe]

Charlie is my darling, the Young Chevalier...

Flight of the Heron (under the title The Jacobite Trilogy) is doing very well in Yuletide sign-ups—3 requests and 4 offers at present :D

Next week we'll read the second half of Part II, chapters 3 and 4.

Comments

[regshoe]

I think these two chapters are great fun :D

Epigraph notes: The epigraph to part II is from the Jacobite song 'To Daunton Me', which was published in 'Jacobite Relics of Scotland', second series, by James Hogg (1819), here. Not to be confused with the Robert Burns poem of the same title, which is otherwise completely different! The Scots word 'wanton' means 'overjoy, delight'. Hogg gives his source as 'Mr Moir's collection', but if this collection was ever published I haven't been able to find any record of it, so the actual origin of the song remains mysterious. I'm not aware of any recordings.

First, an important question: What is the 'short, pregnant word' beginning with S that Charles was about to call Ewen? I don't know, it's been bugging me ever since I first read the book and if anyone here can figure it out I'll be very grateful!

Anyway—we move forward in time and history, the Jacobites are doing well, and chapter 1 opens with one of Broster's lovely and lively passages of historical detail. It's possible I have a high tolerance for historical exposition in general, but I do think this is how to do it right. She conveys a lovely sense of Edinburgh as a setting, as well, for all that it's very different from the wild Highland landscape of Part I—all too-tall houses and winding streets and shadowy corners.

And now that the Jacobites have secured their early successes, Ewen too is doing well, and we're back in his POV again for the first time since the prologue. I do like seeing him here in his full triumphant Jacobite setting: proud and happy and responsible; being rude to Strickland, even prepared to argue with the Prince himself.

Speaking of which, the Prince himself! The man all this fuss was about finally appears, and I think Broster paints a very vivid picture of him in these chapters: quick-tempered but not without enough political shrewdness to keep it under control; charming (I like his swift recovery from learning that his errand in search of Craigmains is pointless: 'Have I not gained the pleasure of your acquaintance, and of Miss Cochran’s, not to speak of drinking the best claret I have tasted since I came to Edinburgh?'); full of gaiety, high spirits, ready classical and Biblical references and a sense of adventure. I think he comes across as very much someone who knows he's the main character of this bit of history.

I love Ewen and Charles's interactions, from their argument onwards—and poor Ewen's frustration at being forced to become the wise and moderate voice of reason ('old head on young shoulders') is terribly funny. Broster uses her omniscient POV very effectively here to comment on the characters and their situation from the outside, both seriously ( Their eyes met, the warm Southern brown and the blue—I wonder what Ewen is actually thinking in this moment) and for humour (During this touching scene of reconciliation it was evident from various discreet but not too patient taps upon the door that the excluded person on the other side still desired admittance).

I like Isobel Cochran! Both ardently loyal and sensible.

Secret passages with a hidden entrance in the panelling :D This book is so much fun. I love the tense adventure of the second half of chapter 2, when we get some quick thinking from Ewen—and then that amazing cliffhanger of an ending!...

[luzula]

I like the title of this part ('Floodtide'). And the melody of the song should go like this, if it's the same as 'To Daunton Me'.

There might have been a sense of doomed gaiety to the scene at the ball, given how things will go later in the war, but since Broster rather goes for the comedy in the historical exposition that comes before it, we get a lighter tone. Which I appreciate! I like Ewen and Alison's banter, and then the whole atmosphere of spy antics, with disguises, secret passages, etc. It's a lot of fun, and I also enjoy seeing what Ewen's loyalty to the Prince means in practice: it doesn't mean uncritical devotion. He's quite willing to argue with BPC when he thinks he's wrong, and isn't willing to be insulted.

And of course there's Keith turning up again! Of which more in the next chapter. : D

O'Sullivan doesn't look very sympathetic through Ewen's eyes, which is realistic in the sense that there was definitely some dissension among BPC's followers. O'Sullivan wasn't just quartermaster in the sense that he was responsible for supplies--he was also responsible for coordinating staff work. According to Duffy he was very competent, and the quick tempo of the invasion of England was partly his work.

'The nightly stenches of Edinburgh proper', heh. There was a great description in a 1730's collection of letters from an English officer in Scotland that I recently read, saying how 10 pm was apparently the agreed-upon time for everyone to pour the contents of their chamber-pots from their windows. The hapless visitor did not know that this was a bad time to be out in the street...

I had to look up the Darnley reference ('Ewen went into the bedchamber which had once been the ill-fated Darnley's'), which I didn't know, and here it is.

Do you think amber is a good color for Ewen? Hmm. I guess it's a warm color that might go along with his auburn hair, but my instinct would have been blue or green, to contrast more with his hair. But really I don't know how people chose colors back then...and it's not like I'm great at fashion, anyway.

[killclaudio]

I really enjoyed all the language in these chapters, especially the Scots and the mixing in of French phrases. 'Go braw' is such a wonderful expression, and when I looked it up I found out that if you're having lovely weather it's a 'braw day', so I will now be using that. :) (I already knew 'dreich', the opposite, which unfortunately is the weather we're having right now.)

Have you seen Green's Dictionary of Slang and Timelines of Slang? FotH doesn't use a lot of slang, but I'm having fun reading all the 18th century insults.

[cahn]

Eeeee these chapters were great, ramping up the conflict! I enjoyed seeing the other side to BPC after all the Jacobites have been building him up as The Most Awesome Guy Ever, and that Ewen is seeing it as well. But poor Ewen! trying to be sensible and cautious and everyone else just mowing right over him!

And also that cliffhanger, aaaaa! I promised myself I couldn't read further until I posted on these chapters :D