regshoe | Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapters 1-2

Epigraph notes: The epigraph to Part V is from Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Later in chapter 2, 'Thou art the same and thy years shall not fail' is a quotation from the Letter to the Hebrews.

The passage about Ewen's love and grief for the Highlands as he thinks he's seeing them for the last time is an utterly gorgeous piece of writing, and one of my favourite parts of the book. Strongly written, significant relationships between characters and places are something I always like in fiction, and my goodness, this is a good one. Aaargh. And, as Broster points out, chapter 5.1 follows much the same route along which we met Keith back in 1.1—and what a contrast in the style of the descriptions that provides. We're a long way from those elephants...

And the paragraph where Ewen is thinking about Keith is very lovely too. '...already as a friend, and with wonder', awww. Ewen's ongoing bewilderment at Keith's actions almost seems like a parallel of Keith's own failure to understand his own motivations earlier on—which is interesting, when Ewen understands very simply and naturally what was for Keith the key realisation which made sense of everything, that he feels friendship for him. In any case, I quite agree with Ewen's 'all honour to him for it'—indeed!

The meeting with the girl who gives Ewen the sgian is such a powerful moment. We've already seen Keith's reactions to what the victorious Government forces did to their defeated enemies after Culloden—now we see it from the other side, both for the Highlands generally and for Ewen personally.

A general 'oh, poor Ewen!' for everything he goes through in these chapters—all that pain and exhaustion and heartache. But impressive feats of physical endurance under highly discouraging conditions are a feature throughout Broster's writing, and it was surely something she knew about from her own experiences of war.

Mr Fosdyke and Mr Prescott! I love them—they're some of my favourite minor characters in the book. And Lassie too, of course. :) The combination of good nature, sympathy and independent-mindedness expressed by Mr Fosdyke in explaining his motivations for helping Ewen is great, and says so much in a short space. And they're funny, although Fosdyke's joke about the heads on Micklegate Bar is rather a dark one. The line about Alison's prayers and Ewen's 'simple and straightforward faith' is very sweet—but this time through the book, it struck me that perhaps there's a parallel here with Keith's painful struggle with prayer after he parts from Ewen in chapter 4.7. If these angelic Englishmen—who provide another demonstration of the power of kindness, compassion and personal honour even amidst political divides and cruelty—are indeed an answer to prayer, it seems fitting that it might be 'the prayer in [Keith's] heart' as he thought, as far as he knew, so fruitlessly of Ewen two chapters ago.

And there's even more lovely, beautiful sense of place towards the end of chapter 2! The description of Ewen's return to Ardroy while he thinks the house has been burnt, followed by the revelation that it hasn't been and Ewen's entry into the house like a 'ghost', creates such a strong and evocative mood, with its slow, almost dreamlike progression and its careful abundance of detail. The sparing of Ardroy from the devastation might perhaps have been a little convenient and/or indulgent on Broster's part as an author, but between the beautiful writing and, again, the already-established themes of individual compassion and honour amidst brutality, I think she makes it work. And Aunt Marget! Their reunion is such a lovely moment. <3

Edited 2022-01-01 20:19 (UTC)

I do like the instance of nice Hanoverians that we get in this section, I must admit. The soldiers are kind (I wonder what happened to them?) and so are the farmers; and also the officer in charge of burning Ardroy. It’s humanising to see them so; they’re just people.

It hadn’t occurred to me that Ewen is taking the same route as Keith did here, though the return to Spean Bridge is an obvious and nicely circular arc. It was on TV here the other night - Portillo, perhaps - and though I’ve been to the town, I didn’t make it to the bridge. They are not kidding when they call it High Bridge.

I hope that Ewen sends help to the women who helped him, and what was he doing looking down the girl’s blouse anyway, good grief, Ewen! She was damn clever about getting it to him, though.

The real pairing in these two chapters is neither Ewen/Keith nor Ewen/Alison, but Ewen/Ardroy! And I really ship it. : )

Even having read both chapters multiple times before, they still put tears in my eyes. That bit where he is riding alongside Loch Oich, looking up at Beinn Tigh and the glen beyond it that he can't see, is one of my favorite bits in the whole book: No, never again; neither in this world nor the next. For Loch na h-Iolaire was not like Alison and him; it had not a soul free of time and space. Loch na h-Iolaire existed over there, only there, on that one spot of earth, and in all the fields of heaven there would be no lake so lovely, and in heaven the grey mists would never swoop down on one who ambushed the deer.

And it's also interesting in the context of Ewen's faith: he's sure that he will see the people he loves again, in the next life: but what about the places and earthly things that he loves? It's just heartbreaking.

On another level, Ewen's escape is also a good bit of adventure writing! Even weak as he is, he manages to outwit his guards--and avoid the ending which Broster is feinting towards. She does love a good will-he-die-or-won't-he.

I'm fond of the angels from Yorkshire, and can't help hearing them in

regshoe's voice, since she recorded their dialogue for me in the right dialect, as preparation for my audiobook recording. Not that I actually could do the dialect myself (those pesky glottal stops replacing "the"!). I also like them for being ordinary people doing a stranger a good turn. Although it's a bit of a contradiction, that at the same time they have no problems with buying cattle which the government has taken from people, but then feel that they've gotten even with government for giving them a bad bargain...but then, people are contradictory. Do check out

regshoe's little fic about Mr Fosdyke. And heh, I've never heard that Yorkshire song. : )

Ewen returning to Ardroy, and to Aunt Margaret, again puts tears in my eyes. That bit where he doesn't look because he knows (or thinks he knows) what he will see, and then does look and doubts his vision. And later he doubts his own reality instead... I also love that he thinks about the welfare of all the people at Ardroy: Aunt Margaret first and foremost, the servants, old Angus and his grandchildren, the womenfolk, the fugitives from Drumossie Moor.

And the officer who doesn't set fire to Ardroy is a lovely proof that Keith isn't the only one among the Hanoverians who has compassion and common decency.

Okay, I wrote this without first reading

regshoe's comment; let's see how much overlap there is. *hits post*

I think these might even be my favorite pair of chapters thus far, which is saying a lot. Everything just makes for a lovely combination for me -- Ewen leaving for his trial (D":), more English side characters with a lot of humanity, the escape, the dog (:D), and coming home to find Ardroy and Aunt Margaret very much intact.

Somehow the fact that Ewen regrets leaving his land behind, while being comparatively calm about his family and friends, made that scene even more affecting for me. Focusing primarily on, say, Alison instead would have been more conventional, but I don't think it wouldn't have worked as well.

Joining in with everyone else to say that the way Ewen's physical ordeal and grief is balanced out by the unexpected acts of kindness from people who are technically enemies is one of the loveliest things about this section. It's possible, actually, this this whole section is responsible for my long-abiding love for narratives containing unexpected kindnesses from enemies.

And, Lassie <3

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