(no subject)
Mar. 29th, 2019 10:31 amThe fact that Zen Cho's The True Queen has now formally joined the ranks of Lesbian Regency Romances reminded me that I never got around to writing up Penelope Friday's Petticoats and Promises which ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lokifan mentioned as one of the few other extant examples last time I was talking about lesbian Regency romance.
The arc of Petticoats and Promises:
- lifelong Regency best friends Clara and Serena discover they are in love! hurrah!
- whoops Serena's family has suffered a downfall in fortunes and there isn't enough money for her to have a season, but it's fine, she can go visit Clara on hers!
- OH NO, Clara's terrible mom catches them together and Serena gets packed off home in a cloud of mysterious disgrace!
- the next thing Serena hears, Clara is married!
- Resentful and Betrayed, Serena goes off to have her own Season and meets a cool older lesbian who helps her grow into herself
- will Clara and Serena get back together after Clara has bowed to social heterosexual pressure? will Serena's deeply caring but conventional parents support her if she comes out to them? could you take the entire arc of this book and drop it in, like, the 1980s and replace "season" with "college" and have it read almost exactly the same? I leave it to the discerning reader to intuit the answer to these questions!
And, I mean, "the historical aspect is almost entirely set dressing" is an issue for many Regency romances, Petticoats and Promises is absolutely not alone in this regard. I personally would have wanted either a little more actual plot, or a richer and more grounded exploration of the actual historical time period -- either would have done! -- but if you're craving a story about a young lesbian Finding Herself while wearing a lot of pretty dresses, this will do perfectly well!
lokifan mentioned as one of the few other extant examples last time I was talking about lesbian Regency romance.The arc of Petticoats and Promises:
- lifelong Regency best friends Clara and Serena discover they are in love! hurrah!
- whoops Serena's family has suffered a downfall in fortunes and there isn't enough money for her to have a season, but it's fine, she can go visit Clara on hers!
- OH NO, Clara's terrible mom catches them together and Serena gets packed off home in a cloud of mysterious disgrace!
- the next thing Serena hears, Clara is married!
- Resentful and Betrayed, Serena goes off to have her own Season and meets a cool older lesbian who helps her grow into herself
- will Clara and Serena get back together after Clara has bowed to social heterosexual pressure? will Serena's deeply caring but conventional parents support her if she comes out to them? could you take the entire arc of this book and drop it in, like, the 1980s and replace "season" with "college" and have it read almost exactly the same? I leave it to the discerning reader to intuit the answer to these questions!
And, I mean, "the historical aspect is almost entirely set dressing" is an issue for many Regency romances, Petticoats and Promises is absolutely not alone in this regard. I personally would have wanted either a little more actual plot, or a richer and more grounded exploration of the actual historical time period -- either would have done! -- but if you're craving a story about a young lesbian Finding Herself while wearing a lot of pretty dresses, this will do perfectly well!
