(no subject)

[skygiants]

genarti and I were in Scotland recently -- I was there primarily for a work event, but we managed to snatch a little bit of time around the edges to do some extracurricular activities, including really extremely delightful meetups with raven and happydork and such_heights and innerbrat!

We also had one stolen day to ourselves to ourselves in which we drove up into the Highlands and scoped out a castle with extensive grounds, which contained a really perfect beautifully-low-branched tree, perfect for perching in and reading.

ME: okay the gates do shut in an hour so perhaps we can't stay here in the tree and read long but I did get Flight of the Heron out of the library SPECIFICALLY to read descriptions of Beautiful Scottish Highlands and if I don't get to at least start it in this tree in the middle of the Highlands it truly will seem like a waste --
genarti: no you are right, this is so necessary. Also it's even better than that because one of the protags is English and so all his descriptions of the Highlands are "I hate these miserable hills, why is everything so steep, why can't land just be FLAT --"

Anyway, so Flight of the Heron! Which many of you know about already as a solid chunk of my dwlist went absolutely ham for this book over the past few years, but for those who don't, it's a Highly Romantic and Pleasingly Homoerotic Narrative from the 1920s about two Opponents whose Fates Become Intertwined during the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion -- cheerful, heroic, devastatingly handsome Highlander Ewen Cameron takes snippy and cynical Englishman Keith Windham prisoner in the early days of the war when everything is going well for Bonnie Prince Charlie and his troops, and treats him so charmingly that Keith develops an immediate snippy crush, and then they go through a period of variously outwitting each other on High-Spirited Escapades. Then as everything about the war gets worse their interactions become increasingly serious and fraught with risk and potential betrayal and the unparalleled high of defying unprincipled superior officers in order to race through the night and nurse an enemy prisoner that you're obsessed with back to health in a frozen shack For The Sake Of Honour. Extremely enjoyable, absolutely recommended if you enjoy a.) the bits of the Scarlet Pimpernel books where Chauvelin obsesses about Percy Blakeney's shoulders while Percy is outwitting him and/or b.) the bits of Kidnapped where they're on the run and Alan has to carry a sick David through the heather.

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

Anyway, so Flight of the Heron! Which many of you know about already as a solid chunk of my dwlist went absolutely ham for this book over the past few years

I really do have to read this book at some point. This and the Biggles books are my DW fandoms-in-law.

[osprey_archer]

Join us... join us...

At least on Flight of the Heron, I don't think I can in good conscience try to drag you into Biggles when there are 100 odd books.

[skygiants]

lolol that's exactly the way I've felt. Someday perhaps the time will be ripe for Biggles to fly into my heart as well but the Time has to be Right!

[sovay]

snippy and cynical Englishman Keith Windham

Keith would have wired himself memorably into my brain had I read this book at a traditionally formative age rather than last year, to the point where his fate is totally unsurprising for characters I loved in high school, but I took it rather personally to have it happen in the twenty-first century.

[kate_nepveu]

Uh-oh.

[skygiants]

oh nooooooo

(I felt quite sure one of them was going to die and the other live tragically on but I genuinely had no idea which up until the finale!)

[adore]

You have my envy. I want to be sitting on a tree, r-e-a-d-i-n-g.

[skygiants]

An ideal activity! Not possible to improve upon!

[raven]

omg you sat in a TREE. In a Scottish CASTLE. I’m so proud.

(I love Flight of the Heron! It’s so overwrought and romantic it makes my heart flutter. Also I just unironically love the whole prophecy “you will meet three times” thing, I am absolutely going to steal that for a romance some day.)

[genarti]

WE DID. Inverary Castle's grounds are extremely managed and extremely pretty and I don't know that we were supposed to sit on that tree but it was great.

(Yessssss, it's such fun. And I love the bit where Ewen is like, "Wait, was that the third time? Or still part of the second?")

[skygiants]

THANK YOU. It really felt like the Maximally Appropriate activity for the location!

(yesssss it's a dream, lives up to its premise in exactly the way that one would hope -- and tbh I expected a much more starry-eyed view of the Doomed Cause, the gradual slide into increasing emotional intensity in parallel to the war becoming a game on all sides really worked for me.

I cannot wait to see what you someday do with A Strictly Limited Number Of Prophesied Meetings!)

[philomytha]

Sitting in a tree in the grounds of a Scottish castle reading Flight of the Heron is absolutely the most perfect thing! I fell for Flight of the Heron when I was about twelve and reread it quite often, but never in a castle in Scotland. My copy of Kidnapped used to fall open to that section, too...

[skygiants]

I did wonder how I missed it as a kid, because I absolutely would have been Extremely into it, but I'm glad that I waited because this was clearly the absolute most correct time in which to begin reading it!

[davidgillon]

Also it's even better than that because one of the protags is English and so all his descriptions of the Highlands are "I hate these miserable hills, why is everything so steep, why can't land just be FLAT --"

{sniff}
Clearly a southerner
{/sniff}

[skygiants]

CLEARLY, MISERABLY SO

[littlerhymes]

Scotland, how wonderful!

I actually JUST finished reading Flight of the Heron this week so obviously we're the ones who are exactly on trend and everyone else was early to the party. I am sticking to this line.

[osprey_archer]

!!!! WE'VE SUCKERED YOU IN TOO???

I will look forward to your thoughts!

[skygiants]

YES ABSOLUTELY. Love to be on this wavelength with you, love to make the party come to us!

[lirazel]

That trip sounds lovely!!! And of course you had to take advantage of the tree!

so all his descriptions of the Highlands are "I hate these miserable hills, why is everything so steep, why can't land just be FLAT --"

Lol, the exact opposite of my feelings on life. (Flat land freaks me out!)

[zero_pixel_count]

Re: flatlands - there is definitely such a thing as 'too much sky' imo... :)

[osprey_archer]

You started reading The Flight of the Heron in a TREE by a SCOTTISH CASTLE, that is truly the peak experience and I can only gasp in admiration.

I love how Keith thinks he's being devastatingly sarcastic about Ewan while betraying his crush at every turn. "My own young Achilles" he writes in his diary. KEITH. SIR. And then the bit where he escapes because Ewan forgot the renew his parole... and he leaves Ewan money and Ewan is SO insulted...

Also the hurt/comfort in the shieling is SO perfect. And the way they keep harking back to it after! "That night in the shieling" indeed.

[skygiants]

I loooove the way that Keith is clearly crushing desperately from his first interaction with this Extremely Attractive Highlander, and Ewen is clearly not anywhere near as obsessed because he's got other things going on in his life where Keith simply does not, but then Keith's actions when Ewen most desperately needs help are what kicks Ewen over into feeling just as strongly about him ... delicious!

[regshoe]

I'm delighted to hear you enjoyed Flight of the Heron, and what an ideal setting for reading it. Aww, I can just see Ewen sitting reading in a tree by Loch na h-Iolaire...

the unparalleled high of defying unprincipled superior officers in order to race through the night and nurse an enemy prisoner that you're obsessed with back to health in a frozen shack For The Sake Of Honour

XD

Yeah, it was totally just for the sake of honour, Keith continues to tell himself...

Extremely enjoyable, absolutely recommended if you enjoy ... the bits of Kidnapped where they're on the run and Alan has to carry a sick David through the heather.

I feel very seen by this comment.

[sanguinity]

I felt very seen by that line, too!

[luzula]

So glad you enjoyed it!! : D We have some great fic too, come and check it out. *tempts*

Your description is absolutely accurate, and what a great place to start reading the book! Which castle was it? Also, you should have seen me and regshoe this summer, we went to various significant places in the book and then read out loud the scenes that took place there. : D Could not quite get to the site of Ardroy, it was too long a hike, but we looked down on it, at least!

[genarti]

Inverary Castle! A gorgeous big 18th century heap of green stone and fanciness, pretty close to Loch Fyne. It significantly postdates the Jacobite Rebellion, but is the seat of the Dukes of Argyll (of Clan Campbell), the second of whom led the British troops in some relevant battles, so there's that.

What Becca is kindly not saying is that I kept going "oh! I know a dance/dance band/tune about this loch/town/landmark/natural feature!" until I think she was starting a mental drinking game about it, lol. Your trip with regshoe sounds entirely delightful!

[kate_nepveu]

My sole time in Scotland was a weekend in Edinburgh, which I enjoyed greatly, but I definitely should have found a castle with gardens in the Highlands!

[skygiants]

We spent all of five minutes in Edinburgh changing trains, which was just enough time to come up from the underground and stare at the skyline and for me to go "WHY DIDN'T WE GO TO EDINBURGH??" (because we didn't have time and we couldn't have, but we're definitely going back next time!)

[vcmw]

I have not read Kidnapped since I was a very small person indeed (10 or younger) but I remember it filled small me with many feelings about the relationship, so now I very much want to read Flight of the Heron.