Dumping these 18th century-related book reviews here, in case anyone is interested...
A Lady of Lost Years by John Buchan (1899) I do NOT recommend this Jacobite novel. I had read that it was going to be about Margaret Murray of Broughton, but it is not really. The main character is one Francis Birkenshaw, and I dragged myself through the first 50 pages about him; he is unpleasant to his mother, sisters, and companions, and loses his apprenticeship because he punches a guy who married a woman he was into, and then stabs a random bystander for good measure. I don't mind characters who are not especially virtuous, but I do need something sympathetic to care about. Anyway, he has no particular political principles, and at one point he tries to rob Broughton house and then intends to sell Jacobite correspondence to the government. But Margaret Murray is beautiful! And so he confesses everything to her and pledges himself to the Jacobite cause. She sends him on an important mission to persuade Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, to come out. Er, because that's a reasonable person for the Jacobites to choose for such a mission, surely?? Later on, Simon Fraser entrusts incriminating correspondence to this unknown person, who could just as well be a government spy, for all he knows?? Arrgh. Skipping some plot, at the end of the rising Murray of Broughton famously turns King’s Evidence, something which is so heavily foreshadowed in the book that it seems as though the characters know it's going to happen before it does. And after that, Margaret Murray is a vulnerable damsel in distress who has nobody to turn to but this random guy who once tried to rob her house and that she then sent on a mission. Surely she had family and trusted friends?? They go to London to visit Murray of Broughton in prison and then fall in love, but Francis nobly refuses her (at the end of the book he has reformed and is now all noble).
The one thing I liked about this book is the writing style--there are some nice nature descriptions. Also, it does portray Margaret Murray as politically engaged and active in the rising, which is nice--but at no point does it mention any other such women, of whom there were many! It's like she is the only Jacobite woman. *rolls eyes* Also, I have read quotes from eyewitness reports of Margaret Murray and her friend Rachel Erskine robbing Whig gentry at pistol point (backed up by Highlanders) to get money for the cause. Which, uh, does not really match up with her personality in the book.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail by Avril Hart and Susan North (1998) This is great! It has close up details of clothing, most of it from the upper classes. Very good for writing fic, if you want to be able to say something more specific than somebody having a blue silk gown, or whatever. And I am extremely impressed by all the craftsmanship! *boggles*
Bad Jacobite novel + great book on clothing
A Lady of Lost Years by John Buchan (1899)
I do NOT recommend this Jacobite novel. I had read that it was going to be about Margaret Murray of Broughton, but it is not really. The main character is one Francis Birkenshaw, and I dragged myself through the first 50 pages about him; he is unpleasant to his mother, sisters, and companions, and loses his apprenticeship because he punches a guy who married a woman he was into, and then stabs a random bystander for good measure. I don't mind characters who are not especially virtuous, but I do need something sympathetic to care about. Anyway, he has no particular political principles, and at one point he tries to rob Broughton house and then intends to sell Jacobite correspondence to the government. But Margaret Murray is beautiful! And so he confesses everything to her and pledges himself to the Jacobite cause. She sends him on an important mission to persuade Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, to come out. Er, because that's a reasonable person for the Jacobites to choose for such a mission, surely?? Later on, Simon Fraser entrusts incriminating correspondence to this unknown person, who could just as well be a government spy, for all he knows?? Arrgh. Skipping some plot, at the end of the rising Murray of Broughton famously turns King’s Evidence, something which is so heavily foreshadowed in the book that it seems as though the characters know it's going to happen before it does. And after that, Margaret Murray is a vulnerable damsel in distress who has nobody to turn to but this random guy who once tried to rob her house and that she then sent on a mission. Surely she had family and trusted friends?? They go to London to visit Murray of Broughton in prison and then fall in love, but Francis nobly refuses her (at the end of the book he has reformed and is now all noble).
The one thing I liked about this book is the writing style--there are some nice nature descriptions. Also, it does portray Margaret Murray as politically engaged and active in the rising, which is nice--but at no point does it mention any other such women, of whom there were many! It's like she is the only Jacobite woman. *rolls eyes* Also, I have read quotes from eyewitness reports of Margaret Murray and her friend Rachel Erskine robbing Whig gentry at pistol point (backed up by Highlanders) to get money for the cause. Which, uh, does not really match up with her personality in the book.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail by Avril Hart and Susan North (1998)
This is great! It has close up details of clothing, most of it from the upper classes. Very good for writing fic, if you want to be able to say something more specific than somebody having a blue silk gown, or whatever. And I am extremely impressed by all the craftsmanship! *boggles*