strange and random happenstance

Silverwolf by Jacey Bedford
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: January 3rd, 2017
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Will's ghost has been laid to rest and Ross feels like her life with Corwen is about to begin. And when you entwine your life with another you entwine yourself with their family as Corwen well knows after his escapades with Ross's family. Corwen has been estranged from his family, the Deverells of Denby Hall, Yorkshire, for many years. They couldn't come to grips with the fact that he turns into a wolf. Yet he always made sure they could contact him. And they finally have. Though perhaps a little later than they should have. A lot has changed in six years, his little sister Lily and his twin brother Freddie both turned out to be shapechangers as well, and in December their eldest brother Jonathan died resulting in their father having an apoplexy. Freddie should have stepped into the breach left by Jonathan's death but instead he fled to friends in London and now hasn't been heard from in four months. There's been no one to hold the family estate together and there's trouble at the mill. But first things first, the widow Rossalinde Sumner must be introduced to the family as Corwen's fiance. Which is an oddly joyous greeting and homecoming, with only some minor recriminations. Perhaps Corwen's father regrets how they ended things? With very little ability to communicate their problems might never be resolved, but Corwen can at least show his family that he is up to the task at hand. First there's the mill, which is being unscrupulously run, which Lily takes into hand. Then there's the bigger problem of Freddie... He was trying to reject his true nature, a dangerous undertaking. When they arrive at his lodgings in London they can see something bad has happened. With the rowenkind free and wild magic on the loose Walsingham has risen from the ashes to harness this new threat to his own advantage. Can they save Freddie from Walsingham's clutches? And if they do can they then save him from himself?

When the average reader thinks of Regency England they think of Jane Austen. More well read readers might also throw in Georgette Heyer and Julia Quinn. But these women all wrote about a very specific echelon of society. Everyone is, for the most part, financially secure, or at least has the prospects to be secure. In other words, it doesn't really reflect society as a whole it was a very specific slice of Regency life. It would take authors like Dickens and Gaskell to actually shine a light on the working class and the poor. And yet the Industrial Revolution which is so associated with their works was already underway. Which is why I so love this second volume in Jacey Bedford's Rowankind series, because it doesn't just draw on the drawing room aspect of society that was so often written about. In fact I would more associate this book with Elizabeth Gaskell than with Jane Austen. I couldn't help compare Silverwolf to Mary Barton and North and South. Very favorably I might add. We get to see the plight of the workers, the treatment of the rowankind, and an actual effort made to improve the lives of those who are dependent on the Deverell family. This volume is Downton Abbey meets Elizabeth Gaskell, or, because it's all about family drama in Yorkshire, this is Jacey Bedford doing her Barbara Taylor Bradford Emma Harte saga! I never wanted this book to end. But more importantly I could have just stayed at Denby Hall forever. I do love a big country house and a family business and compassionate people, but so many times they are a pale carbon copy of something truly original. And yes, for as much as I love Downton Abbey, it's just Upstairs, Downstairs in Yorkshire with a nicer house that's actually not in Yorkshire. Downton Abbey literally lifts plot points left and right. This world that Jacey Bedford has created is just so original and new. Old themes seen in a different light. And I just think I talked myself into re-reading this volume again. I seriously loved it so much, plus if someone were to ask what I was reading I could respond "trouble at t'mill" which everyone who's anyone knows that that's the start of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition Sketch. And if there's one thing I love as much as family sagas, it's Monty Python.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Barbara Taylor Bradford, Corwen, Downton Abbey, Elizabeth Gaskell, Georgette Heyer, Jacey Bedford, Jane Austen, Julia Quinn, Mary Barton, North and South, Regency Magic, Ross Tremayne, Silverwolf, Yorkshire

Silverwolf by Jacey Bedford
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: January 3rd, 2017
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Will's ghost has been laid to rest and Ross feels like her life with Corwen is about to begin. And when you entwine your life with another you entwine yourself with their family as Corwen well knows after his escapades with Ross's family. Corwen has been estranged from his family, the Deverells of Denby Hall, Yorkshire, for many years. They couldn't come to grips with the fact that he turns into a wolf. Yet he always made sure they could contact him. And they finally have. Though perhaps a little later than they should have. A lot has changed in six years, his little sister Lily and his twin brother Freddie both turned out to be shapechangers as well, and in December their eldest brother Jonathan died resulting in their father having an apoplexy. Freddie should have stepped into the breach left by Jonathan's death but instead he fled to friends in London and now hasn't been heard from in four months. There's been no one to hold the family estate together and there's trouble at the mill. But first things first, the widow Rossalinde Sumner must be introduced to the family as Corwen's fiance. Which is an oddly joyous greeting and homecoming, with only some minor recriminations. Perhaps Corwen's father regrets how they ended things? With very little ability to communicate their problems might never be resolved, but Corwen can at least show his family that he is up to the task at hand. First there's the mill, which is being unscrupulously run, which Lily takes into hand. Then there's the bigger problem of Freddie... He was trying to reject his true nature, a dangerous undertaking. When they arrive at his lodgings in London they can see something bad has happened. With the rowenkind free and wild magic on the loose Walsingham has risen from the ashes to harness this new threat to his own advantage. Can they save Freddie from Walsingham's clutches? And if they do can they then save him from himself?

When the average reader thinks of Regency England they think of Jane Austen. More well read readers might also throw in Georgette Heyer and Julia Quinn. But these women all wrote about a very specific echelon of society. Everyone is, for the most part, financially secure, or at least has the prospects to be secure. In other words, it doesn't really reflect society as a whole it was a very specific slice of Regency life. It would take authors like Dickens and Gaskell to actually shine a light on the working class and the poor. And yet the Industrial Revolution which is so associated with their works was already underway. Which is why I so love this second volume in Jacey Bedford's Rowankind series, because it doesn't just draw on the drawing room aspect of society that was so often written about. In fact I would more associate this book with Elizabeth Gaskell than with Jane Austen. I couldn't help compare Silverwolf to Mary Barton and North and South. Very favorably I might add. We get to see the plight of the workers, the treatment of the rowankind, and an actual effort made to improve the lives of those who are dependent on the Deverell family. This volume is Downton Abbey meets Elizabeth Gaskell, or, because it's all about family drama in Yorkshire, this is Jacey Bedford doing her Barbara Taylor Bradford Emma Harte saga! I never wanted this book to end. But more importantly I could have just stayed at Denby Hall forever. I do love a big country house and a family business and compassionate people, but so many times they are a pale carbon copy of something truly original. And yes, for as much as I love Downton Abbey, it's just Upstairs, Downstairs in Yorkshire with a nicer house that's actually not in Yorkshire. Downton Abbey literally lifts plot points left and right. This world that Jacey Bedford has created is just so original and new. Old themes seen in a different light. And I just think I talked myself into re-reading this volume again. I seriously loved it so much, plus if someone were to ask what I was reading I could respond "trouble at t'mill" which everyone who's anyone knows that that's the start of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition Sketch. And if there's one thing I love as much as family sagas, it's Monty Python.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Barbara Taylor Bradford, Corwen, Downton Abbey, Elizabeth Gaskell, Georgette Heyer, Jacey Bedford, Jane Austen, Julia Quinn, Mary Barton, North and South, Regency Magic, Ross Tremayne, Silverwolf, Yorkshire

Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: October 26th, 2004
Format: Paperback, 390 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Annabelle Peyton is desperate. But not desperate enough to become the mistress of Simon Hunt. She is coming to the end of her forth and final season and unless she marries well her family will be ruined. Her brother won't be able to continue his education and maybe she would be better off becoming the mistress to a well heeled member of the aristocracy. Simon Hunt is far from the aristocracy but he is well heeled and if Annabelle is to become anyone's mistress it will be his. Ever since he took a liberty with her during her second season, stealing a kiss in the dark, he has been unable to forget the penniless beauty. But this penniless beauty has taken a drastic step to improve her marital prospects, she has made friends. Why did it take her so long to reach out to her fellow wallflowers? The American Bowman sisters, Lillian and Daisy, are delightful if sadly looked down upon for being Americans, and as for the stammering Evangeline Jenner, she needs someone to just listen to her problems with her overbearing family. The four of them make a pact. They will help each other make the match they need and seeing as Annabelle is the most desperate, she will be their first project. Marcus, Lord Westcliff, is having a three week long house party that the Bowmans can wrangle an invite to. This will be the perfect opportunity to entrap a husband. Because let's face it, Annabelle is desperate, and she is willing to compromise herself, but in such a way that marriage is the only option for the unwitting male. She will be dressed in the finest clothes thanks to Lillian and Daisy, who have more clothes and pocket money than they know what do to with, and all three of her friends will help her choose her mark. The only problem is that Simon Hunt happens to be the best friend of Lord Westcliff and he sees what she is about. He doesn't want her to marry, he wants her to be his mistress. But when Annabelle falls prey to an accident and Simon starts to spend more time with her he wonders, does he really want her as his mistress or as his wife?

I know it might be an odd first reaction, but mine was, why can't we save our families through marriage anymore? Yes, it's very draconian selling yourself to the highest bidder, and love matches only happen in books, rarely in real life, but why can't selling yourself for money in the particulars of this hypothetical discussion still be a reality? Because I want to make it clear, I'm not talking prostitution or being a kept women, I'm talking about marriage and a nice big purse and hopefully an ancestral pile and at least the financial strains of life are lifted. One can fantasize about that right? Moving beyond my trying to get my finances in order by marrying a member of the aristocracy, I loved The Buccaneers vibe of this book. And yes, I'm talking about the 1995 miniseries adaptation of Edith Wharton's unfinished novel. But just the beginning episodes when Nan, Virginia, Conchita, and Lizzy were still happy and carefree and not trapped in miserable loveless marriages. There was such a spirit to these characters in the miniseries that easily translates to their counterparts in this book. Only here that happiness is trapped and allowed to remain. Who wouldn't want to revisit the world of The Buccaneers if you could avoid all the misery that follows? I recently rewatched it and I wanted the light and happiness to persist and here it does. This is now my jam. This right here, and Lillian and Daisy are my buccaneers! And I know I can't be the only one who drew another miniseries conclusion while reading this book. Let's face it, Simon Hunt IS Richard Armitage as John Thornton in North and South. The timing is just right! And if it wasn't planned? Well, then Lisa Kleypass has precognition. It's that simple. But what I love about the idea of this North and South vibe in this book, aside from Richard Armitage, is that it takes the book to another level. It's not just about wallflowers making the perfect match, it's also about prejudices and how society was changing and how the aristocracy, the world so many of these young women have been brought up to, is dying and there are different ways of looking at the world. They just have to have their eyes opened, like Annabelle has.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Annabelle Peyton, Edith Wharton, Friends, John Thornton, Lisa Kleypas, Marriage, Money, North and South, Regency Romp, Richard Armitage, Secrets of a Summer Night, Simon Hunt, The Buccaneers, The Wallflowers

That Summer by Lauren Willig
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: June 3rd, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Julia Conley has inherited a house in England. A house on Herne Hill has been left to her by an unknown great-aunt. Julia and her father left England when she was six and her mother was killed in a car crash. Since her life in New York hasn't been going that well lately as one of the many unemployed, she decides to go to England and spend a few months sorting out the house and hopefully sorting out her life. For Julia who has viewed her family as just her and her father she finds it hard to come to gripes with the fact that this was where her mother came from and she still has family here with a few cousins, who of course feel slighted with great-aunt Regina's will. The more time Julia spends in the house the more she wishes she had been given the chance to know her great-aunt.

For Regina might have held the key to a lovely Pre-Raphaelite painting in one of the rooms of the house, which has a matching painting hidden deep at the back of one of the cupboards. Why was the one painting displayed and the other hidden? Who is this artist Gavin Thorne? Going back to 1849 we learn about the painter Gavin Thorne and his muse, Imogen Grantham, who happened to be the mistress of the house on Herne Hill and married to a wealthy and significantly older collector who was occasionally visited by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who doted on his historical relics. Yet why hide the painting? What connection does this painter and this wife have to Julia? More importantly, after 160 years can Julia find out?

Sometimes life is staggering in it's synchronicity. The very day that I received That Summer in the mail my Great-Aunt Vicki died. My family got the call that she had passed in her sleep and that the rest of the family was to descend on Madison to take care of her estate. My Great-Aunt was the last of the older generation, being preceded in death by all my Grandparents and even an Uncle. While sadly I have never been bequeathed a mysterious house, because she was the last of that generation I have gotten quite used to clearing out ancestral homes, my Grandparents farm having accumulated over a hundred years worth of ephemera, with sadly not a rare painting or a secret stash of cash in sight, but a random piano being used as a tool bench and much mouse effluvia. As I spent the following weeks sifting through the rooms of her house, picking what to keep and what to give away, I couldn't help but think of all the things I don't know about my family and where I come from. There is a strong ancestry bug that my family has, but I have not yet been bitten, and there's a part of me that keeps thinking, better now before it's too late.

The detritus is all we have left of our family's history. Random paintings around the house, Aunt so and so painted this, Cousin so and so did that one; just what if the painting was something more? What if the painting was a closely guarded secret that would unlock some mystery about yourself? The search for your own identity is caught up in the past, in where you come from. While Julia's search for what happened in her own past with her mother as well as to her ancestor's is something that might be uncommon, the search is something we can all identify with. Lauren has tapped into something deep within everyone, a longing to know where they're from in order to find out where they belong. This gives us a strong connection to the characters, we are on their journey with them and I wouldn't want it any other way.

While the time slip genre is nothing new, Lauren is able to create a more accessible story then some authors who mire their books in overly flowery details and descriptions that go on for so many pages you lose the thread of the story. This isn't to say the writing is sparse, it's exactly what it needs to be to conjure this world, no more and no less. Though there is a part of me that wishes at some time in the future Lauren would go all out and write a doorstop of a novel. Yet in Lauren's time slip she is able to capture the best of all worlds, with a little Kate Morton, a little Somewhere in Time, a nod to Du Maurier's Rebecca, a Keats Bridget Jones call out with a wink to Nancy Mitford's silly season. There are also echoes of Victorian literature, from Imogen's marriage mirroring Dorthea's in Middlemarch, to Gavin bringing a little of the John Thornton vibe from North and South. Yet these homages aren't derivative, they give us a touchstone for the time period but then become so distinctly their own story that while you remember the connections at the back of your mind they are inconsequential as the story takes on a life of it's own.

As for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, I will admit that this subject matter is what made me swoon when I heard over a year ago about Lauren's next planned stand alone. I think that I have adequately covered my love of them in previous posts and writings, but I will say that even in the BBC production of Desperate Romantics, they have always been a band apart. Outsiders who verged on Gods in their ways of self aggrandising each other and mythologizing their lives and works. They were Romantics in every sense of the word, demanding the capital letter "R". Yet Lauren brought them down off their pedestals. Packed into the snug sitting room on Herne Hill we see a human Rossetti with his schemes and ideas and his future spiraling out before him. The ways the Brotherhood sought out collectors of antiquities to give an authenticity to their paintings adds a realism to them and their works.

These men aren't Gods, no matter how many posters in English classrooms and dorm rooms might say otherwise, they are men. They have loved and lost and with Gavin we have a true romantic hero that is swoonworthy. And like all good writing, this one aspect of the book, the Brotherhood, it doesn't overpower the story, it compliments it, it strengthens and adds to it. You will fall into this book and even if you are just a fraction of a romantic the Pre-Raphaelite's were you will find yourself falling in love with both couples in the different time periods. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, and if you're coming into this book from Lauren's Pink Carnation series, there are a few gems hidden in the book, but like these painters who would hide the Brotherhood's initials in their paintings, you might have to have a keen eye to spot them.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bridget Jones, Daphne Du Maurier, Desperate Romantics, Kate Morton, Lauren Willig, Middlemarch, Nancy Mitford, North and South, Pink Carnation, Pre-Raphaelite, Rebecca, Somewhere in Time, That Summer

That Summer by Lauren Willig
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: June 3rd, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Julia Conley has inherited a house in England. A house on Herne Hill has been left to her by an unknown great-aunt. Julia and her father left England when she was six and her mother was killed in a car crash. Since her life in New York hasn't been going that well lately as one of the many unemployed, she decides to go to England and spend a few months sorting out the house and hopefully sorting out her life. For Julia who has viewed her family as just her and her father she finds it hard to come to gripes with the fact that this was where her mother came from and she still has family here with a few cousins, who of course feel slighted with great-aunt Regina's will. The more time Julia spends in the house the more she wishes she had been given the chance to know her great-aunt.

For Regina might have held the key to a lovely Pre-Raphaelite painting in one of the rooms of the house, which has a matching painting hidden deep at the back of one of the cupboards. Why was the one painting displayed and the other hidden? Who is this artist Gavin Thorne? Going back to 1849 we learn about the painter Gavin Thorne and his muse, Imogen Grantham, who happened to be the mistress of the house on Herne Hill and married to a wealthy and significantly older collector who was occasionally visited by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who doted on his historical relics. Yet why hide the painting? What connection does this painter and this wife have to Julia? More importantly, after 160 years can Julia find out?

Sometimes life is staggering in it's synchronicity. The very day that I received That Summer in the mail my Great-Aunt Vicki died. My family got the call that she had passed in her sleep and that the rest of the family was to descend on Madison to take care of her estate. My Great-Aunt was the last of the older generation, being preceded in death by all my Grandparents and even an Uncle. While sadly I have never been bequeathed a mysterious house, because she was the last of that generation I have gotten quite used to clearing out ancestral homes, my Grandparents farm having accumulated over a hundred years worth of ephemera, with sadly not a rare painting or a secret stash of cash in sight, but a random piano being used as a tool bench and much mouse effluvia. As I spent the following weeks sifting through the rooms of her house, picking what to keep and what to give away, I couldn't help but think of all the things I don't know about my family and where I come from. There is a strong ancestry bug that my family has, but I have not yet been bitten, and there's a part of me that keeps thinking, better now before it's too late.

The detritus is all we have left of our family's history. Random paintings around the house, Aunt so and so painted this, Cousin so and so did that one; just what if the painting was something more? What if the painting was a closely guarded secret that would unlock some mystery about yourself? The search for your own identity is caught up in the past, in where you come from. While Julia's search for what happened in her own past with her mother as well as to her ancestor's is something that might be uncommon, the search is something we can all identify with. Lauren has tapped into something deep within everyone, a longing to know where they're from in order to find out where they belong. This gives us a strong connection to the characters, we are on their journey with them and I wouldn't want it any other way.

While the time slip genre is nothing new, Lauren is able to create a more accessible story then some authors who mire their books in overly flowery details and descriptions that go on for so many pages you lose the thread of the story. This isn't to say the writing is sparse, it's exactly what it needs to be to conjure this world, no more and no less. Though there is a part of me that wishes at some time in the future Lauren would go all out and write a doorstop of a novel. Yet in Lauren's time slip she is able to capture the best of all worlds, with a little Kate Morton, a little Somewhere in Time, a nod to Du Maurier's Rebecca, a Keats Bridget Jones call out with a wink to Nancy Mitford's silly season. There are also echoes of Victorian literature, from Imogen's marriage mirroring Dorthea's in Middlemarch, to Gavin bringing a little of the John Thornton vibe from North and South. Yet these homages aren't derivative, they give us a touchstone for the time period but then become so distinctly their own story that while you remember the connections at the back of your mind they are inconsequential as the story takes on a life of it's own.

As for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, I will admit that this subject matter is what made me swoon when I heard over a year ago about Lauren's next planned stand alone. I think that I have adequately covered my love of them in previous posts and writings, but I will say that even in the BBC production of Desperate Romantics, they have always been a band apart. Outsiders who verged on Gods in their ways of self aggrandising each other and mythologizing their lives and works. They were Romantics in every sense of the word, demanding the capital letter "R". Yet Lauren brought them down off their pedestals. Packed into the snug sitting room on Herne Hill we see a human Rossetti with his schemes and ideas and his future spiraling out before him. The ways the Brotherhood sought out collectors of antiquities to give an authenticity to their paintings adds a realism to them and their works.

These men aren't Gods, no matter how many posters in English classrooms and dorm rooms might say otherwise, they are men. They have loved and lost and with Gavin we have a true romantic hero that is swoonworthy. And like all good writing, this one aspect of the book, the Brotherhood, it doesn't overpower the story, it compliments it, it strengthens and adds to it. You will fall into this book and even if you are just a fraction of a romantic the Pre-Raphaelite's were you will find yourself falling in love with both couples in the different time periods. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, and if you're coming into this book from Lauren's Pink Carnation series, there are a few gems hidden in the book, but like these painters who would hide the Brotherhood's initials in their paintings, you might have to have a keen eye to spot them.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Bridget Jones, Daphne Du Maurier, Desperate Romantics, Kate Morton, Lauren Willig, Middlemarch, Nancy Mitford, North and South, Pink Carnation, Pre-Raphaelite, Rebecca, Somewhere in Time, That Summer

Name: Richard Armitage

Dream Character Casting for the Lauren Willig Fantasy Movie Adaptation: Gavin Thorne

First Impression: Richard is a blessed actor in that this is the second time I have featured him. Interestingly enough I think that most of my opinions of his awesomeness have shifted over time. Though the first impression in North and South shall never waver. NEVER!

Why they'd be the perfect actor for the Lauren Willig Dream Movie Adaptation: There is no way that the character of Gavin Thorne isn't based on Richard Armitage as John Thornton. The last names are even similar. Thone... Thornton... The description of him. The fact that he hails from the north of England so you can perfectly hear that richly accented voice in your ear. Everything leads me to believe that this is Gavin. Plus, look at Richard in The Impressionists playing a young Monet... he's so cute as a painter, coupled with his sexiness in North and South, there'd be no stopping him!

Lasting Impression: This is where I revise my opinion. It's North and South, hands down, forget Vicar of Dibley, forget everything else. This scene at the train station, this is what romance is!

What else you've seen them in: Well, despite being in the horrid Star Wars prequel, he's gone on to achieve lasting fame. Aside from that whole John Thornton obsession that's griped all I know, he's gone on to many mysteries, from Lynley to George Gently, Marple to Malice Aforethought. But his two most memorable roles prior to The Hobbit are probably Guy of Gisborne in the now defunct series Robin Hood and Lucas North on Spooks (MI-5 stateside).

Can't believe it's them: The Hobbit. And not because he's not perfect, but cause he makes dwarves kind of sexy... yep, I said it, sexy dwarves. Though Aidan Turner should have already alerted you to this trend. But that scene where he sings about his misty mountain home, heck yeah.

Wish they hadn't: Robin Hood. Because the more I think about this series the more pissed off I am that it was so crap. There's a thin camp/crap line and every time (except the notable Toby Stephens exception) was crap.

Bio: Sexy, tall, baritone voice, has his own army... need I say more?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Armitage Army, Lauren Willig, North and South, Richard Armitage, Robin Hood, That Summer, That Summer Spotlight, The Hobbit, The Impressionists, Toby Stephens, Vicar of Dibley

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Published by: Everyman's Library
Publication Date: 1848
Format: Hardcover, 390 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

"In my research phase, I like to get my hands on anything my characters might have read, both to pick up on the slang and physical details of the day, but also so I know what my characters’ cultural landscape is like. Mary Barton created a huge stir when it came out in 1848, detailing, as it did, the life of the poor in Manchester. My historical heroine scandalizes her staid sister-in-law by reading Mary Barton.

It also provided me with inspiration for the background of my hero, Gavin Thorne, who grew up poor on the streets of Manchester and begged and stole his way to the Royal Academy.

Even after all this time, Mary Barton is still a multi-hanky read. (Or a box of tissues, if we’re being modern about it.)

Of course, you could always just skip straight to North and South…." - Lauren Willig

Mary Barton's life isn't easy. Even before she lost her mother and her unborn sibling, she had lost a brother and her aunt had run off. Mary's life is just her and her father and a few close friends like the Wilsons. The Wilsons have had their fair share of loses as well, if not more then the Bartons. Young Mary works hard at a seamstresses, supplementing her father's income from the mills, and when he's laid off, being the only source of income, and a meagre one at that. Most days the only thought is whether to spend money on food that will barely stave off the hunger, or spend it on opium to take away the pain. But the father and daughter still have reasons to live. John Barton is heavily active in the local unions trying to get fair wages for his fellow workers, while Mary is for a time happily the center of a love triangle, where one of her suitors is the son of a mill owner. But as the times get harder and John is out of work longer and longer, the thought of rivals in love does little to comfort Mary when she realizes she has been playing a fool with other's hearts. Her own heart might just break when a shocking murder happens in Manchester and she might just be the cause of it.

For 19th century women writers you can't do better then Jane Austen and the Brontes. There's a reason why all their books are still classics to this day. Yet sometimes Austen is too perfect with her happily ever afters, which Charlotte Bronte dissed as lacking passion, the feel of blood being pumped through a beating heart. Whereas the Brontes, Emily in particular, could be a bit bleak. That's where Elizabeth Gaskell enters in. When I first read Wives and Daughters I thought to myself how it was such a happy blend of the two extremes of these other popular authors. With Elizabeth Gaskell, the romance of Austen is tempered with the bleakness of the Brontes. What results is a happy, yet realistic, middle. The harshness and horrors of the world aren't covered up or hidden behind lacy curtains while the heroine sits and daintily sips tea in a parlor. Life isn't extremes, it's not all roses and it's not all bleak moors. Elizabeth Gaskell's work feels more relatable, more real by her having the good mixed equally with the bad.

But I was sorely tried when starting Mary Barton to find the balance Gaskell is known for. For much of the book you aren't just inundated with the depressive lives and the horrors of Manchester, you are drowning in it. If, at any time in your life, you're feeling a little too happy and content, pick up Mary Barton and I guarantee that you will be in a nice depressive state in minutes flat. The sorrow of the book is so overwhelming that at times I wondered if I could go on, with the book that is. There's stillbirths, typhus, drug addiction, prostitution, destitution, stalking, murder, starvation, delirium, blindness, strokes, and this is just off the top of my head! Death, death and more death, spiraling ever downward.

But what shocked me is, when you think about it, these struggles are still ongoing. People are still starving, still dying. There are constant arguments about raising the minimum wage, of what to do with the homeless. So many of us live in a bubble that we just don't see. We don't dwell on the starving children because they are easy to forget in our daily lives filled with immaterial concerns. I can't imagine the sensation this book caused in it's day by not sugar coating life. Did this book provide a wake up call for Victorians? Because if it did we sorely need a reminder in this day and age. We need a modern Gaskell or Dickens to come along and shake the tree. You can see why they were friends because they believed in showing the real underbelly of the world that most don't see everyday, if ever. If you do get severely depressed at least it's eyeopening.

But the genius of Gaskell is, despite the fact that she's taking you on a personally guided tour of hell, she weaves in characters and stories of such eloquence and romance that you must keep reading, if just to see if there's a happily ever after. The point in which Mary Barton really connected for me was when the murder was committed. This is referred to in the introduction as the "crisis point" in the book. Before this the book didn't have much plot. We were just wallowing in the filth, sadness, and despair of Manchester life. Yes there's a little love triangle and comings and goings, worries about where the money for dinner was coming from, but nothing that really declared itself to be the spine of the book. The all of a sudden, out of nowhere, murder!

Now I love me a murder mystery, I can't deny that, but here it galvanized the loosely assembled coterie of characters into a driving force that made the last half of the book fly by where previously I had been laboring through it. I was there with Mary as she worried about the accused, as she made herself physically ill hunting down an alibi, as she took to the witness stand resulting in her losing her grip over her mind. I mean, yes, I was somewhat involved in Mary's life previously, but, wow, Gaskell just stepped it up a notch and took a book that I thought would be nothing but me crying and made it something more. She made it a classic worthy of those other authors of her time...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Bronte, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Emily Bronte, Jane Austen, Lauren Willig, Manchester, Mary Barton, Murder, North and South, That Summer, This Summer, Wives and Daughters

Bleak House
Based on the book by Charles Dickens
Release Date: October 27th, 2005 – December 16th, 2005
Starring: Anna Maxwell Martin, Denis Lawson, Carey Mulligan, Patrick Kennedy, Nataniel Parker, Gillian Anderson, Timothy West, John Lynch, Charles Dance, Burn Gorman, Phil Davis, Loo Brealey, Catherine Tate, Alun Armstrong, Pauline Collins, Johnny Vegas, Hugo Speer, Anne Reid and Ian Richardson
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

The case of Jardyce verses Jardyce has spent many years in chancery and destroyed many lives. There are too many wills and no definitive final version. Ada Clare and Richard Carstone have just found out they are at the heart of this case. Having spent years in schools and sheltered, they never knew of their stake in this historic case. But now one of the other possible benefactors, John Jardyce, has taken in these two wards of Jardyce, and hired a companion for Ada, the sweet Esther Summerson. While the case continues to play out in the courts of chancery, Esther and Ada try to come to terms with this new life they have been given, while poor Richard can't detach himself from the fortune he might have if the case where to be settled in his and Ada's favor. Though there are many people who could be effected from the outcome of the case. Lady Deadlock has some stake, though how much is not made clear. Yet it is Lady Deadlock's secret, and the ruthlessness of her husband's lawyer, Mr. Tulkinghorn, that in the end could have a far greater effect on Esther than any court verdict. From a scribe called Nemo to a street boy named Joe, a "childlike" man with more guile that you could imagine, to an odd hoarder who spontaneously combusts, it is the little people, the odd characters that are touched by this case that make the beautiful tapestry that is Bleak House.

The first time I watched Bleak House was when it aired on PBS and I did not enjoy the experience. Yes, I know this is blasphemy and my fellow Anglophiles have derided me for this, just so you know you aren't along in the shock they felt. I just felt it was too drawn out, having to wait weeks for each installment, when what I really wanted to do was marathon it. Also the fact that many things that where scandalous and taboo in Victorian times are rather the norm today. There was also the fact that I didn't really care for the actress who plated Esther. At this time I had only seen Anna Maxwell Martin in North and South. She was good in that and then she died. I just felt she didn't have the strength to carry this show on her shoulders and I kept hoping for her death. I mean, I can't stand her and she's picking up all these people in thrall to her, why exactly? More on that later. But the main problem besides my hatred of Anna (which I have somewhat resolved, either she has become a better actress over time or I've just gotten used to her) was the drastic jump at the end. There is a mood and a feeling throughout the miniseries that jumped in the last scene. Everything is dark and sensibly bleak and then all of a sudden it's happy and jovial and every one's dancing and the music is upbeat and not fitting the tone. Icky jumping the sharkness. Even the music in the end credits is all happy happy joy joy and I think, more than anything, that left me scratching my head and dissatisfied. Now, when I watch, which I have done several times since, I am prepared for this jump and therefore, though I don't like it, I know it's coming and can brace for the impact.

There are other things that just irk me, most are directed more at Dickens than at the production. I'm sorry but John Jardyce is so awesome he deserved a happier ending, stupid Esther and your stupid Doctor. I still hate Richard, weak willed annoying cry baby... which has become a hatred of this actor because of his role in this. Recently he showed up on Boardwalk Empire and I was all, icky, no, can we kill him here too? Guppy to me is fascinating and perfectly played by Burn Gorman. Yet, I want to understand Guppy's motives more. He's totally entertaining, but does he love Esther for her or for her expectations? Because he's obviously one of the smartest characters in the story being able to easily unravel the central mystery of Esther's parentage... but is it this secret that makes him "love" Esther... and yes, I know I need to read the book and maybe this will answer my questions, but still, more closure or explanation was needed with this. And really, what was the draw of Esther. She picks up all these people who have an unwavering devotion to her, but why? What has Esther ever done than be just a boring dull person who never hurt or harmed anyone and shows just a little kindness and young girls and boys are willing to risk their lives for her? Really? If that's true, then a stronger actress was truly needed, see rant above. Also, Esther's stupid Doctor, I've never liked him and just couldn't put my finger on why he was bothering me even more on this re watching and I realized he was on Lark Rise to Candleford as the supposed match for Dorcas in the end, which I totally don't buy. Dorcas deserved so much better.

Yet, the things I love have started to overcome those that bother me. See, repeat viewings are good. Also, I think that Trollope was correct in his attack of this book in that it's the secondary characters that you love while the primary characters are weak and unlikable. I mean, who hasn't watched this miniseries and had a strange urge to yell at people "Shake me up Judy"? Also, I would never have been one to think that Johnny Vegas was suited towards period drama, yet it seems as if the self immolating Krook was written just for him. Then there's just little cameos like Richard Cant as the slightly drunk butler Mercury, that entertain me to no end, oh, and I want to be the mooching cop Bucket when I grow up. I guess I'm just saying, in a round about manner, that yes, I'm sorry I was quick to judge this series originally, but I can still see why I hated it, but have now come to find things that I greatly appreciate that make me overlook the flows, *cough* Esther *cough*.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Anna Maxwell Martin, Bleak House, Boardwalk Empire, Chancery, Charles Dickens, Esther Summerson, Johnny Vegas, Lady Deadlock, Lark Rise to Candleford, North and South, PBS, Richard Cant, Shake Me Up Judy

Our Mutual Friend
Based on the book by Charles Dickens
Release Date: 1998
Starring: Paul McGann, Keeley Hawes, Dominic Mafham, Steven Mackintosh, Anna Friel, Peter Vaughan, Pam Ferris, Timothy Spall, David Bradley, Anthony Calf and David Morrissey
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Lizzie Hexam works with her father searching the river for corpses to see if those who have gone into the next world have left anything for those in this world. Lizzie doesn't want a better life for herself, but she wants one for her brother, Charley. One night they pull in the corpse of a John Harmon. John Harmon was returning to England to lay claim to his father's great fortune. His death has several repercussions, which society takes great delight in hearing through the estate's lawyer, Mortimer Lightwood. One interesting provision in the will is that John Harmon was only to inherit if he married a young girl of his father's choosing, Bella Wilfer. Bella is now stuck with her family, while Harmon the elders right hand man, Mr. Boffin, who ran his business operations in dust, is brought out of the muck with his missus and made a very wealthy man. They not only take in Bella to make amends, but also hire the mysterious John Rokesmith.

While the Harmon affair is moving along, things have been happening down at the river. Lizzie's father has turned up dead, and she has sent her brother Charley away to school. Yet ever since that night when her father brought in the body of John Harmon, Mortimer Lightwood's friend, Eugene Wrayburn has become obsessed with Lizzie. Soon he isn't the only one, as Charley's teacher, Mr. Headstone, because violently obsessed with Lizzie and threatens Eugene. This leads Lizzie to flee London, but the two men will not give up that easily.

With all the lives and loves intertwining, money and inheritances in question, people having multiple identities and people hoping to frame others, Dickens has created a story that's denouement will hopefully answer some of the muddle he has made.

The main theme in Our Mutual Friend is obsession. Personally, I know a bit about obsession, not anything like the depths sunk to by the characters in this miniseries, but, obsession on a lesser scale I get. I originally watched this back in the day during my Keeley Hawes obsession. See, I find an actor I like and I tend to then mass ingest their oeuvre, I should mention I'm not as bad as I was, but I still have my leanings in this direction. A famous past obsession was Ioan Gruffudd, which led to watching the horrid Very Annie Mary and Shooters, which kind of quickly made me stop watching his films, though the love is still there (Hornblower!), in that I actually gave Ringers a shot, not for Sarah Michelle Geller, but for him, yeah, that was a wasted attempt too. When I saw Keeley in Wives and Daughters, I was really impressed and decided to do a Keeley binge. Which is one reason I ended up watching Tipping the Velvet, which, I might say, though period drama it is, PG-13 it isn't, oh my. I also ended up being a fan of MI-5, which led to my Matthew MacFadyen obsession, and then oddly they got married in real life... but the one miniseries I really wanted to watch was Our Mutual Friend. I was kind of also doing a Dickens marathon of sorts at the time and this would be perfect, plus, the 8th Doctor was in it. Of course, at the time it wasn't available in the US, so I ordered it from overseas and was mildly impressed, but not in love.

I felt the same way rewatching this miniseries as I did originally, like, not love, also, the US edition made in pan scan, so lots of the framing is awful. I attempted to read the book after watching it the first time and failed miserably. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried reading Dickens's densest and most complicated and final novel as my first Dickens, but I swear, after re-reading a chapter ten times and not known if Dickens was referring to a person or a piece of furniture, I placed him aside and picked up Trollope. I have yet to pick Dickens up again, which is one of the reasons I'm doing my Dickensian Denouement, to force myself. But back to the miniseries. I applaud Sandy Welch, of North and South and Jane Eyre fame, for taking, what I felt a convoluted text, and making it easy to understand and follow. What I had trouble with was the acting. It wasn't cast with actors of equal abilty, or maybe it was the direction, but some of the roles are so flat and lifeless, mainly Steven Mackintosh as John Rokesmith. He smiles maybe once and the only time he shows real emotion it is so violent, if I where Bella I'd be rethinking my choice in husband.

But it's the obsessions with money and women that form the narrative that I find more than a little off putting. Yes, there is true love, but the love is born of deceit and stalking, I'm talking of Eugene's minimal stalking compared to Headstone's terrifying, blood spilling, willing to kill stalking. I believe this was the first film I had ever seen David Morrissey in and I have to say, if that kind of destructive passion was aimed at me, I too would run away, or be looking for a hit man, but watching it, his deterioration is kind of funny. Not funny haha, obviously, but, all that punching and hiding in bushes while looking like death with a feverish look in his eye, it came across kind of laughable. Maybe, it's just that you have to laugh or be scared. Yet, Morrissey as Headstone was at least passionate. The other to male leads where so laid back and ineffectual, that you could not understand why anyone would fall in love with them. Well, Keeley, not to rag too much on her, was kind of boring, so, that made sense. But Anna Friel as Bella! She had warmth and intelligence and a mind and she is tricked into her hearts desire. Because she was manipulated into her happy ending. Ok, yes, she at least got a happy ending, but still, at what cost?

And if you weren't scheming for a woman, you where scheming for money. Wegg, Mr and Mrs Lammle, Riderhood, they where all wanting more. They all believed they deserved more. Personally I feel I should have gotten more out of this miniseries. Instead I'm dissatisfied. The good won, the bad lost, but I couldn't really care about any of the characters enough to give a toss. Sure there was some great acting, but it was so uneven that I longed for something better, something more, something a cut above the rest. Maybe that's the answer as to why Dickens keeps getting adaption after adaption, no one is ever satisfied by the whole production and they must begin again.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anna Friel, Charles Dickens, David Morrissey, Ioan, Jane Eyre, Keeley Hawes, Matthew MacFadyen, North and South, Obsession, Our Mutual Friend, The 8th Doctor

Elizabeth Gaskell is probably most known among Anglophiles for the BBC's stunning adaptations of her books Wives and Daughters, Cranford and North and South, the later being responsible for the cult of Richard Armitage. She could also be considered the half way point between Jane Austen and the Brontes, being bleak, like the Brontes, but willing to embrace romanticism and love in a way the Brontes never did, seeing as they looked down their noses at the likes of Austen.

Elizabeth Gaskell published Mary Barton anonymously in 1848, though within a year her authorship was widely known. Mary Barton was an immediate success, like her previous venture of a book of poetry with her husband William, a Unitarian minister, Sketches Among the Poor, she dealt with the harsh realities of the Victorian poor. Always an advocate for those without a voice and believing in good works, in early 1850, she wrote to Charles Dickens asking his advice on a young woman she met in prison. While the fate of the young woman is unknown, at least to me, Dickens had praised her work on Mary Barton and invited her to contribute to his magazine, Households Words. Cranford began it's serialization in Households Words the following year, with North and South to follow in 1854.

With the exposure from Dickens's magazine and his help, Elizabeth Gaskell became a popular writer, her Gothic ghost stories being favorites among her readership. While Dickens did help establish Gaskell, whom he referred to as dear Scheherazade, there was a power dynamic between them that lead to constant struggle between the two. From the onset Dickens tried to exert control over Gaskell, making editorial changes to Cranford despite the lack of her approval. He even would deny having gotten letters from her, even though he had, till after the story had gone to press so that his changes would remain. While his main change was to omit the jokes about his own story, The Pickwick Papers, claiming that it seemed like self-aggrandisement, being published in his own magazine, it comes across that perhaps he couldn't take a joke. The reason the reference is funny in Cranford is because everyone knows Dickens and therefore gave the joke a universality!

During the publication of North and South, a title foisted on Gaskell by Dickens, he was also writing of similar material with Hard Times and criticized her story, which he was publishing it must be said, as "wearisome to the last degree." Gaskell herself had a hard time working within the serialized construct of Household Words as well as the technical constraints and time pressure. When her books where eventually published after their serialization, she would often go back in and fix things Dickens had changed and expand on ideas he had made her omit. Their difficult working relationship can be summed up with what Dickens said to his sub editor about Gaskell's work on the magazine as a contributor: "Oh! Mrs Gaskell-fearful-fearful! If I were Mr G. Oh heavens how I would beat her!"

Needless to say, that she eventually moved on from Dickens and her final piece, Wives and Daughters, was serialized through Thackery's magazine, The Cornhill Magazine. This could be considered a slap in the face to Dickens who was occasionally on rancorous terms with Thackeray. Sadly, Gaskell died in 1865 before Wives and Daughters was complete, which was a true lose to literature. For awhile it seemed as though she would disappear into obscurity, but luckily she now ranks as one of the most highly-regarded British Victorian novelists. I'm sure that her connection to Dickens helped, despite their ups and downs. Also, the miniseries didn't hurt any either, mmm, Richard Armitage.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 4 comments  

Labels: Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell, Hard Times, Household Words, Jane Austen, Mary Barton, North and South, Richard Armitage, Thackery, Wives and Daughters

If you're a reader of my blog you're pretty sure in the knowledge of my love of books. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm obsessed with them! You know it, I know it, everyone is assured of this fever that grips me, especially workers at local bookstores. This blog is one of the many ways I express my love of the written word. But there are other ways! Oh yes, dear readers. Now, I'm not talking interpretive dance, which I would be awful at, but art, which I am good at. Some of you who've gotten to know me better through this lovely thing called the internet know that this blog is just my little side project, my little bit of fun, while what I really do is Graphic Design. After slogging through the University of Wisconsin-Madison and getting out with a BS in Art and a BA in Theatre, I realized that I didn't actually have any marketable skills, what with not knowing how to work a computer. Hence I went back to school at our wonderful technical college and now I have some wicked skills and some outlets for my bookishness. I don't always make my projects about books, it sometimes just happens, just like you just happen to breath. Books are in my blood and I need to express this, and what better way then through art.

As it turns out, my weird book obsession has paid off. Every year the design community gets together and has a big awards show, it's called the Addys, and it's the closest thing we've got to the Oscars, but sadly no Colin Firth. You submit your work and are judged. You are awarded either a Silver or a Gold medal, there is no 3rd best. There are three tiers to the competition, local, regional and national. The local is today! And I've WON! I've won five times and I am over the moon. The pieces are here before you, and yes, they all have a book theme, as I'm sure you've guessed. The piece above is about the wonders of reading and is a Public Service Announcement that would be targeted to entertainment magazines that would encourage parents to read to their kids versus letting the television do it for them. This would be the first in a series of books that were also made into famous movies... I think after The Wizard of Oz, it might be time to show a little love for Alice in Wonderland.

This piece here is a glamour spread for an annual report. Annual reports are sent out by a company to their investors to show how they've done in the previous fiscal year. There's charts and graphs and what have you. I chose to do mine on Penguin Publishing, surprise, surprise. I also got the comment from my teacher that he would never let me near any of his copies of Charles Dickens because of what I did to mine, aka, the little penguin on the page. But let me ease your fears, I did not deface a book that could have been read. I went to my local bookstore and searched through old penguin books, because it just HAD to be a penguin book. I found an old copy of David Copperfield that was barely held together any longer, the pages were falling out. But falling out pages was just what I needed! So rest assured, I took a book and gave it new life, I did not murder it!

What I am most proud of, though, is my series of Elizabeth Gaskell DVDs. My teacher is a huge movie fan, and a fan of the movies The Criterion Collection releases. For our final project, we had to choose three related movies and make DVD covers for all three, be it director based or theme based. The thing with The Criterion Collection is that they mainly do off beat or foreign films, in other words, something that is not the typical release. I chose the three awesome miniseries that the BBC has done of Elizabeth Gaskell's books, Wives and Daughters, North and South and Cranford, and not just because getting to rewatch them counted as homework, though that was quite nice, but because I hated these DVDs original packaging too. I wanted to harken back to the old style of Masterpiece Theatre posters that had the elegance of the time period as well as many little things that only those who've read the books or watched the miniseries would pick up on. Utilizing Illustrator, I did all the drawings myself in my trusty computer. For this cover, I have Cynthia, as played by the wonderful Keeley Hawes, the queen bee of the narrative... I mean at one time she's juggling four different suitors! The quote on the back says: "No come on, you can’t go trying to match her eyes like a draper." The remainder of the quote is that Cynthia is Roger's lodestone, hence, I have named this illustration, The Lodestone.
 
For my second piece I have Margaret Hale as played by Daniela Denby-Ashe. As you can see, she has just suffered an injury at the hands of the strikers and holds a newspaper, which details, not only the strike, but the threat of Irish workers and the love of the home she left behind. The background is of cotton, because when she first enters Thronton's Marlborough Mills she says: "I believe I have seen hell and it’s white. It’s snow-white." Not only did this piece win an award as part of the DVD set, the illustration of Margaret also won a separate award. And not to slight Cynthia, this is my favorite of the three.

For my final piece I have Cranford depicted as Miss Deborah Jenkyns as played by the wondrous Eileen Atkins. I don't think I captured her as well in the face as the others because you don't immediately think that it's her. Though I do love how it turned out, in particular the lace (which kept crashing my computer), because "this is no occasion for a sport!There’s lace at stake!" This also won an award as a separate illustration.
 
So there you go! A little look into how my mind works. I should say how my bookworm infested mind works. But all in all, it should be a fun night out! My friends also won awards and I have a nifty new dress, think Edwardian Downton meets just the slightest hint of flapper. Because a period-esque dress was a must.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Addys, Cranford, Criterion Collection, Daniela Denby-Ashe, Eileen Atkins, Elizabeth Gaskell, John Thornton, Keeley Hawes, Margaret Hale, North and South, Penguin, Wives and Daughters, Wizard of Oz

Here we go... the man that had Highbury all under his spell!

Name: Rupert Evans

First Impression: North & South as that mutinous Frederick Hale.

Lasting Impression: He hasn't really made one on me yet... he's kind of skating in on the, "significant other" ticket. He's the companion piece to Jane Fairfax... you can't have Jane and not have Frank!

What else you've seen them in: Just your basic British fare... My Family, Shakespeare Re-Told... oh, but he DOES have an Andrew Davies' miniseries under his belt with Fingersmith.

Can't believe it's them: That was him in Hellboy? The one not in makeup that wasn't Selma Blair. Huh. Small world.

Wish they hadn't: Lexx. Could you get tackier than Lexx... nope, the vote is in, you can not. For someone like Craig Charles, it's ok, it's not Red Dwarf but the same sort of genre. For an actor wanting to be taken seriously? Hell no!

Bio: Kind of forgettable... Frank Churchill should be everything Ewan was with Gwenneth and then some!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Andrew Davies, Craig Charles, Emma Spotlight, Fingersmith, Frank Churchill, Hellboy, Highbury, Jane Fairfax, Lexx, My Family, North and South, Rupert Evans, Selma Blair, Shakepeare Re-Told

Name: Richard Armitage

First Impression: North and South. Richard's John Thornton is sexier the Mr. Darcy BY FAR! I'm sorry Colin Firth, but your hold over my heart has waned... how can your wet shirt compete with the scene at the train station? See, you can't...

Lasting Impression: Vicar of Dibley. If you're going to marry my Vicar, you better leave a lasting impression! A wonderfully bookish bloke, plus he'd marry Geraldine even if she was just in her pajamas! (Which, incidentally, she was).

What else you've seen them in: Well, despite being in the horrid Star Wars prequel, he's gone on to achieve lasting fame. Aside from that whole John Thornton obsession that's griped all I know, he's gone on to many mysteries, from Lynley to George Gently, Marple to Malice Aforethought. But his two most memorable roles are probably Guy of Gisborne in the now defunct Robin Hood and Lucas North on Spooks (MI-5 stateside).

Can't believe it's them: Star Wars! Sure it's a Naboo fighter pilot, but still, Star Wars!

Wish they hadn't: Again, Star Wars... he was in a movie with Jar Jar! Enough said, because the less said, the better.

Bio: Well, all you really need to know is that he's developed such a strong fan base the are literally an army! The Armitage Army is one of the most prolific and powerful of fan sites in the world. Go check it out!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 9:40 PM 7 comments  

Labels: Armitage Army, George Gently, Geraldine, John Thornton, Lynley, Marple, Mr. Darcy, North and South, Richard Armitage, Robin Hood, Spooks, Spotlight, Star Wars, Vicar of Dibley