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ci5hqTitle: The Mistletoe Fairy
Author: JoJo
Link: The Mistletoe Fairy
Archive: Automated Hatstand
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
(Apologies in advance - this rec/review is a bit all over the place!)
YES! IT IS HISTORICAL AU TIME! J I adore AUs – most especially historical AUs. I wonder if that’s partly because I knew Gordon Jackson from Upstairs Downstairs before I got sucked into Pros, so I have double vision when I look at him – half of me is all, “George Cowley! Tough dude in charge of a tough secret police! Can I get a morally questionable YAY here?” while part of me is going, “Waitaminute! Who thought it would be a good idea to leave HUDSON in charge of a secret police force?!?!”
Mostly though, I just wonder how Bodie and Doyle would fit into the Upstairs Downstairs type of world.
Even though it’s not quite the right period, Victorian rather than Edwardian, JoJo’s ‘The Mistletoe Fairy’ provides the gloriously slashy answers to all of my questions :)
The summary for this story is, “It’s Christmas Eve and the master of the manor creeps off for a secret assignation in the schoolroom” – and that’s pretty much what you get. We open in that schoolroom, where Raymond Doyle, affianced to the very proper and respectable Miss Ann Holly, is engaging in some very improper deeds with the not-exactly-respectable tutor Mr Bodie (hired to educate Raymond’s brothers). And we don’t progress much further than this – either in time, or location (though Ray does make it as far as the drawing room!). But that doesn’t make this tale one bit less than satisfying, as I’m sure other readers will agree :)
In less than one hour he would be alighting from the carriage outside St. Stephen’s for Midnight Mass. He would lead the family and servants through the wicket gate, up the snowy path and under the arch - and the eyes of the village would turn to him in deference and pride.
And yet here he was, shamefully absent from the assembled company, neglecting his duties as host and incumbent master of the manor. Worse than that, though, he was missing from the side of his soon-to-be-betrothed. Heaven preserve him, instead of toasting her infinite beauty and offering tokens of love, he was pressed against the schoolroom door being stroked to hardness by a man not even his social equal.
What I love about this story is how well it captures a moment – before reading this, if you’d told me an author I liked had written a 2,000 word historical Pros AU, I would have felt…a little cheated. Like being served an appetizer as a main course. I always think of historical AUs as being these long, meaty affairs – how can the lads be comfortably set up in this new-old time, plot established, conflict satisfactorily resolved – all within 2000 words? I would have mentally written off the story as likely to be a washout.
Well...okay, in my most glass-half-full moments, I might have grudgingly admitted the possibility of a fun PWP!
This story is most definitely not a washout :) JoJo drops the reader right into a pivotal moment in Raymond Doyle’s life, and sucks you in completely. I think it works so well because JoJo gives the perfect amount of detail. It feels we, as readers, have this small window into the life of Raymond Doyle – a full life that existed before we started viewing, and one that will continue after that drawing room door is closed.
What is happening now, a completely frustrated Ray defying the mores of society and engaging in a dangerous liaison with a lower class, and male! member of the household is really well set up. You can see exactly what led to this moment in the schoolroom – Ray’s frustration with the limitations of his own station in life, Bodie’s unconventionality, and the attraction that had to have sprung up between them in consequence is shown in a couple of sentences –
The voice had a sardonic edge, an uncultured, regional lilt. Fortunately its owner was not engaged to instruct the younger ones in diction or public speaking, just a bizarre curriculum of his own that seemed to tend towards military history, poetry and, apparently, bare-knuckle boxing. Raymond could not now remember where they had found him. He was just thankful that they had, else he suspected he might have lost his mind playing the gentleman farmer out here in the Derbyshire heartlands.
You’re not bogged down with ‘Previously, on Days of Our Victorian Lives’, but there’s enough detail there that allows the reader to build up quite an extensive backstory (you can imagine Ray gradually being drawn to the schoolroom during his brothers’ lessons, you can imagine Bodie’s pick-and-mix curriculum and his delight at off-balancing the master of the manor…you have the impression of all these little encounters that progressed the relationship to this). JoJo makes it very easy to be invested in Raymond Doyle and Mr Bodie.
And the reader is right there in the moment with Ray – caught between worry and lust –
He clamped his teeth together. Ann was certainly here. Even now she was perhaps glancing across the drawing-room to his empty seat at the card-table. He could practically feel her anxiety. It was as tight in his chest as the ache of desire in his belly.
It’s a tug of war within Ray that can’t continue – and during the course of the story, we find out what he intends to do about this situation – and it’s a decision that will impact the rest of his life…
So, there you are – characters firmly engrained in their new-old situation, plot established, and conflict brought to a resolution – all within 2000 words.
Shows what I know! :) (Though I definitely wouldn’t object to a few hundred thousand words of Before and After this scene!)
What did everyone else think?
Author: JoJo
Link: The Mistletoe Fairy
Archive: Automated Hatstand
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
(Apologies in advance - this rec/review is a bit all over the place!)
YES! IT IS HISTORICAL AU TIME! J I adore AUs – most especially historical AUs. I wonder if that’s partly because I knew Gordon Jackson from Upstairs Downstairs before I got sucked into Pros, so I have double vision when I look at him – half of me is all, “George Cowley! Tough dude in charge of a tough secret police! Can I get a morally questionable YAY here?” while part of me is going, “Waitaminute! Who thought it would be a good idea to leave HUDSON in charge of a secret police force?!?!”
Mostly though, I just wonder how Bodie and Doyle would fit into the Upstairs Downstairs type of world.
Even though it’s not quite the right period, Victorian rather than Edwardian, JoJo’s ‘The Mistletoe Fairy’ provides the gloriously slashy answers to all of my questions :)
The summary for this story is, “It’s Christmas Eve and the master of the manor creeps off for a secret assignation in the schoolroom” – and that’s pretty much what you get. We open in that schoolroom, where Raymond Doyle, affianced to the very proper and respectable Miss Ann Holly, is engaging in some very improper deeds with the not-exactly-respectable tutor Mr Bodie (hired to educate Raymond’s brothers). And we don’t progress much further than this – either in time, or location (though Ray does make it as far as the drawing room!). But that doesn’t make this tale one bit less than satisfying, as I’m sure other readers will agree :)
In less than one hour he would be alighting from the carriage outside St. Stephen’s for Midnight Mass. He would lead the family and servants through the wicket gate, up the snowy path and under the arch - and the eyes of the village would turn to him in deference and pride.
And yet here he was, shamefully absent from the assembled company, neglecting his duties as host and incumbent master of the manor. Worse than that, though, he was missing from the side of his soon-to-be-betrothed. Heaven preserve him, instead of toasting her infinite beauty and offering tokens of love, he was pressed against the schoolroom door being stroked to hardness by a man not even his social equal.
What I love about this story is how well it captures a moment – before reading this, if you’d told me an author I liked had written a 2,000 word historical Pros AU, I would have felt…a little cheated. Like being served an appetizer as a main course. I always think of historical AUs as being these long, meaty affairs – how can the lads be comfortably set up in this new-old time, plot established, conflict satisfactorily resolved – all within 2000 words? I would have mentally written off the story as likely to be a washout.
Well...okay, in my most glass-half-full moments, I might have grudgingly admitted the possibility of a fun PWP!
This story is most definitely not a washout :) JoJo drops the reader right into a pivotal moment in Raymond Doyle’s life, and sucks you in completely. I think it works so well because JoJo gives the perfect amount of detail. It feels we, as readers, have this small window into the life of Raymond Doyle – a full life that existed before we started viewing, and one that will continue after that drawing room door is closed.
What is happening now, a completely frustrated Ray defying the mores of society and engaging in a dangerous liaison with a lower class, and male! member of the household is really well set up. You can see exactly what led to this moment in the schoolroom – Ray’s frustration with the limitations of his own station in life, Bodie’s unconventionality, and the attraction that had to have sprung up between them in consequence is shown in a couple of sentences –
The voice had a sardonic edge, an uncultured, regional lilt. Fortunately its owner was not engaged to instruct the younger ones in diction or public speaking, just a bizarre curriculum of his own that seemed to tend towards military history, poetry and, apparently, bare-knuckle boxing. Raymond could not now remember where they had found him. He was just thankful that they had, else he suspected he might have lost his mind playing the gentleman farmer out here in the Derbyshire heartlands.
You’re not bogged down with ‘Previously, on Days of Our Victorian Lives’, but there’s enough detail there that allows the reader to build up quite an extensive backstory (you can imagine Ray gradually being drawn to the schoolroom during his brothers’ lessons, you can imagine Bodie’s pick-and-mix curriculum and his delight at off-balancing the master of the manor…you have the impression of all these little encounters that progressed the relationship to this). JoJo makes it very easy to be invested in Raymond Doyle and Mr Bodie.
And the reader is right there in the moment with Ray – caught between worry and lust –
He clamped his teeth together. Ann was certainly here. Even now she was perhaps glancing across the drawing-room to his empty seat at the card-table. He could practically feel her anxiety. It was as tight in his chest as the ache of desire in his belly.
It’s a tug of war within Ray that can’t continue – and during the course of the story, we find out what he intends to do about this situation – and it’s a decision that will impact the rest of his life…
So, there you are – characters firmly engrained in their new-old situation, plot established, and conflict brought to a resolution – all within 2000 words.
Shows what I know! :) (Though I definitely wouldn’t object to a few hundred thousand words of Before and After this scene!)
What did everyone else think?
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-15 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 07:39 pm (UTC)a full life that existed before we started viewing, and one that will continue after that drawing room door is closed.
This is exactly what I want from fic - from any of them - and it's perfectly shown here! I don't want a closed and cut-off story that can't really be real because it's only over there in that box, between those pages, I want to know that it goes on and on, just like this story - though as you say, I wouldn't object to being given some before and/or after either! *g* It's the same with the detail too - in real life we don't stop and describe our world to ourselves, we notice the little details in a glance, and they build up the world for us, and that's just what Jojo does...
Great rec - thank you! *g*
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 09:53 pm (UTC)'Lush' is the perfect world for this fic! :)
in some ways it should be far too short for an AU, but in the hands of a good writer it totally works... *g*
That was exactly what I thought before I read it - it's amazing how JoJo manages to make such a short story feel so complete. There's a whole world crammed into that schoolroom with Bodie and Doyle :)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-15 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 09:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 07:14 pm (UTC)I think notions of the forbidden are very much a part of the attraction of this story, not just between Ray and Bodie but also for the reader and we’ve got generous amounts of it here with, as you point out, the cross-class sexual attraction, the same gender attraction and the fact that Bodie’s an unconventional character anyway.
It feels we, as readers, have this small window into the life of Raymond Doyle – a full life that existed before we started viewing, and one that will continue after that drawing room door is closed.
Yes! That’s one of the great things about reading, you just know your characters won't do anything without you but will be there waiting and poised for your return - it’s a wonderful feeling.
Thanks for this review.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 09:37 pm (UTC)Absolutely - and what a great way of putting it! I think that's really why I like Pros so much - there's such a risk for Bodie and Doyle in taking their relationship further...so it's really thrilling when you get to read fic where they push ahead regardless. And that's definitely why I like this fic so much - the stakes are so high, and really, Ray shouldn't be in that schoolroom - but he can't help himself, and he's there anyway...I love that.
Thanks for commenting! :)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-16 10:25 pm (UTC)I would like soooo much to know how they got together in the first place!
And I love the way Ann is portraied as some kind of calculating whatever with so few words.
Wouldn´t the younger brothers find out FAST?
It´s just a fabulous idea!
Thanks so much for reccing, I very much like the way you did it!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-17 10:39 am (UTC)I know! I always feel like I've skipped ahead to a favourite moment when I'm reading this - which is nice...but it does make me a bit sad that I can't go back and 'see the beginning' (and of course, the ending, because I want to read about how Ray's choice plays out, too!)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 05:46 am (UTC)But I love AU anyway!
Victorian you say? We have not much more than the 'carriage', 'black peg-tops' and the 'evening coat', but I had the same feeling. Maybe the William Monk Mystery(1850s, Anne Perry) time?
And I can't help wondering what oprions they had at that time.
Raymond could marry and have an affair with Bodie - probably quite common then... Ann Holly would be 'quite happy' with that agreement, because obviously it was better than being unmarried. Or would Raymond and Bodie have escaped to London? Or the Continent? Living in semi-respected cirlcles?
Yeah, me too I 'wouldn’t object to a few hundred thousand words of Before and After this scene'. :-)
Anyway a very nice story and a good review!
Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 10:57 am (UTC)Oh, I didn't mean it as a slight to Gordon Jackson's acting abilities - I absolutely do find him believable as Cowley :) I think he gives a really good performance in Pros - and he gave an equally strong performance in Upstairs Downstairs - so that I can sort of see him as both characters simultaneously :)
Victorian you say? We have not much more than the 'carriage', 'black peg-tops' and the 'evening coat', but I had the same feeling. Maybe the William Monk Mystery(1850s, Anne Perry) time?
Yeah, it just 'feels' a bit older than Edwardian...plus it's listed under Victorian in the historical AU list - cementing things for me! :)
And I can't help wondering what oprions they had at that time.
Raymond could marry and have an affair with Bodie - probably quite common then... Ann Holly would be 'quite happy' with that agreement, because obviously it was better than being unmarried. Or would Raymond and Bodie have escaped to London? Or the Continent? Living in semi-respected cirlcles?
Yes - that's the fascinating thing to think about, isn't it? I get the impression from Ray's character and the way he's thinking, especially towards the end, that marriage and an affair with Bodie on the side is just not an option for him...though I'm sure like you said it was probably the most common 'solution' back then. Like you, I would so love to see how Ray's decision shakes out, and what they end up doing!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 01:30 pm (UTC)This made me grin :) Thank you most kindly for your lovely rec - I never thought I'd write a Pros AU but the Christmas
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 03:45 pm (UTC)in making Bodie a tutor I did have a Mr. Rochester/Jane Eyre scenario vaguely in mind *g*
I really loved the mention of Bodie's unconventional curriculum - and I thought the social disparity between them added so much great tension.
I'm very chuffed you felt invested in them, especially as my shallow heart had been motivated largely by wanting to get them fumbling with period costume in secret somewhere :D
...I can't fault your starting point :) But it was easy to feel invested - you made the lads so very them while fumbling in period costume that it was easy to feel involved!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 01:56 pm (UTC)I have a love-hate relationship with AUs because I think Bodie and Doyle are so much products of their canon time-period. But Bodie the unorthodox tutor with a penchant for boxing does follow on quite neatly from Bodie the undercover PE teacher!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 09:57 pm (UTC)Fashionably late! And thank you for commenting :) Historical AUs really do seem to bring the length, story-wise (I'm not complaining!). I guess it's having to do so much research...writers usually seem to want the give the characters space and time to really live in their new time :) Plus things seem to happen at a much statelier pace in historical fiction, maybe? IDK...
I have a love-hate relationship with AUs because I think Bodie and Doyle are so much products of their canon time-period. But Bodie the unorthodox tutor with a penchant for boxing does follow on quite neatly from Bodie the undercover PE teacher!
I can totally see where you're coming from WRT the lads being so much shaped by their own time that it's hard to 'see' them anywhere else. They are very rooted in London of the 70s and 80s. But I love that spark of recognition when an author does an AU right - like yes! - that's Doyle! Or Bodie! I think there's a special thrill in finding something that's so well characterised and well-written that you can find the lads - even if they're Dickensian chimney sweeps :)