Lymond is back.
Thus reads an opening line, and the beginning of a fictional adventure that I, in some ways, wish I had started much sooner.
I saw author Victoria Schwab mention Dorothy Dunnett's famous Lymond Chronicles last year, and made a mental note, but, swamped with research, didn't pursue it. Between then and now, I've seen others reccomend it, wax poetic about it, and love it. So I finally ordered the first two books in the series, and started the first volume, The Game of Kings, about two weeks ago.
“Good evening, ladies. The gentlemen now entering behind you are all fully armed. I am Francis Crawford of Lymond and I want your lives or your jewels -- the latter for preference; both if necessary.”
Books have a way, sometimes, of coming along at just the right time, when we need them most, and the Lymond Chronicles have done just that. Between social media obligations, and required research, it's easy to tell myself that reading for the sheer pleasure of it doesn't have a place in my daily life. But that's not true at all. An author has to read for pleasure. Has to remind herself why she loves storytelling, and keep her brain moving in a proselike fashion. I'm about thirty pages from the end of TGoK, and very glad that I've already ordered and now own the rest of the series. This is why I love to read. This is why I love to write.
“I wish to God,” said Gideon with mild exasperation, “that you’d talk—just once—in prose like other people.”
The series is written in a prose style highly reminiscent of the Classics; various Amazon reviews describe it as "hard reading," and even "dense." It belongs to an age of literature long past, though originally published in the sixties. The writing is clever. Even if I have to go look something up in the middle, I adore clever writing; when you can see the author's wit and flexibility on full display.
“I wanted to speak to
you,” said the boy. “But not over a sword.”
“Through it, then.”
I can read about anything, but the books I love, the ones I cherish and reread, all boil down to character. And Francis Crawford of Lymond, and his supporting cast, are the sorts of characters that leave me hugging books to my chest, filled with joy. The kind of dynamic, tangible, delightfully human characters that command the page like the best kind of stage actor. Superhuman in that way, I guess.
If the TV gods are listening, someone please, please create a Masterpiece series for these books. It would be spectacular.
They don't carry the books at any of my local stores, so I ordered them from Amazon:
Mrs Dunnett said that she wrote her books to be read AND re-read, and she was right, I uncover something new each time I re-read them. She has the gift of bringing her characters to complete life, but so much depends on her brilliant writing that I don't believe any TV adaptation would work - it would destroy so much of the subtleties. There was talk in 2016 of an adaptation, but it seems to have expired.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, however, that I didn't believe that Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies could be dramatised, and I was wrong - on that occasion, the BBC really got back its mojo and did a brilliant job. Still, that was only 2 books, and it all took place in England.....