Fannish5
My top five canonical couples, as directed by fannish5. (Shuddup, I've just worked two fifteen-hour days in a row.) Most of these are from my younger days.
1. Ella Rosetti and Timothy Rowbottom - Lorna Hill's Wells books. Sigh. Fostered Ella is brought up in a Durham pit village where Timothy's father is the vicar. She's chosen to dance in the school show, but there's no money for a ballet dress. Timothy finds her hiding in a corner after sunday school, wondering whether praying might work and, despite being a poor student, sacrifices his hard-earned savings. Ella duly dances, is spotted by a renowned ballet tutor and given a scholarship to Sadler's Wells (everyone goes to Sadler's Wells in this series). There are various complications over the years, including illness, a handsome slavonic prince and the assumptions of both Ella and Timothy that the other isn't interested in them. Finally one Christmas (and about three books later), Ella discovers that Timothy has been badly burned rescuing lots of children from a fire at the sunday school christmas party. She dashes across the country in a desperate bid to be with him...but will he survive to discover her love?
I can't help it, OK? Even now, put in those ridiculously over-romantic terms, they still get me. I think it's the fact that they're both so shy and unassuming and innocent. Did anyone else read these books as a child?
2. Miles and Ekaterin, from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan stories. Oh, Miles! A Civil Campaign is a brilliant twist on the Pride and Prejudice-esque comedy of manners.
3. Ned and Verity from To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. My ultimate feelgood book, featuring twists on about a hundred other novels.
4. Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing.
I admit that I always picture Branagh and Thompson in these roles, because they played the couple so brilliantly in the film.
5. Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane - Dorothy L Sayers. Ah. Literary allusions and pride and saving people and not saving people and academia. And murder mysteries, of course.
Runners up: Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, Will and Lyra (His Dark Materials), Ron and Hermione (HP), Polly and Tom from Fire and Hemlock and Rupert/Maree from Deep Secret, both by Diana Wynne Jones.
1. Ella Rosetti and Timothy Rowbottom - Lorna Hill's Wells books. Sigh. Fostered Ella is brought up in a Durham pit village where Timothy's father is the vicar. She's chosen to dance in the school show, but there's no money for a ballet dress. Timothy finds her hiding in a corner after sunday school, wondering whether praying might work and, despite being a poor student, sacrifices his hard-earned savings. Ella duly dances, is spotted by a renowned ballet tutor and given a scholarship to Sadler's Wells (everyone goes to Sadler's Wells in this series). There are various complications over the years, including illness, a handsome slavonic prince and the assumptions of both Ella and Timothy that the other isn't interested in them. Finally one Christmas (and about three books later), Ella discovers that Timothy has been badly burned rescuing lots of children from a fire at the sunday school christmas party. She dashes across the country in a desperate bid to be with him...but will he survive to discover her love?
I can't help it, OK? Even now, put in those ridiculously over-romantic terms, they still get me. I think it's the fact that they're both so shy and unassuming and innocent. Did anyone else read these books as a child?
2. Miles and Ekaterin, from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan stories. Oh, Miles! A Civil Campaign is a brilliant twist on the Pride and Prejudice-esque comedy of manners.
3. Ned and Verity from To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. My ultimate feelgood book, featuring twists on about a hundred other novels.
4. Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing.
I admit that I always picture Branagh and Thompson in these roles, because they played the couple so brilliantly in the film.
5. Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane - Dorothy L Sayers. Ah. Literary allusions and pride and saving people and not saving people and academia. And murder mysteries, of course.
Runners up: Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, Will and Lyra (His Dark Materials), Ron and Hermione (HP), Polly and Tom from Fire and Hemlock and Rupert/Maree from Deep Secret, both by Diana Wynne Jones.