Comments | rthstewart: Chapter 17, Kiss me like a soldier headed for war

rthstewart

Chapter 17, Kiss me like a soldier headed for war

Apr 13, 2013 10:53

Chapter 17, Kiss Me Like A Soldier Headed For War is up.

A huge, huge thanks to those who read and reviewed the last chapter. One again, I owe lots and lots to Starbrow and pencildragon11 for their gentle encouragement.

( Cut for a few research notes and links )

aw, apostolic way, research notes

Comments 20

wellinghall April 13 2013, 15:02:25 UTC

Duff Cooper's fictionalised account is worth reading -
http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/books/operation-heartbreak/

- as is the account of how he came to write it and get it published, years before anything was known of the true story.

rthstewart April 14 2013, 02:08:21 UTC

Thanks so much for the links!

wellinghall April 14 2013, 06:47:41 UTC

You are very welcome :-)

anonymous April 14 2013, 01:11:00 UTC

John Pevensie was daft, Colonel Walker-Smythe concluded. First came the deplorable dinner with Edmund, not Private Pevensie, at the Rainbow Room. That meeting was highly unproductive with the older Pevensie proving to be singularly unremarkable. This latest office gossip was highly disturbing, with the philandering Lt. Pevensie having taken up a seemingly semi-permanent relationship with an office girl suspected of being an Italian spy. Nothing for it then, he would send Edmund up to visit his father for the weekend. While neither would be particularly enthusiastic about the visit, he trusted the younger to effectively keep a lid on the father while the rest of the team finished preparations for their latest intelligence operations.

rthstewart April 14 2013, 02:09:12 UTC

LA LA LA NO I am not going to do a chapter on this. No no no. or, errrr, maybe....

autumnia April 14 2013, 01:51:13 UTC

After seeing Pevensie senior in action here, he makes Tebbitt look oh-so-more gallant, chivalrous and honorable... even when drunk!

Loved the chapter even as we the reader sat uncomfortably amongst the three men in the Rainbow Room (while painful for us to be virtually there, it was definitely a lot worse for Edmund and the Colonel). And speaking of the famed venue, I went there once for a late dinner/post-show charity gala and I wish I had gotten a better look around. It was definitely dark but thankfully, without the cigarette smoke!

And one minor nitpick that no one else will probably notice but it should be Grand Central "Terminal" -- the original Grand Central Station was torn down in 1913, and the Terminal was built in its place... even though most people call still the building Grand Central Station.

autumnia April 14 2013, 02:15:06 UTC

Also, re: Operation Barclay:

"Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II" by Terry Crowdy

Search for this in Google Books. You'll want to start at page 195 and continue through to the end of the chapter at 206. Operation Barclay is mentioned on pages 195 and 201, but the latter is not available for preview. There are other missing pages for the chapter in the preview as well but I think it might be helpful anyway since it describes Operation Husky, of which Barclay was a part of.

rthstewart April 14 2013, 02:41:49 UTC

Thank you! I spent some time looking at historical routes to figure out which station they would come into from Toronto. Research, it's a disease I tell you.

The pictures of the Rainbow room were such fun, too. Thanks so much for reading. I really appreciate it.

silverceri April 14 2013, 05:04:23 UTC

Have you read "Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory" by Ben Macintyre? It was very well researched and written, and I seem to recall that he covers at least some of Operation Barclay in it.

silverceri April 14 2013, 05:34:23 UTC

And thus I should read the chapter first, before offering book recs.

And poor Edmund. His father is not terribly bright at all. I enjoyed the chapter very much.

katharhino April 14 2013, 12:04:49 UTC

I left a review on FF.net but I have a question that occurred to me, thinking about the idea that John Pevensie hadn't seen his children since before their "transformation"... Do you have a theory or headcanon on nature/nurture in this case? Or better, nature/Narnia? What I mean is, did the Pevensies always have the potential to be extraordinary? Was it their extraordinariness that made them open to the experience of Narnia? Or were they just ordinary children who were transformed? Thoughts? Only because I'm curious and I find that kind of thing fascinating, not because I have any other point to make.