Today, I'm super-excited to be sharing a short story from the fabulous Gothic Horror writer, Judith Crow. Here is her Poe-inspired story, The Clockmaker ... The Clockmaker I cannot sleep. I cannot allow myself to sleep. In sleep, Death may strike with as little awareness as warning, and I find myself refusing to accept unawareness at the moment of demise. Yet, I wish I were afforded others’ natural ignorance of the timing of death. In the names of heaven and hell: I both curse and envy them for their ignorance! I, like others, started my final day with little to suggest it may be my last. I was in rude health when I arrived in London twelve days earlier, and today I took the time to call upon Sir Benjamin Pelham, a man I had served alongside in India. Twenty years ago, his interest in science and invention had lured him back to the English universities, while I had stayed abroad to make my fortune overseeing the collapse and redistribution of the once-mighty East India Company. Si
Historical fiction is not a new idea, and the nineteenth century teemed with it. Literary giants like Walter Scott, Charles Kingsley and Robert Louis Stevenson all delved into the realms of the past to set their adventures, many of their stories recalling the bygone idealism of chivalry which was deemed as sorely missing from their own times. The restructuring of the class system, as the industrial revolution grew, created a certain amount of nostalgia and, from this, grew a renewed readership for the past.
This wasn't just happening in Britain and, in the spring of 1844, Alexandre Dumas serialised what was to become one of the best known stories in the world: "Les Trois Mousquetaires" or "The Three Musketeers". This remains a title thousands of people recognise, but only a fraction of them have read.
The Three Musketeers - yes, I read it in English because my French is limited to saying hello and goodbye - is my favourite book and I keep hoping to find a film which actually lives up to it. But I have finally come to accept that part of what I love the most about the book is the narrative and the shrewd observations made in the narrator's passing comments. It's witty, light-hearted, adventurous and fun, but it also features storylines which are dark and, in some cases, vindictively evil.
With spies and devious actions from both the politically-minded Cardinal Richelieu and the loyal musketeers, both sides are vying to out-do the other in wit and cunning. But, as in all good plots, nothing is black and white and, while modern interpretations have made the cardinal into the "bad guy", he is only persevering to protect what he deems important.
The final portion of the book is the part which elevates it far and away above most of its movie counterparts. If you're looking for a happy ending, be prepared for it to be tinged with sadness. The conclusion to this book is brilliantly real, with strong emotions, love, heartbreak and remorse all playing their part.
Overall, read this book! On the surface it is a fantastic swashbuckling adventure, but you can also delve deeper into the political undercurrents which run through every storyline in the book - and, yes, there are a good many of those!
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