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So after several weeks of edging me (I hate to describe it that way, but that's what it felt like!), the Just Married exchange fics are finally posted! Authors aren't revealed yet, so I can't link to my own fic, but I can link you to my gift.
I have absolutely no idea if any of y'all have read the 700-some-page epic Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye. She's known for The Far Pavilions, which I have never actually managed to make it all the way through despite trying several times. But I discovered Shadow of the Moon on a shelf in my high school library and fell so in love with it that I checked it out multiple times and finally went to the school librarian and said, "Look at the check-out card. Nobody but me has checked out this book in 20 years. Can I buy it from you?" Reader, she let me have it for free.
Anyway! I have great affection for this book despite its weaknesses. It is a product of its time and its author (who was born in Edwardian "British India" and from a family of British Raj military men), so there's lots to criticize, but honestly not nearly as much as you might expect, given who wrote it and when. There is some paternalism in the book, but there's also a great deal of affection and respect for the many people and cultures of India. Like, it understands that the Indian subcontinent is a very complicated place full of actual people with meaningful histories. And it's a book about white Europeans set during the Mutiny of 1857 that acknowledges that, hey, you know what? The sepoys had reasons to rise up. (And no, spellcheck, I did not misspell sepoys. It's not my fault you don't know history; quite yelling at me.) So there's that at least.
If I picked up this book for the first time as an adult, would I be able to love it so wholeheartedly? Probably not. But I discovered it at 13 or 14, which just the right age to fall in love with Winter and Alex and their world.
I've requested this fandom in exchanges several times over the years, but never really expected to actually see fic for it, so the fact that someone actually wrote it for me is as delightful as the fic itself, which I enjoyed very much. On the off-chance that any of you have read the book, you should definitely read this fic.
Title: Dinner at Ware
Fandom: Shadow of the Moon - M. M. Kaye
Characters/Pairings: Winter de Ballesteros/Alex Randall and others
Rating: T
Wordcount: 5,622
Summary: Winter dreads revisiting her childhood home, but the challenges of a difficult past make a new partnership with husband Alex all the sweeter.
I have absolutely no idea if any of y'all have read the 700-some-page epic Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye. She's known for The Far Pavilions, which I have never actually managed to make it all the way through despite trying several times. But I discovered Shadow of the Moon on a shelf in my high school library and fell so in love with it that I checked it out multiple times and finally went to the school librarian and said, "Look at the check-out card. Nobody but me has checked out this book in 20 years. Can I buy it from you?" Reader, she let me have it for free.
Anyway! I have great affection for this book despite its weaknesses. It is a product of its time and its author (who was born in Edwardian "British India" and from a family of British Raj military men), so there's lots to criticize, but honestly not nearly as much as you might expect, given who wrote it and when. There is some paternalism in the book, but there's also a great deal of affection and respect for the many people and cultures of India. Like, it understands that the Indian subcontinent is a very complicated place full of actual people with meaningful histories. And it's a book about white Europeans set during the Mutiny of 1857 that acknowledges that, hey, you know what? The sepoys had reasons to rise up. (And no, spellcheck, I did not misspell sepoys. It's not my fault you don't know history; quite yelling at me.) So there's that at least.
If I picked up this book for the first time as an adult, would I be able to love it so wholeheartedly? Probably not. But I discovered it at 13 or 14, which just the right age to fall in love with Winter and Alex and their world.
I've requested this fandom in exchanges several times over the years, but never really expected to actually see fic for it, so the fact that someone actually wrote it for me is as delightful as the fic itself, which I enjoyed very much. On the off-chance that any of you have read the book, you should definitely read this fic.
Title: Dinner at Ware
Fandom: Shadow of the Moon - M. M. Kaye
Characters/Pairings: Winter de Ballesteros/Alex Randall and others
Rating: T
Wordcount: 5,622
Summary: Winter dreads revisiting her childhood home, but the challenges of a difficult past make a new partnership with husband Alex all the sweeter.
