(no subject)

[fajrdrako]

From fannish5, January 2: List your 5 favorite unrequited love stories.

I don't like unrequited love stories. But... yeah, there are some.

1. Doctor/Martha, in Doctor Who. I'd have preferred it to be requited. (And in my interpretation, it was, though secretly.)
   
   
2. Lucie Manette/Sydney Carton, in A Tale of Two Cities
   
   
3. Jack/Gwen, in Torchwood. All that UST, denied.
   
   
4. The protagonists in The Lute Player by Norah Lofts. I tended to love her novels when I was young, but this was was particularly heart-breaking: the Duchess loved Blondel the Minstrel, and Blondel loved Queen Berengaria, and Queen Berengaria loved her husband Richard the Lionheart, and Richard loved Blondel... and never the twain shall meet. It made an impression.
   
   
5. Supergirl and Brainiac 5. I'm not sure it was unrequited. I'm not sure what it was. But it was fun.

Comments

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

Oh God, Sidney Carton. *wail!*

[namastenancy.livejournal.com]

The Lute Player - oh boy, what that a heartbreaker. Still one of the best historical novels ever written and there's not a bodice ripped in the whole book. The ending is one of the most poignant ever written - Norah Lofts at the top of her game. But she was probably the first historical novelist that I ever read and she gave me a taste for the bitter-sweet, sometimes tragic in books. The other book that I read and reread endlessly was "Katherine" by Anya Seton. I LOVED that book and it's full of unrequited love - Hugh for Katherine, Katherine for the Duke until she becomes his mistress, Constanza for the Duke, Katherine for her oldest daughter after the Savoy fire -- I still remember it all very fondly.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Sydney Carton is just so wonderful. The best!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The Lute Player - oh boy, what that a heartbreaker.

Wasn't it, though. Norah Lofts was a favourite writer through my teens - I particularly loved Madselen - and just now, looking at her bibliography, I am amazed how much she wrote, and how there are books on the list I still haven't read. Something to look for. She was such a good writer, and her books never fell into formula.

Anya Seton's Katherine was another classic, another favourite - it made me a huge fan of John of Gaunt!

I wish there were more good historical novels like that being written today. And yes, there are some good ones, but - not enough.