The Shenandoah Spy - Part 13
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend At General Banks request, Belle and Alice arrange a dinner for his senior officers. They are commanded to be present themselves. General Fremont is there and tells them that Ashby has been killed in battle, Belle runs out of the room and Alice rages at them before leaving herself. Wyndham is present when Jackson get the news. The next day,Myles Keogh comes back to the hotel. Keily has been gravely… Product details and pricing info |
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- Even during this US blood feud, there were many occasions of one-on-one compassion...
- ...though according to some, like the itinerant mercenary Myles Keough of our story (on the Yankee side), there were some residents of the South's Fort Royal who acted more vindictively than the average Sicilian.
Egad!
What the heck am I on about? Well, this--right here, folks--is Part 13 of Sir Francis Hamit's excellent "eyewitness account" belonging to Isabelle (Belle) Boyd detailing what exactly went on during the American Civil War in the South.
The Drums of Dramatic Denouement are thumping loudly in my ear (or is that just because I didn't use my cotton swabs this morning?) as I write this luckiest of thirteen reviews. I can't believe that it's almost over.
Is
it
true?
Just one final section left, and then a story that I've been with all summer long will fade away into the distance, escaping the surly bonds of earth. Surely there are greater plans afoot for this most luxurious of yarns? It's not the end of the line, is it? Say it ain't so!
Question: are we going to see a fuller-length treatment somewhere along the line...perhaps some longer-drawn out dialogues? More descriptive sex scenes between Belle and her lover, Daniel Keily (you'll have to get your own copy of 13 to know what's been happening in the sack with that most Irish of mercenaries. He is such a "gun" for hire)?
How about a more elaborate treatment of the battle scenes in the field, or perhaps a wonderful rendering of Belle's tiptoe through the tulips on the 23rd of May, 1862, while being strafed by bird shot? All I know is it'd be longer and more detailed, and would win over a few more fans with an interest in studying the era. Will Sir Hamit please consider it? Can I perhaps put him up to the challenge--c'mon, Francis, do it, do it, do it (that was more subliminal)?
Better yet, can WE put him up to the challenge? The future holds the answers.
I'm but a humble scribe...a nothing...
~~~~
So here goes.
My usual slew of FH yummies which I'd like to reproduce for you at this time:
** "...the men in the room were all reaching that golden state of half-drunkenness where great plans are proposed and quickly forgotten." (from p6) <--- just wanted to know if this was a Belle Boyd line, or a Francis Hamit spun creation?
** danced a "caper." <--- Didn't know what a caper was before this, but you betta' believe I do now!
** "sic transit gloria." Fame is fleeting. The mighty have fallen. Etc., etc. I was looking for a Czech equivalent, citing the lingo's former Latin roots, yet I couldn't think of one. In any event, it's a fitting line, though somewhat odd that it'd come out of the mouth of an English mercenary. On the other hand, Wyndham WAS in Italy fighting under Garibaldi, wasn't he, so perhaps this isn't as far-fetched as it seems? Here's the linkage: Italy--former Roman Empire--Latin--Latin Expressions.
** More Francis Hamit metaphorical magnificence: "...letting grief wash through her like a winter thunderstorm." <-- ADM has a question: so, lemme get this straight...during the winter thunderstorms occur with greater force? That the angle? So Belle's crying, kvetching, bawling, and convulsions indicate that Belle was feeling most terribly as a result of (and--nay--I won't tell you all what it is, all you spoiler-haters!)...and it rocked her like a "winter thunderstorm?" Do I have that correctly?
** "You scamp!" <--- love that line! Wicked!
** Another ADM question for Sir Hamit: the issue about "saving the spokes," and then the account of Belle and Alice's concern that it might've been Belle's sabotage that lead to Keily's...well, I'm not going to say what happened...but Sir F knows what I mean. Was this in the Belle-ster's diary, or was it something you designed, Sir F? As far as I--your striving and loyal reader--is concerned, it doesn't matter, one way or the other. But I just want to know its pedigree. Nice narrative construct there. Belissima!
** "the milk of human kindness runs thin here." Uttered by Keough, it's a phenomenal line. Just from Belle's diary or an FH hum-dinger? Love it. Some of these might make appearances somewhere down the line in my own works. An idea, with FH due citing, 'course...
I've got more to say, but perhaps I'll leave it all for my concluding remarks in Part 14.
It's almost over... ::: cue Jaws theme :::
-- ADM in Prague - 2006-10-02, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
