A Fork in the Road to London
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Fork in the Road to London |
| Author(s): | Greer Watson |
| Date(s): | 21 May 2011 |
| Length: | 2947 words |
| Genre: | AU |
| Fandom: | Mary Renault |
| External Links: | "A Fork in the Road to London" |
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"A Fork in the Road to London" is a short story by Greer Watson based on Mary Renault's 1953 novel The Charioteer. It is an AU, splitting from the book during Chapter Fifteen. In the novel, Laurie receives a letter from Andrew in which he is told that Ralph has informed Andrew that Laurie is his lover; as a result, Andrew—a pacifist c.o.—has punched him, and, in revulsion, is now getting a transfer to London to work on the ambulances. This letter sparks off the events of the rest of the novel.
In "A Fork in the Road to London", Andrew instead wangles a few hours leave so that he can come to Bridstow and tell Laurie in person.
Background
"A Fork in the Road to London" was written as part of the maryrenaultfics LiveJournal community's Unwritten Charioteer writing project for Chapter Sixteen of The Charioteer, for which the prompt was to provide a speculative (AU even) ending for the novel. The story was posted to maryrenaultfics on 21 May 2011 [1] (members access only), and immediately also posted to the author's website.
Since Mary Renault based Bridstow on Bristol, where she served in an EMS hospital herself for part of the war, the webpage is decorated with photos of Bristol General Hospital and Bristol Cathedral.
Comments
The story was well received, with comments that included the following:
- "More! Please! Oh my god!"—comment by golden_catseye
- "This is so great! Why didn't Andrew just see Laurie in person instead of writing? It was a cowards act for sure! Can't wait for more!"—comment by dramadream10
- "This is such an intriguing and plausible AU - I REALLY like it, and would love to read more too! Thanks very much!"—comment by trueriver
- "Come on now...don't give me reasons to like Andrew...
As TR and FAW said, this is very believable - particularly if one is prepared to accept that the vision that Laurie has of Andrew is grounded in reality, and not just an echo of another blonde young man ;-) [...]"—comment by my_cnnr