Dancing with the Daffodils

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Fanfiction
Title: Dancing with the Daffodils
Author(s): Greer Watson
Date(s): 16 April 2012
Length: 810 words
Genre: backstory
Fandom: Mary Renault
External Links: "Dancing with the Daffodils"
Screen capture of the webpage for "Dancing with the Daffodils".

Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

"Dancing with the Daffodils" is a short story by Greer Watson based on Mary Renault's 1953 novel The Charioteer. It takes place before the third chapter of the book, in the spring of 1940 when Laurie is in the army. The story is set in the village where his mother lives, and is seen from the perspective of the new vicar, Mr Straike.

Synopsis

As he takes the Sunday service, the vicar finds himself distracted by thoughts of Mrs Odell, whom he finds a charming and attractive woman.

Background

"Dancing with the Daffodils" was written for the Sunday Tea Challenge of 1 April 2012 to the prompt “rising sap”. It was posted to the maryrenaultfics LiveJournal community in a members-locked post on 16 April 2012 and shortly thereafter placed on the author's website.

Comments

Comments on the story include the following:

  • "This is so lovely and, not still, certainly, but there's a low build to it that's breathtaking."—comment by toujours_nigel
  • "I wouldn't have thought of this character for Spring (or sap), but reading this, now, I can't imagine why."—comment by my_cnnr
    • "Actually, this idea popped immediately into my head as soon as I read the prompt. If you think of it, after all, this is very likely around the time that Straike started to notice Lucy. As a recent widower, I doubt if he'd have done so earlier."—response by greerwatson