Saturday, April 2, 2022

"The House of the Deer" by D.E. Stevenson

The next book my D.E. Stevenson fan group will be reading and discussing together is "The House of the Deer,"  a sequel to "Gerald and Elizabeth," which we read together late last year.   

Published in 1970, this is the last novel Stevenson wrote before she died in 1973. Like many of her books, it's been out of print for years, but a new Kindle version recently became available -- yay! (Very happily, just about all of DES's books are now available again in new editions, either in print or e-versions or both.  Many are available in audiobook formats too.)  

"The House of the Deer" picks up not long after "Gerald and Elizabeth" left off.  Elizabeth (Bess) is now happily married to her longtime admirer, shipbuilder Sir Walter MacCallum, and living in Glasgow. Gerald has a flat nearby and is now employed as Sir Walter's private secretary and chief of security -- a responsibility he is happy to hand over to Walter's trusted private investigator, Joseph Parker, when a series of bold robberies of local businesses puts the city on edge. 

Parker's arrival is also timely because Gerald is about to head off for a holiday. Walter has been invited by his friend MacAslan to go hunting and help cull the deer population on his property in the Scottish highlands. Preoccupied with the robberies and other work matters, Walter asks Gerald to go in his place. Gerald agrees, even though he knows nothing about deer or hunting (although he's shot lions in Africa! -- a story he tells later in the book).  

MacAslan (whom we've met before in "Smouldering Fire" and "Katherine's Marriage") himself is absent, but we meet his young adult children, son Gregor ("Mac") and daughter Philomela (Phil) -- and Gerald falls instantly and ridiculously in love with her. (We've met Phil previously too, in "Katherine's Marriage" -- by the end of that one, I thought she was headed for a romance with Katherine's stepson Simon -- who gets a mention here -- but I guess I was wrong?? She's now in her early 20s.). Dione (Donny) Eastbrook, a supporting character from "Charlotte Fairlie" (the novel we just finished reading and discussing), is also present, also now in her 20s.    

This wasn't one of my favourite DES novels. For one thing, the entire plot revolves around deer stalking and hunting, something that's never interested me. While I recognize that sometimes hunting is necessary to manage animal populations, and that some families (still) rely on the game they kill to supplement their diets and reduce their grocery bills (and if you're going to hunt, you'd better eat what you kill, right?), hunting and eating game was not something that we did in my immediate family, growing up (although my dad did go fishing, and I have many relatives on both sides of my family who hunt). There's also some discussion about "breeding" and culling the herd of the less-desirable animals that I found distasteful (particularly when the most "desirable" ones are basically those whose heads look the best stuffed and mounted on a wall...!).  I also found it slightly ridiculous how swiftly Gerald fell head over heels in love with Phil, professing his feelings when they'd barely known each other a week. No wonder Phil puts him off (at least initially...!). The ending feels a bit forced and rushed. 

Although this is one of the weaker DES books I've read to date, on the positive side, it is redeemed somewhat by her usual lovely descriptions of the Scottish highlands (always makes me want to visit there myself!), and likeable characters I'd love to get to know in real life. 

3 stars on Goodreads (probably more like 2.5, but rounded up because I generally love DES). I will count this one as a re-read once we've finished going through it and discussing it as a group.  

This was Book #17 read to date in 2022 (and Book #1 finished in April), bringing me to 38% of my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 6 books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2022 tagged as "2022 books."  

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