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Wired Love
Sep. 9th, 2013 11:46 pmA while back, someone somewhere on DW recced this book; I've long since lost the tab I had open for it, but thank you, if it was one of you!
The full name is "Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes", and it's available on Project Gutenberg for free download in multiple formats.
I downloaded it when I first spotted the rec, because it sounded interesting: a 19th century novel about a romance conducted over the telegraph. It's a pretty straightforward, gentle romance as they go, with some misunderstandings and broken hearts and quiet jealousy mixed in before the inevitable happy ending. But it's fascinating in many other ways. It really doesn't feel like it's more than 130 years old.
The protagonist is Nattie, a young woman (about 18 years old) making her way in the world; she lives in a boarding house with several other young adults -- both men and women -- with two older landladies in residence (one sympathetic to youthful spirits, one emphatically not) but no real chaperonage to speak of. Only one young woman is there with a parent; the others are all living on their own, making friends and social connections on their own terms. Two of them, a man and a woman, are self-identified bohemians.
Nattie works as a telegraph operator, a field that was apparently quite open to women; when a new operator appears "on the wire" one day, she wonders whether it's a man or a woman. The two of them start chatting back and forth (to the annoyance of some other operators on the wire), and Nattie immediately becomes very interested in this "C", even unsure of whether it's a man or a woman. The mystery doesn't last long, of course; "C" turns out to be a man, and eventually she finds out his name is Clem, but it's really cool, this century-old gender-uncertain interaction. Very Internet-y. *g*
I had to stop reading a few chapters in and go look up the author -- Ella Cheever Thayer -- because it felt so much like a put-on, or like a Victorian AU of a modern internet romance. It wasn't just the relatively modern sensibilities of the characters, either, but the steady underlying awareness of tech.
( Spoilery examples )
( And some general spoilers for the rest of the book )
( And more specific, major spoilers for the ending )
There's nothing particularly deep in the story itself, but it's a lot of fun reading something from so long ago that could so effortlessly be transplanted to internet-based life today. And if you're looking for some pleasant fluff about decent people who treat each other well, with a few small exceptions to keep things from being too bland, this may be right up your alley.
... I am ridiculous, and have been arguing with myself for an hour whether I should split this into two posts to avoid spoiling people who maybe want to read some of this but not all of it. Never mind that I've got cut tags in to keep that from happening.
Or that this is a 130+ year old book that I think got mentioned on Boing Boing a few months ago and really, 130 years old. And not very fannish, other than the fun culture echoes.
But still, sometimes you hit "reply" and then you've got the bottom of the post with all its spoilers right in your face!
So, um, have some journal-based spoiler space. La la la.
The full name is "Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes", and it's available on Project Gutenberg for free download in multiple formats.
I downloaded it when I first spotted the rec, because it sounded interesting: a 19th century novel about a romance conducted over the telegraph. It's a pretty straightforward, gentle romance as they go, with some misunderstandings and broken hearts and quiet jealousy mixed in before the inevitable happy ending. But it's fascinating in many other ways. It really doesn't feel like it's more than 130 years old.
The protagonist is Nattie, a young woman (about 18 years old) making her way in the world; she lives in a boarding house with several other young adults -- both men and women -- with two older landladies in residence (one sympathetic to youthful spirits, one emphatically not) but no real chaperonage to speak of. Only one young woman is there with a parent; the others are all living on their own, making friends and social connections on their own terms. Two of them, a man and a woman, are self-identified bohemians.
Nattie works as a telegraph operator, a field that was apparently quite open to women; when a new operator appears "on the wire" one day, she wonders whether it's a man or a woman. The two of them start chatting back and forth (to the annoyance of some other operators on the wire), and Nattie immediately becomes very interested in this "C", even unsure of whether it's a man or a woman. The mystery doesn't last long, of course; "C" turns out to be a man, and eventually she finds out his name is Clem, but it's really cool, this century-old gender-uncertain interaction. Very Internet-y. *g*
I had to stop reading a few chapters in and go look up the author -- Ella Cheever Thayer -- because it felt so much like a put-on, or like a Victorian AU of a modern internet romance. It wasn't just the relatively modern sensibilities of the characters, either, but the steady underlying awareness of tech.
( Spoilery examples )
( And some general spoilers for the rest of the book )
( And more specific, major spoilers for the ending )
There's nothing particularly deep in the story itself, but it's a lot of fun reading something from so long ago that could so effortlessly be transplanted to internet-based life today. And if you're looking for some pleasant fluff about decent people who treat each other well, with a few small exceptions to keep things from being too bland, this may be right up your alley.
... I am ridiculous, and have been arguing with myself for an hour whether I should split this into two posts to avoid spoiling people who maybe want to read some of this but not all of it. Never mind that I've got cut tags in to keep that from happening.
Or that this is a 130+ year old book that I think got mentioned on Boing Boing a few months ago and really, 130 years old. And not very fannish, other than the fun culture echoes.
But still, sometimes you hit "reply" and then you've got the bottom of the post with all its spoilers right in your face!
So, um, have some journal-based spoiler space. La la la.
