Posted by Nandakumar Chandran on October 11, 2000 at 07:28:07:
In Reply to: Re: Okay, is this the little stow away in TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS??? posted by Sandy on October 10, 2000 at 23:42:08:
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I doubt if L'amour intended the stowaway to be Tatton's son - also named Tatton? Any why would Tatton's son be a stowaway? Because he too is chased by the British? History repeats itself? But at the end of the book Tatton is clear that he's living incognito, though the people around know him for what he really is. Ofcourse, the British could have found him out, but again Tatton seems only to want to be left alone to live out his life peacefully in his ancestral lands. If anything I would think that "Fair blows ..." was probably a favorite of L'amour too and he couldn't resist mentioning Tatton Chantry in another story set in the same time period. But to do so twice and in a contradictory way? Maybe that was a slip or he was just playing with his readers wondering if they would spot it! I saw the movie "Elizabeth" (Tatton's "good queen Bess") about the Queen of England over the weekend. In the movie one of the main characters is Francis Walsingham who helps Elizabeth subvert her enemies and consolidate her power. In case you guys don't recognize this character, he is the "cold eyed" blonde man who speaks up for young Tatton when an innkeeper tries to cheat him. Tatton meets him again as a grown up and Walsingham though is suspicious about having seen Tatton before, isn't able to place him. Tatton recognizes him and realizes that he's Rafe Lackenbie's powerful protector, avoids being poisoned and escapes - only to have an assasin sent after him, whom our hero "runs through" in a duel. Anyway, though Geoffrey Rush plays the character of the sinister Walsingham to perfection in the movie (infact he's adorably smart and loyal), but he's not L'amour's - slim, blond and cold eyed - Wilsingham! Rather he is stocky, dark haired and cold eyed! Wonder which of the two portrayals is faithful to the original Walsingham!
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