The Matthew Shardlake Series by C. J. Sansom

***

I started reading this series simply because they were on the “you should read it” shelf at the library, and I was between books. These books are award-winning, international best-sellers, so I wasn't surprised to find the writing good and the stories engaging. Sansom spends a lot of time on description, and while some people get sidetracked by too much detail, I found myself completely immersed in Tudor England. I wasn't looking for a dev-read, so imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered the main character has a disability.

From Wikipedia: "This series set in the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century, whose main character is the hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, who is assisted in his adventures by Mark Poer and then Jack Barak. Shardlake works on commission initially from Thomas Cromwell in Dissolution and Dark Fire, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in Sovereign and Revelation and Queen Catherine Parr in Heartstone. "

I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and mystery novels, and this series is the best of both genres.

I enjoyed the first book so much, I immediately went back and scooped up the other four (there are five of them so far). Matthew is a tremendously sympathetic character. He's smart, he's attractive, he's the good guy... AND... he's disabled. It's too much to ask for a realistic historical novel to feature a guy with SCI, so Kyphosis is a reasonable mobility impairment- but surprisingly, it absolutely tweaked my dev-o-meter.

My only problem with this series, and it's a big problem, is Matthew never gets the girl. I'm hoping for more in future books (I'm hoping for future books, period); but even without sex- or even a romantic relationship for Matthew, the series is definitely on my "most recommended" list.

Flowers from the Storm

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
**


Regency romance. At the outset, this one is a bit different from the standard wounded hero romance. Christian, the Duke of Jervaulx, is a rake and a bounder, but a brilliant mathematician, who suffers a stroke. The characters describe it as a “fit” and consider it God’s vengeance for his dissolute lifestyle but the symptoms are clear: weakness on his right side, difficulty seeing things to his right, and severe aphasia, that is, inability to comprehend or produce written or spoken language. Christian’s family send him to a genteel asylum and plot to disinherit him. Coincidentally, he is found by Maddy Timms, a Quaker girl working in the asylum as a nurse. Maddy recognizes him, since her father, who is blind, had collaborated with Christian in writing papers on mathematics.  Maddy tries to help Christian, and of course they fall in love. Of all the obstacles romance writers think up to keep the hero and heroine apart until the last few pages, this one is one of the more compelling. There is the matter of getting him out of the asylum, securing his estate, and regaining his faculties, but the real problem for Maddy is her religion. She believes very strongly in modesty and chastity, and if she marries outside her faith, she will be not only cast out of the Quaker community but cut off from her father. All of this is very promising in the first half, but the second half does not live up to the potential. Christian is a fairly typical alpha male; even after the stroke, his character never changes from a demanding, self-centered asshole. Maddy is more interesting, but for all her intellectualism, she is surprisingly passive. Judging by the huge number of comments on Amazon, this book is a big deal in the romance genre, supposedly proving that romances can be great literature. The writing is a bit better than average, and the author takes a big risk by rendering many of the early scenes from Christian’s point of view, including the garbled language. But in the end, because the characters fall into conventional gender roles, the novel seems rather clichéd. And the devo factor was surprisingly low, because for all that Maddy is supposedly his nurse, she never does anything to actively help Christian, he just sort of recovers on his own. It’s not a miraculous or complete recovery, but I still found the book unsatisfying.

The Guarded Heart

The Guarded Heart by Barbara Hazard.
*

A romance novel set in Regency England, although most of the action takes place in Vienna, which is a change of pace. Erica Stone goes to Vienna to find her cheating husband, only to discover he has been murdered. The Duke of Graves enlists her as a spy for England, and even though she is terrified of him, eventually they fall in love. He has a club foot. The writing is pretty good for a romance, but the devo factor is low, because the Duke’s disability is relatively minor and doesn’t end up factoring into the plot very much, and because he is an aloof, controlling jerk right up to the inevitable happy end.

We So Seldom Look on Love

We So Seldom Look on Love by Barbara Gowdy
****

This is a collection of short stories, nearly all of which feature characters who are disabled or deformed or otherwise different. Ok, some of the characters are female, and not all of them make for orgasmic fantasies, but all the stories are really interesting and very well written. The title story in particular is one of Devo Girl’s favorites. It’s about a young girl who is a necrophile, not that Devo Girl is also into dead bodies (she isn’t) but the descriptions of her coming to terms with her sexual deviance are touchingly real. After she reveals her secret to a friend and is rejected, she says, “I cried at what seemed like a cruel loss. I think I knew it was all loneliness from that moment on. Even though I was only thirteen, I was cutting any lines that still drifted out towards normal eroticism. Bosom friends, pajyama-party intimacy, I was cutting all those lines off.” It makes us cry every time. No other story captures so well the frustration and the thrill of having a strange secret fetish. This story was also made into a movie under the title Kissed.

Geek Love

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
***

This book is a devo classic, and also very well written. A husband and wife carnival team decide to create their own freakshow by giving birth to children with genetic mutations. The story is narrated by one of their children, and is a thrilling look at the hidden, lost world of the carnival sideshow, where physical differences are valued and considered beautiful.

Warm Springs

Warm Springs
***

A biopic about FDR and his recovery from polio. Originally an HBO movie, now available on DVD. Starring Kenneth Branagh, who does a reasonably good Roosevelt. Compared to photos of FDR when he was younger, there is some resemblance. Cynthia Nixon (and a whopping set of false teeth) stars as Eleanor Roosevelt. She's pretty wooden in most of her. But even though in general the film is only ok, not great, the devolicious quotient is high. They even used CGI to make Branagh's legs look all skinny, and you see it a LOT. Devo Girl was pleased. There are some other hunky patients too. The film was shot on location in the actual cottage and pool at the Warm Springs resort, and they even used the actual motorcar with hand controls that FDR used. There is a short documentary on the DVD as well, although Devo Girl feels a little strange experiencing feelings of lust for a former president.

Twin Falls Idaho

Twin Falls Idaho  
USA  
1999  
****

An independent film about conjoined twins, which is not a typical disability, but this movie gave Devo Girl that tingly devotee thrill. Plus it’s really excellent as a movie. Mark and Michael Polish, who are twins in real life (the normal kind, not joined, but the illusion in the film is so good you start to wonder) wrote, directed and starred as Francis and Blake Falls. Francis and Blake are joined at the chest, but have retired from their job as sideshow freak due to illness. They meet up with Penny (Michelle Hicks) the cliched hooker with a heart of gold, and she falls in love with Francis, which causes problems for Blake. Devo Girl wants to know, why couldn’t she just love them both? But then we wouldn’t have a movie. The plot is not so important as the visual images of Francis and Blake and how they negotiate every day life and try, unsuccessfully, to fit in. It’s very touching, and covers a lot of the same emotional territory as other disabilities.

There’s Something About Mary

There’s Something About Mary   

USA    

1998   

**

A pretty funny comedy with Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller, about a guy who just can’t forget the girl he had a crush on in high school. Part of the joke is that Mary has men throwing themselves at her all the time, but she hardly seems to notice them. One of these poor losers uses braces and crutches. He’s a minor character, but there are some really funny scenes with him. It’s not at all PC,  but trust me it’s hysterical.

Rory O'Shea Was Here

Rory O'Shea Was Here
UK
2004
***

Rory O'Shea (James McAvoy) is a young man with muscular dystrophy who enters a home for the disabled and changes the life of a resident named Michael (Steven Robertson), who has cerebral palsy. Rory is the only person who can understand Michael's speaking voice and talks him into entering a project for independent living. All goes according to plan until they hire an attractive young woman named Siobhan (Romola Garai) to care for their needs--and Michael falls in love with her. Rory does a fine job playing the part of an attractive young quad and his performance never disappoints. There's tremendous chemistry between Rory and Siobhan as she simultaneously spars with him, undresses him, and helps him with his transfers, yet it's all a tease--nothing ever comes of it, which is why the movie falls short of a four star rating.