May bookclub: The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest – 14 May 2022
The next book group on The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest will be at 3.00 BST on Saturday 14th May. This is our historical novel for 2022. Published in 1866, following serialization in Macmillan’s Magazine in 1865, it was one of CMY’s first books for Macmillan, and her first historical fiction for adults. We might look at the following questions: (1) How would you rate the Dove among CMY’s historical novels? (2) Would the story have worked in a Scottish setting? (3) Is the German background off-putting? (4) Was it a mistake to bring Christina’s husband back from the dead? (5) We know that CMY gave Christina the surname Sorel because that was the name in which she had the original dream. This obliged her to give the Sorel family a Walloon background – does this add anything to the story? (6) Would you recommend the Dove to anyone as an introduction to CMY?