Quad/para fiction

[me]

What books have you read with disabled characters that you would recommend?
Nearly all the books on my book shelf are disability related but I'm running out of things to read
The latest book I've read is The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer.

[BA]

There is a 'Fiction' section on the main menu of this site. I don't think it's been updated in awhile, but there are lots of books listed and some reviews in terms of dev content and interest.

I so enjoyed "The Haunted Pilot" videos that were uploaded to this site that I will probably try and read the book that the movie was based on. I think it is called "The Haunting of Toby Jugg".

[devogirl]

How funny you should ask--I was just about to post some more reviews!
Yes, there is a section of the main Paradevo website with reviews written by me, Devo Girl. But since Lee is no longer editing the site on a regular basis, and I can't upload new content myself, I thought I would just post things here.

Ever since discovering the "wounded hero" subgenre of trashy romance novels, I have been making up for lost time. A few of these titles I read about a year ago, then recently I dove back in again. But I have to warn you, none of these have SCI/wheeler characters, it's all other disabilities. Why? Partly it's what I wanted to read at the moment, partly there seems to be a lot more. Certainly for historical bodice-rippers, since life after SCI is only a 20th century thing, it doesn't occur in historical fiction.

But if you must have a romance novel with a wheeler, there is The Morning Side of Dawn by Justine Davis. The hero is a double amputee who occasionally uses prosthetics but prefers wheelchairs he designs himself. And he's an athlete too! Very sexy. The story is pretty good. I wasn't so into the supermodel heroine, but the hero is an interesting character. Recommended.

Taming Lord Renwick by Jeanne Savery. The setting is Regency England. Lord Renwick was blinded in a hunting accident in India, and retires to his country estate, where Eustacia signs on as his secretary to help him write his memoirs, of course they fall in love, etc. It's really silly and cheezy, there is some awkward humor, especially with his pet tiger that acts like a seeing-eye dog. Not great, but not bad, and there is no magical cure, always a bonus.

The Guarded Heart by Barbara Hazard. Setting is again 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, but for me the devo factor was low.

Of all the romances I have read lately, the best by far is The Highland Wife by Lyn Stone. Set in Medieval Scotland, the hero is deaf. Robert MacBain travels to the Highlands for an arranged marriage with Mairi MacInness. He thinks that as part of the negotiations, she has been told about his deafness, but she hasn't, then they are attacked and one calamity follows another and he can't find a good way to tell her. The plot revolves around him trying to find a way to tell her, and her trying to figure him out. The whole miscommunication plot threatens to get frustrating, but I found the arranged marriage plotline both more realistic and more interesting than the average romance. The question isn't will they ever get married (they already are), but will they learn to understand each other. The thing I really liked about this one is that unlike every other "wounded hero" romance, Robert is not some aloof, cold-hearted asshole--he's really sweet and generous. And Mairi is not some sheltered bimbo, she actually shows some intelligence. Also the story is not entirely from Mairi's point of view, which is usually the case. About half the narration is from Robert's POV, and we find out a lot about how he lost his hearing as a small child, and how his mother invented a sign language and taught him to speak and lip-read. The descriptions of his deafness are very realistic; the author indicates in the dedication that her son is deaf, which explains the realism. I highly recommend this one, very high dev factor. If you like "This Is All I Ask" this one is very similar. Apparently the author has written several other connected novels, one about Robert's parents that feature him as a child, and one about his brother, although I haven't read those yet, I intend to.

Silent Heart by Deborah Simmons. Set in Revolutionary France. And example of everything that's wrong with romance novels. The author keeps telling us how intelligent the heroine is, but she acts like a moron. The hero treats her with contempt, openly mocks her, and uses her for sex, but she loves him anyway. He's supposed to be mute, but it's obvious within the first few chapters that he's only faking it to disguise his identity. Stupid plot, stupid characters, purple prose, ugh, don't waste your time.

Charmed Destinies is a fantasy-romance anthology hybrid. Three short stories in the romance genre, set in made-up lands with magic and all. The last story, Moonglow, by Catherine Asaro, is set in some poorly-defined vaguely Scottish land where people practice magic based on colors and shapes (lame, I know). The hero is the long-lost prince of the realm who is the victim of a curse that has left him blind and deaf, and of course the heroine is his arranged bride who must free him from the curse. With something like this you know there will be by definition a magical cure, and there is, pretty early on. A few of the early scenes have pretty good devo value, but as a whole the story is poorly written and very very silly.


Two modern-day romances I haven't read yet:
A Marriage to Fight For by Raina Lynn. SCI hero.
Taste of Love by Elizabeth Glenn. Blind hero.
Does anyone know if these are any good?

[devogirl]

But wait, there's more! My latest devo preoccupation is reading novels with deaf characters. I don't know why, it just seems to be the cycle I'm in right now. I remember a long time ago someone asked on here if there were any devos into deafness and I'm pretty sure I replied and said I'm not, but what can I say, I changed my mind.

So as I mentioned above, the best one is The Highland Wife. But I have been reading a few others as well.

Tell Me How the Wind Sounds by Leslie Guccione is YA romance. Amanda is a sulky, spoiled teen stuck on a small island in New England for the summer with her parents. Jake is a deaf teen who lives on the island. He communicates using a mix of ASL and speaking/lip-reading. The dated 80s references are occasionally, unintentionally hilarious, and the writing is quite dire in some places (including some glaring typos). But the depiction of deafness is really well done, as is the description of ASL and lip-reading. About half the narration is from Jake's POV. Amanda is kind of a brat, but Jake emerges as a really interesting, well-rounded character.

Mary Mehan Awake by Jennifer Armstrong is a very short YA novel, only about 100 pages long, set in the US around the time of the Civil War. It's the sequel to The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan which tells about how Mairhe/Mary emigrates to the US from Ireland with her family as a teen, and how her brother is killed in the Civil War (although I haven't read the first book). There is also an edition that combines both books under the title Becoming Mary Mehan.
Anyway, in Mary Mehan Awake, the Civil War is over, but Mary is mentally and physically exhausted after two year working as a nurse to wounded soldiers. She goes to work as a maid for a scientist and his wife in upstate New York. There she meets another servant, Henry, a former artillery man who was deafened in the war. It's a love story, of course, but also the story of how Mary recovers from her experience of the war. The whole thing is from her point of view, we never really find out what Henry is thinking. They communicate solely by writing. No magical cure either. I really liked this book--the writing is really excellent. The descriptions of the landscape, and the sensitive portrayal of their feelings, is remarkable. After reading so many average-to-poor romances, it's like a breath of fresh air.

The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan. The setting is imaginary, but bears a strong resemblance to medieval Ireland/England. YA romance. Marnie travels to a new village with her new husband, whom she thought she loved, but who is clearly a brute. On their arrival, she sees the villagers beating a boy who everyone thinks is mad, but she soon discovers that he is not mad, he's deaf, and can't speak. The brutish husband is quickly and conveniently dispatched, and the novel revolves around Marnie's attempts to communicate with the boy, whom she names Raven. They make up a sign language together, but the villagers think she's a witch. Even though the writing is a little thin in places and the setting seems more like a Renaissance Faire than a real place, there are some accurate touches, like the descriptions of village festivals. And in spite of its flaws, I really enjoyed this book a lot. The author says at the end that she was inspired to write this by her experience working in a deaf school. The difficulty Marnie has in communicating with Raven, and his fearsome anger at not being understood feel very true-to-life. This one seems to have a lot of fans on Amazon. Highly recommended.

So does anyone else have any recommendations?

[me]

Hi, I've read all of the books in the fiction section and purchased some of the books you have reviewed on Ebay Devogirl thanks for the reviews. I may add a few of my own as I've read a fair few other books with disabled characters.

[devogirl]

Please do let us know what you've read in the past that you really liked. It's hard to find these titles sometimes. Especially with the romances, the plot descriptions on the back sometimes purposely don't mention disability. Even with the reader reviews on Amazon, it can be hard to tell which are devo-friendly and which are stupid (ie, the hero must be cured before they can have a relationship). And I'm glad to hear my reviews are helpful! If we read the same things, we can have a book club thread here too if you all are interested.

[devogirl]

FYI an old thread on devo fiction:

paradevo.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=584&page=1

Although only the first page is about novels, it goes off topic pretty quickly.

[Ciao Bella]

this thread brings me back to the days I discovered Nancy Drew. After reading the whole collection, I turned my sights to Cherry Ames (also writtten by Carolyn Keene - pen name) who was an army nurse tending to the injured army men. I knew there was soomething strange going on when I was enjoying (indeed, rather envying the protagonist) reading the stories. Unfortunately, I don't think Cherry Ames took off as well as Nancy Drew.

[BA]

I loved Cherry Ames so much that I became Cherry Ames.

[Ciao Bella]

OMG AB! I was just about to say Cherry Ames as well when I scrolled to the last post by you! I think I still have the original hardbound books in my mum's house overseas. Started reading them when I finished all the Nancy Drew books one summer. I remember feeling a bit naughty reading Cherry Ames that I would actually hide in one corner when my parents were around, or better yet, waited for my parents to leave for the day before grabbing a book. It's funny how I felt I was doing something wrong by reading such harmless books.

[CJ]

Here are some books I've read that have a main character with SCI, disability, or scars.

A Man Like Mac - SCI
Tender Rhapsody- SCI
Her Secret, His Child - SCI
Nothing More to Loose - SCI
The Viscount in her Bedroom - blind
The Morning Side of Dawn - Amputee
Winter Garden - Amputee
Down from the Mountain - blind, scarred
Beast in the Tower - scarred
The Veiled Bride - scarred
The Ruthless Billionaire's Virgin - scarred
The Man Behind the Mask - scarred
The Horseman's Bride - limp, scarred
If you Deceive - scarred
To Pleasure a Prince - scarred
Blue Moon - scarred
The Darkest Kiss - scarred
With this Kiss- scarred
Heart's Desire - limp
Shadow Prince - scarred
Night Magic - scarred
Maggie and the Maverick - amputee
At the Greek Boss's Bidding - blind
This is all I Ask - blind
Wait for Sunrise - blind
Once Upon a Wedding - amputee
Gallant Waif - limp, scarred
Anne's Perfect Husband - wounded
Shadow Lover - scarred
Yours until Dawn - blind, scarred
Once a Princess - scarred
After the Kiss - scarred
Love is Blind - scarred
Ravished - scarred
The Devil's Lady - blind
The Secret Pearl - limp, scarred
Castle of the Wolf - amputee
To Beguile a Beast - scarred
Nighttime Sweethearts - scarred
Out of the Darkness - scarred, crutches
Night of the Phantom - birthmark
The Lover - scarred
His Secondhand Wife - scarred
Texas Destiny - scarred
Be my Wife - scarred
Taming the Beast - scarred
The Mask - scarred
Beauty in Black - scarred
Simply Love - scarred, amputee
Dark Star of Love - crutches
Tapestry - scarred
Dancing at Midnight - limp
The Duke and I - stutter
The Girl Next Door - SCI
Ever Yours - scarred
Move Heaven and Earth - paralyzed
Entwined - blind, scarred
Beast - limp, scarred
The Veil of Night - scarred, mysterious illness
The Gambler's Heart - scarred
Snowbound - scars, limp
Beauty and the Baron - scarred
Moonlit - scarred

[faith]

Devogirl and CJ- thank you both.

I see it is time for a little summer reading!

[devogirl]

Yes, definitely time for summer reading! Thanks for that great list CJ. If there are any in particular you think are really good, let us know!

I updated the reviews section a few months ago, newer ones are at the bottom of the list:

www.paradevo.net/books.html

There's also a long list of romance novels with SCI characters here:

www.romantictimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11234&sid=3e75b0717ca4882158387704a351ad25

I think I've posted this here before, but in case you haven't seen it, I thought I'd mention it again. The RT forum is a pretty good source of information.

I just ordered another pile of books, so I'll let you know if I find a good one.

[gloriana]

When I Fall in Love by Iris Rainer Dart. Hero has CP. Heroine's teenage son newly injured SCI. Excellent writing, may be a little too pollyannaish for some.

Charlotte Vale Allen's Night Magic's hero has burn scars. Read it a long time ago, but it was quite a page turner.

[Ciao Bella]

Digressing a bit to movies...a couple of movies I saw when I was a very young lass:

- Leave Yesterday behind (John Ritter - as a para; and Carrie Fisher) ; and

Anyone know of this movie where the protagonist is a single arm amputee and a single leg amputee? the setting was in France somewhere and the movie must have been made around early 80's?