{"id":11365,"date":"2019-01-09T19:35:56","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T00:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11365"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:39:41","slug":"think-of-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11365","title":{"rendered":"Think of England"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think of England<\/a><\/em> (2014) K.J. Charles<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in England in 1904<\/p>\n

Archie Curtis lost three of the fingers on his right hand as well as much of his company when a delivery of guns proved tragically defective. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a damned business. My company lost as many men in two minutes\u2019 practice firing than in six months of war before it.\u201d Seven deaths on the field; six more in the field hospital; two suicides, later. Three men blinded. Mutilations and amputations. \u201cThe entire crate of guns was deadly.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, two years later, he is searching for clues as to why it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to Lafayette? Did someone say he died?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a fortnight after I spoke to him. A couple of weeks ago now. He was found in the Thames. It seems he hit his head and fell into the river.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHit his head,\u201d da Silva repeated. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDid anyone wonder if someone hit his head for him?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Daniel de Silva is a dandy and an effete. Curtis has no idea how he ended up at the house party, but he the man makes him uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

He grabbed for the nearest serving dish and proffered it, in the hope of changing the subject. \u201cHam?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, thank you.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a jolly good one.\u201d <\/p>\n

Da Silva blinked, slowly, like a lizard. \u201cI dare say, but I fear I haven\u2019t converted since we last spoke.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cCon\u2014 Oh. Oh, I beg your pardon. I quite forgot you were a Jew.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHow refreshing. So few people do.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I really liked this story. <\/p>\n

\u201cI, er,\u201d said Curtis, with the natural awkwardness of an Englishman caught reading poetry. \u201cI just, er, picked this up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Curtis doesn’t know how to deal with da Silva, but unlike many of the other at the house party, he doesn’t hold da Sliva in contempt.<\/p>\n

He was alone in a room with a chap who preferred men, and the fellow was looking <\/em>at him. <\/p>\n

Curtis couldn\u2019t think of a damned thing to say.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a KJ Charles book, so it’s a M\/M romance, and there is boinking.<\/p>\n

There is also adventure and mystery and a fair amount of action towards the end.<\/p>\n

And even though this was published originally in 2014, and set in 1904, some things continue to ring true.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, none of this will last. This country is heading for a crash, mark my words. There are other nations rising, ones with stronger, purer ideals and men who are prepared to work, to aspire. If we don\u2019t set ourselves to join them now, it won\u2019t be long before we face them on the battlefield. And we\u2019ll be better off doing either without parasites sapping our strength from within.\u201d <\/p>\n

Curtis had heard this kind of talk a few times, and never from men who had actually put on a uniform. Normally a patient man, he had found armchair warriors almost intolerable since Jacobsdal, and there was a snap in his voice as he replied, \u201cYes, jolly good. So, when that conflict comes, will you be joining the army? Or, why not now, if you\u2019re so keen?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although there is boinking, and the mystery isn’t that complicated, it’s a lovely and enjoyable story.<\/p>\n

Publisher: KJC Books
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think of England (2014) K.J. Charles Set in England in 1904 Archie Curtis lost three of the fingers on his right hand as well as much of his company when a delivery of guns proved tragically defective. \u201cIt was a damned business. My company lost as many men in two minutes\u2019 practice firing than in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[191,30,33,742,148,26,56],"tags":[606,50,563,681,617,476,544,513,655],"class_list":["post-11365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-british","category-historical","category-physical-health","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-amputation","tag-boinking","tag-edwardian-era","tag-homophobia","tag-injury","tag-kj-charles","tag-mm","tag-suicide","tag-violence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2Xj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23258,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23258","url_meta":{"origin":11365,"position":0},"title":"Think of England","author":"Michelle","date":"February 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Think of England (2014) K.J. Charles Set in England in 1904 (Peakholme) had been an extraordinarily modern creation at that time, equipped with the very latest innovations, with running water in all the bathrooms, heated by hot-water radiators and illuminated throughout by electricity from his own hydroelectric generator. \u201cIt was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Think of England","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Think-of-England.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13375,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13375","url_meta":{"origin":11365,"position":1},"title":"Think of England","author":"Michelle","date":"August 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Think of England (2015) KJ Charles Set in England in 1904. Comfort read. Which for me generally means murder. This story doesn't start with murder, but there is death, and blackmail, and treason. Archie Curtis lost friends, his career, and several of his fingers when a shipment of guns exploded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Think of England","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Think-of-England.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20852,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20852","url_meta":{"origin":11365,"position":2},"title":"Bewitching Benedict","author":"Michelle","date":"October 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Bewitching Benedict (2017) C. E. Murphy (The Lovelorn Lads) Set in England ~1800 (Napoleonic Wars) Claire Dalton is excited her cousin and two friends are coming to visit. She hasn't seen her cousin since he left for the war, and hopes he and his friends are as dashing as she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bewitching Benedict","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Bewitching-Benedict.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21480,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21480","url_meta":{"origin":11365,"position":3},"title":"Masters in This Hall","author":"Michelle","date":"January 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Masters in This Hall (2022) K.J. Charles (Lilywhite Boys) Set in England in 1899. John Garland might not have had everything, like his uncle and his cousin, but he was respectable and had a job he was good at. Until it all came crashing down. Now he is heading to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Masters in This Hall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Masters-in-This-Hall.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13253,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13253","url_meta":{"origin":11365,"position":4},"title":"A Fashionable Indulgence","author":"Michelle","date":"June 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Fashionable Indulgence (2015) KJ Charles (Society of Gentlemen) Set in London in 1819. Harry Vane has spent his life on the run. His parents were both radicals and they had to flee England after a riot broke out during one of his father's speeches. 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The Angel\u2019s founders had created a single path of redemption for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/No-Good-Duke-Goes-Unpunished.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}