Weird parallels

[derien]

I just finished reading "The Lost Prince," by Frances Hodgson Burnett (she also wrote "The Secret Garden", "A Little Princess", and "Little Lord Fauntleroy"). And just at the end I felt like I'd slipped sideways into another universe, when a Count Vorversk showed up, with his coachman and footman in dark brown and gold liveries. Suddenly I realized that the description of the main character, Marco, really reminded me of the description of young Gregor, and that his sidekick, "The Rat", seemed kind of slightly Miles-ish (walks with crutches and has much more imagination than Marco for figuring things out) though in the Victorian time period and growing up poor.

Anyone else read this one?

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

No, I haven't--as a child I read The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, and that's all I've read of Burnett's. Fascinating! Maybe I'll have to pick up a copy at gutenberg.org.

[carbonel]

I did read it long ago -- I went on a Burnett binge and read a bunch of her less-famous books, and that was one of them. But I never made the Vorkosigan connection.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, but it was a long time before I read any Vorkosigan - but I sort of see what you mean...

[siliconshaman]

I'm thinking maybe a certain author might have read it as well...

[desertvixen]

I'd read it but didn't connect...

[filkferengi]

There're more parallels than that. The Rat had a father who'd fallen from gentleman status to drunkenness, much as Aral might've done, had things gone otherwise. The Rat was also military-mad, obsessed with honor, and given to snarky comments about his disabilities.

Sound familiar?

;)

[derien]

Yes, those things! I knew there was more that I wasn't skilled enough to express!

[filkferengi]

Sounds like we could both use a good re-read. :)