Click for Source Image By Hayley Charlesworth
Welcome to another edition of I’m With Geek’s dedicated sex-in-literature feature, Between the Sheets. This time, we’re venturing into the past and colonial Australia with Keira Andrews’ historical romance, The Station.
Welcome to another edition of I’m With Geek’s dedicated sex-in-literature feature, Between the Sheets. This time, we’re venturing into the past and colonial Australia with Keira Andrews’ historical romance, The Station.
Click for Source Image Set around the prison colonies of early Australia, The Station is the story of Colin Lancaster, a properly-raised gentleman from a respected English family, and en route to Cambridge. But ever since his younger years, when he witnessed Irish stable boy Patrick Callaghan getting amorous with another man, Colin has questioned his sexuality. And when courageously admitting his feelings to rescue a caught Patrick from execution, the two are sentenced to the Australian prison colonies, and into the servitude of fearsome widow Emily Grant. There, they have to face the trials and tribulations of the desert, intimidating rival landowners, and Colin and Patrick’s own desires.
Canadian author Andrews lived in Australia for a while, and this is evident in her luscious, atmospheric description of the vast desert awaiting Patrick and Colin. Her characters are well drawn; from Emily, the recently bereaved landowner whose icy exterior gradually softens and she accepts that Colin and Patrick aren’t inherently bad people; to cattle wrangler Robbie, a young man so optimistic that he doesn’t think twice about travelling with a widow and two convicted “deviants”. The story is, however, Colin’s, and Patrick’s to some extent, and Andrews does a wonderful job of making Colin a relatable lead, despite his life being a completely different experience to contemporary readers.
But it is the sex scenes we’re discussing in this feature, and The Station has many. What is immediately striking about The Station is that Andrews uses language in her writing of the sex scenes that would be appropriate for the time period and the setting, but it feels natural to read, and adds to the charm of the book rather than being unnecessarily distracting. The experience of sex also changes and evolves over time, from Colin’s initial confusion over how sex with another man works, to the desperate and meaningless trysts between Colin and Patrick on the convict ship, a necessity to endure the awful conditions and to protect Colin from other convicts who want to claim and use him. Eventually, in the Australian desert, these encounters evolve from satisfying a basic need to a genuine connection and love between the two men, free from the confines of British society and surrounded by nothing but sand, cattle, and two other people who have experienced too much to be offended by what was back then a criminal offence. The way that Andrews makes sex serve so many different purposes throughout her book is a testament to her skills as a writer, and sets her apart from other romance authors. While in many romance novels, you find that sex is present because, well, that’s what the genre’s about, in The Station, sex also serves as a plot device in the most positive sense. It’s presence in the narrative has a purpose beyond mere titillation and genre norms. In The Station, Andrews has crafted a stunning read full of originality and flair.
Canadian author Andrews lived in Australia for a while, and this is evident in her luscious, atmospheric description of the vast desert awaiting Patrick and Colin. Her characters are well drawn; from Emily, the recently bereaved landowner whose icy exterior gradually softens and she accepts that Colin and Patrick aren’t inherently bad people; to cattle wrangler Robbie, a young man so optimistic that he doesn’t think twice about travelling with a widow and two convicted “deviants”. The story is, however, Colin’s, and Patrick’s to some extent, and Andrews does a wonderful job of making Colin a relatable lead, despite his life being a completely different experience to contemporary readers.
But it is the sex scenes we’re discussing in this feature, and The Station has many. What is immediately striking about The Station is that Andrews uses language in her writing of the sex scenes that would be appropriate for the time period and the setting, but it feels natural to read, and adds to the charm of the book rather than being unnecessarily distracting. The experience of sex also changes and evolves over time, from Colin’s initial confusion over how sex with another man works, to the desperate and meaningless trysts between Colin and Patrick on the convict ship, a necessity to endure the awful conditions and to protect Colin from other convicts who want to claim and use him. Eventually, in the Australian desert, these encounters evolve from satisfying a basic need to a genuine connection and love between the two men, free from the confines of British society and surrounded by nothing but sand, cattle, and two other people who have experienced too much to be offended by what was back then a criminal offence. The way that Andrews makes sex serve so many different purposes throughout her book is a testament to her skills as a writer, and sets her apart from other romance authors. While in many romance novels, you find that sex is present because, well, that’s what the genre’s about, in The Station, sex also serves as a plot device in the most positive sense. It’s presence in the narrative has a purpose beyond mere titillation and genre norms. In The Station, Andrews has crafted a stunning read full of originality and flair.
Do you like the sound of this book? Have you ever read anything by Keira Andrews before?
Let us know in the comments or come let us know on our Facebook page or on Twitter!
Let us know in the comments or come let us know on our Facebook page or on Twitter!
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