Fiction Monday: Landing by Emma Donoghue

Author Emma Donoghue, originally from Ireland, now a Canadian citizen, is a lesbian author who is very well known for her 3rd novel, Slammerkin which was published in 2000. The book is a historical novel with a story set in 1760s London. More than 11 years after its initial publication, it’s still a very popular work of fiction…but it’s not the Emma Donoghue work that I’m reviewing today.

My fiction interests do not really trend toward historical fiction in any genre. I start yawning when reading most anything that’s not a literary classic that’s set before the 1920s. That probably stems from the stacks of bodice ripping (straight) romantic fiction my mother always had laying around. That stuff was always set in the wild west, in California before the gold or somewhere in the English or Italian countryside circa 1800. The books, often well over 300 pages, were so predictable I couldn’t bear to read them after skimming through the first few. I think I was all of 13 when I gave up on that stuff.

Fast forward 30 plus years to the present! There’s so much more to choose from in the realms of fiction. I can now read romantic fiction set either in the past or in the modern day that features lesbian couples…even bodice ripping fiction. That said, I still have little interest in the historical stuff but I’m not against the “romantic” part of romantic fiction at all as long as it’s not totally full of mush. It needs to have some angst! There needs to be conflict! Laughter is good too.

Emma Donoghue wrote her 5th book, Landing in 2007. I much prefer this book to the slightly (only very slightly) more popular Slammerkin. This one is a lesbian love story that many people, gay and straight, can relate to: a long distance relationship. Our erstwhile couple are a Canadian museum curator and an Irish flight attendant world traveler – Jude and Sile (which, I’m told, is pronounced Sheila) respectively. Now, the two of them couldn’t be more different – introverted academic versus extroverted and worldly. Truly, opposites attract. It makes for a great story!

The Amazon.com synopsis/review:

Landing, is a story about how far people will step outside their comfort zones to be with the ones they love. Told through the eyes of Sile O’Shaughnessy, a cosmopolitan Irish flight attendant, and Jude Turner, a sheltered museum archivist from Ireland, Ontario, Landing is a touching, if not somewhat repetitive exploration of what we are, and are not, willing to give up for love.

From the moment Jude and Sile first meet aboard a transatlantic flight, the chemistry between them is undeniable. After a rushed coffee at Heathrow, each woman returns to her own life, yet they are unable to shake the butterflies of that initial encounter. What follows is a long-distance exchange of passionate e-mails, letters, phone calls, and visits, most of which leave Sile and Jude feeling both exhilarated and despondent after each goodbye. Surrounding each heroine is a circle of friends and family members whose romantic struggles and successes highlight the pleasure and pain that often come with falling in love.

Landing is a quick read, and it’s easy to become absorbed in this engaging long-distance relationship. Donoghue is skilled at brining out the humanity in each woman, so the sacrifices they both must make to keep their relationship alive never seem forced. And while we may grow tired of the constant late night missives and teary-eyed goodbyes, we find ourselves rooting for this couple, and hoping they will go the distance. –Gisele Toueg