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Cross and Poppy

 Cross and Poppy
type
TVTItem
 Cross and Poppy
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Cross and Poppy
 Cross and Poppy
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CrossAndPoppy
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2013 British (… very, very British) novel by GMW Wemyss: the first in the Village Tales series. A cozy, witty-as-hell Slice of Life tale set in The West Country: pure Barsetshire … if Barsetshire were updated to account for today's problems and concerns.The Woolfonts – Magna, Parva, Abbas, and Crucis – are placid, chocolate-box villages, genially presided over by the Duke of Taunton (who's not as much a P. G. Wodehouse character as he pretends) and home to gentry, worthy rural folk, and a few celebrities: Edmond Huskisson, a retired footballer; Brian "The Breener" Maguire, Irish-born former England cricketer; celebrity "Hipsta Chef" Teddy Gates; the Hon. Gwen Evans, who runs the local racing stud; and their absurdly gorgeous friend Mr. Sher Mirza MA, a British Pakistani who teaches at the local Free School and is a well-known musicologist. All that the villages need is a new, Anglo-Catholic rector for the joined parishes. And the Duke – over the opposition of the Bishop; Canon Judith Potecary; and His Grace's old school-fellow (prepper, Eton, and Oxford), the Archdeacon – gets the rector he wants, though not without open ecclesiastical warfare.The new Rector is handsome young widower the Rev. Noel Paddick; and with Father (yes, he's that High Church) Paddick's arrival, unexpected events are set in motion … including (apparently) an unlikely love triangle; family secrets; new alliances; an outbreak of racially-aggravated offenses; and, very nearly, murder.A list of characters is in the works.
 Cross and Poppy
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2024-03-15T20:01:36Z
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2024-03-15T20:01:37Z
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DBTropes
 Cross and Poppy / int_101254d3
type
Barsetshire
 Cross and Poppy / int_101254d3
comment
Barsetshire: Played straight as far as being – most of the time – a place "for a quiet, relaxing time." Not infrequently subverted as far as crime and tragedy being "muted," or the events being only "gently amusing." After all, some of his students try to frame English master Sher Mirza as a pedophile, poison his cat, Eric (who survives), and ultimately attempt murder by arson. And there are funerals as well as christenings.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_10e866aa
type
Fangirl
 Cross and Poppy / int_10e866aa
comment
Fangirl: That, Hetty is. She's about thirteen; it's normal. Embarrassing to everyone else, and perhaps to her in a few years, but normal.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_112daba0
type
Retired Badass
 Cross and Poppy / int_112daba0
comment
Retired Badass: Lashings of them. Even the Bishop was a Royal Navy chaplain in his day. The Duke was an Int Corps officer – at the sharp end, in both Iraq Wars and in Afghanistan. (Oddly, the Duke is too downright (read: abrasive, don't-give-a-damn, and arrogant) to be a Guile Hero despite being a former Int Corps officer. Then again, there's a difference between secret intelligence and Army intelligence….) Mr. Kellow's war was the Falklands. And on Remembrance Sunday … well: Yeah, that one's a Crowning Moment of several things. Mileage will not vary. If you ever doubted the Brits were all Proud Warrior Race Guys….
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 Cross and Poppy / int_1282bf4f
type
No Celebrities Were Harmed
 Cross and Poppy / int_1282bf4f
comment
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lampshaded again and again as a Running Gag. And, Justified (or not: YMMV) by Word of God in the Afterword, with a detailed explanation you may or may not choose to believe.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_153299b4
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Boisterous Bruiser
 Cross and Poppy / int_153299b4
comment
Of course, The Breener is a Boisterous Bruiser anyway.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_1b596e24
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The Beard
 Cross and Poppy / int_1b596e24
comment
The Beard: Briefly, Gwen for Sher.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_1c751b35
type
The Vicar
 Cross and Poppy / int_1c751b35
comment
The Vicar: Subverted – not only with Father Paddick, but with all the clergy, including RC colleague Monsignor Folan, the Bishop, and indeed Sher's imam, Dr Jettou. Father Paddick is, after all, a widower, capable of punching out a footballer, a former schools boxing champion, and perfectly well aware of what a sexy couple he and Sher Mirza would make were it not that each just wants the other to be happy – including by being each at ease with his conscience.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_1dfbbf31
type
Heterosexual Life-Partners
 Cross and Poppy / int_1dfbbf31
comment
Heterosexual Life-Partners: Viney and the Duke. The Duke and Sir Thomas Douty may be heading in that direction, too.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_1e7c47ab
type
Stealth Pun
 Cross and Poppy / int_1e7c47ab
comment
Stealth Pun: Unless you believe the Afterword, in which Word of God plausiblynote a word that does not here necessarily mean "honestly" or "convincingly" argues that there are no Expys or Captains Ersatz, and that Teddy Gates – a tall, green-eyed, dimpled hipster chef with a wild mane and a Cheshire birthplace who sings second tenor / baritone – is not based on any celebrity at all, there's the Duke's hailing him with "Gates! Gates! (More like ruddy stiles, lame dogs, for helping over of….) Gates!" And the time the Duke, knowing that Sher has a cat named Eric, manages to give him a Clumber puppy named Ernestine…. And Teddy saying that, having settled down with the Puckish, refuses-to-grow-up Edmond, he's now Peter-Pansexual…. And the two old farmers down the pub talking about rapenote as in, canola oil crops and sheep. Okay, there's not a Hurricane, but even Michael Fish would admit there's a strong front of puns.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_1fdaf8ff
type
Ominous Latin Chanting
 Cross and Poppy / int_1fdaf8ff
comment
Ominous Latin Chanting: Averted in favor of Anglican chant and every Church of England setting for Mattins and Evensong ever published.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_20152e12
type
Real Place Background
 Cross and Poppy / int_20152e12
comment
Real-Place Background: The novel's location is obvious if you read the clues. (And if you can't, there's a fake Ordnance Survey map on the back cover with only the names changed and the orientation flipped.) It's pretty clearly Teffont Magna,Teffont Evias, and the country 'round.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_21ef4ccd
type
Good Is Not Dumb
 Cross and Poppy / int_21ef4ccd
comment
Good Is Not Dumb: All the protagonists get to hold that ball pretty frequently.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_21f60711
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Good Is Not Soft
 Cross and Poppy / int_21f60711
comment
Good Is Not Soft: Pretty much the theme of the whole book.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_24cdd048
type
Arcadia
 Cross and Poppy / int_24cdd048
comment
Arcadia: Even with the "et ego," the countryside is simply better. (For one thing, there are no chalk-streams in London; they won't let the Duke shoot journalists and politicians on the wing; and as for huntin', damn it all….)
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 Cross and Poppy / int_25507b92
type
Calming Tea
 Cross and Poppy / int_25507b92
comment
Calming Tea: Tea is the answer to all of life's problems. When Sher and Noel finally discuss Out Loud their mutual attraction, Sher nervously raises the subject and Noel's response is, "Well, then, sit down, have a biscuit and – good, there is yet tea – tell me about it."
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 Cross and Poppy / int_26d1f65f
type
Verbal Tic
 Cross and Poppy / int_26d1f65f
comment
Lampshaded when the Duke of Taunton is forever complaining that "nobody reads [Classic Author X] nowadays, what in buggery is the country coming to?"….
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 Cross and Poppy / int_297ab1b9
type
Parental Abandonment
 Cross and Poppy / int_297ab1b9
comment
Parental Abandonment / Parental Substitute: The Duke's brother is an unsatisfactory person, and a deserter as a husband and father. The Duke for all his faults more than makes up for this as to his nephews and niece.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_2a02e5c9
type
Guile Hero
 Cross and Poppy / int_2a02e5c9
comment
The Duke was an Int Corps officer – at the sharp end, in both Iraq Wars and in Afghanistan. (Oddly, the Duke is too downright (read: abrasive, don't-give-a-damn, and arrogant) to be a Guile Hero despite being a former Int Corps officer. Then again, there's a difference between secret intelligence and Army intelligence….)
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 Cross and Poppy / int_2b49eaf
type
Damsel out of Distress
 Cross and Poppy / int_2b49eaf
comment
Damsel out of Distress: Do not mess with Gwen if you value your bollocks. She doesn't like to be rescued,.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_2dc0d2bf
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Hidden Depths
 Cross and Poppy / int_2dc0d2bf
comment
Hidden Depths: Everyone. Smarter or more powerful or less innocent or more nuanced than they look, and most of them have what they and only they refuse to consider a Dark and Troubled Past.
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Cross and Poppy / int_2dc0d2bf
 Cross and Poppy / int_2df4fa08
type
Omniglot
 Cross and Poppy / int_2df4fa08
comment
Omniglot: Lots of them, all justified. The Duke (there's a reason he was in Int Corps); Fr. Paddick (there's a reason he was up at Keble, and theologians are expected to read Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, and if possible French and German); Teddy "Hipsta Chef" Gates (who trained in France: there's a reason he's a celebrated patissier); Sher Mirza (it's an irony that the only other Urdu-speaker in sight is the Duke); HH the Nawab and his Begum ( Sher's aunt), when they stop by…. Edmond has a Belgian gran, but all that seems to have given him is his forename.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_3126c34a
type
Insufferable Genius
 Cross and Poppy / int_3126c34a
comment
Insufferable Genius: Yeah, guess. Points if you guessed the Duke. (And points mean prizes!)
 Cross and Poppy / int_3126c34a
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Cross and Poppy / int_3126c34a
 Cross and Poppy / int_36135fb0
type
Official Couple
 Cross and Poppy / int_36135fb0
comment
Official Couple: Several. Teddy and Edmond; as a Chastity Couple, Sher and Noel; and, to much surprise, Gwen and The Breener.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_3c0a4666
type
Noodle Incident
 Cross and Poppy / int_3c0a4666
comment
Noodle Incident: The Duke's brother has left the UK (and his wife and kids). That's one. In another, The Breener has screwed his knees up so badly he had to retire from cricket and in fact can no longer ride a horse (which, considering that he ends up engaged to Gwen Evans, who owns a racing stud, could be problematic). Why? There are some things Man Was Not Meant to Know.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_3eb8ba12
type
Description Porn
 Cross and Poppy / int_3eb8ba12
comment
Description Porn: Sometimes pages of it – usually Scenery Porn. And it's weaponized. It lulls you into unsuspecting Barsetshire placidity (as it is meant to do)…. And then, bam. And,
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 Cross and Poppy / int_47e9e5c6
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Smart People Know Latin
 Cross and Poppy / int_47e9e5c6
comment
Smart People Know Latin: They'd better, with the Duke around. And, rather subversively, Father Paddick, who was a scholarship boy, is proudly of working-class antecedents, and has no qualms about Latin in sermons.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_48d9e12d
type
Funetik Aksent
 Cross and Poppy / int_48d9e12d
comment
Funetik Aksent: Avoided with two exceptions – it's otherwise subtly indicated with word choice and grammar. For The Breener, it's justified and subtly lampshaded by his keeping up a Stage Irishman turn for the sake of his lucrative after-dinner speaking engagements and his role on TMS as a retired Irish-born England cricketer. For Mr. Kellow, the jovial landlord of the Blue Boar and aging fan of Northern Soul, it's justified — and has more lampshades than a Chinese restaurant — in that, even though his old dad had had him apprentice in every pub from Land's End to John o' Groats (including Noel's native Wolverhampton, where Mr. Kellow danced all night, he himself realizes that trippers and tourists expect a West Country publican to sound like someone out of Hot Fuzz. And he gives them that, Turned up to eleven, to the point he can't turn it off.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_5067fd81
type
Everyone Is Bi
 Cross and Poppy / int_5067fd81
comment
Everyone Is Bi: Teddy believes everyone is to some extent (which may be Truth in Television) and that when it comes to Noel or Sher, Even the Guys Want Him. Which may also be Truth in Television. Mind, the Duke probably hasn't noticed anyone's attractiveness.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_5313c266
type
Bookends
 Cross and Poppy / int_5313c266
comment
Book Ends: Sher and Noel first meet over tea; as the novel ends, they agree to become a Chastity Couple … over tea.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_55bd649c
type
Boy Band
 Cross and Poppy / int_55bd649c
comment
Boy Band: With extra years and mileage, a Running Gag for Father Paddick and the Lads (Edmond, Teddy, The Breener, and Sher). Particularly at the Village Concert. Played straight, these are the only interest (other than horses and boys) the Duke's adolescent niece Hetty has.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_562abd51
type
Let's Get Dangerous!
 Cross and Poppy / int_562abd51
comment
Leads to a Let's Get Dangerous! moment for Edmond and The Breener.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_57a9e2af
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The Four Loves
 Cross and Poppy / int_57a9e2af
comment
The Four Loves: Major theme here. And the text of Father Paddick's Remembrance Sunday sermon. And why Sher and Noel make the sacrifice of remaining a Chastity Couple.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_58962105
type
White-and-Grey Morality
 Cross and Poppy / int_58962105
comment
White-and-Grey Morality: With few exceptions namely, the students who try to ruin or kill Sher, there are no utter villains – or saints, according to Father Paddick, although he gets some look-in-the-mirror pushback on that. And he thinks that even the three students are redeemable if they choose to be.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_5cd4cebb
type
No Badass to His Valet
 Cross and Poppy / int_5cd4cebb
comment
No Badass to His Valet / No Hero to His Valet: Averted: the Duke and Viney respect one another completely.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_5d7cfc66
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The Jeeves
 Cross and Poppy / int_5d7cfc66
comment
The Jeeves: Viney – if subverted insofar as the Duke is no Bertie Wooster.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_60547993
type
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
 Cross and Poppy / int_60547993
comment
Father Paddick is, after all, a widower, capable of punching out a footballer, a former schools boxing champion, and perfectly well aware of what a sexy couple he and Sher Mirza would make were it not that each just wants the other to be happy – including by being each at ease with his conscience.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_641cf81d
type
Viewers Are Geniuses
 Cross and Poppy / int_641cf81d
comment
Viewers Are Geniuses: You're expected to keep up when there's a sly reference to Betjeman or Eliot or Kipling or British history or Anglican infighting. And there will be. On every page. It's not mandatory, but it doubles the number of jokes.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_6bccf2ba
type
Supreme Chef
 Cross and Poppy / int_6bccf2ba
comment
Supreme Chef: Teddy. And he knows it.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_70ade2c4
type
Culture Clash
 Cross and Poppy / int_70ade2c4
comment
Culture Clash: Drives much of the plot: not only the Anglican infighting, but between Sher and Edmond to the point where each sees In-Universe Values Dissonance in the other's views.
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Cross and Poppy / int_70ade2c4
 Cross and Poppy / int_716d9138
type
Bar Brawl
 Cross and Poppy / int_716d9138
comment
Bar Brawl / Diner Brawl: Subverted. There is a brawl … at Teddy's Michelin-starred restaurant, involving three League One footballers who make the mistake of insulting Gwen Evans, calling Sher a 'skinny, Paki mince,' and doing so on a night on which the Duke is dining with the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable – and on which Father Paddick, The Breener, and Edmond are present. No one had told them that Fr. Paddick had been a boxer as a schoolboy, or that His Grace the Duke was a Retired Badass with lots of BerserkButtons. Leads to a Let's Get Dangerous! moment for Edmond and The Breener. Of course, The Breener is a Boisterous Bruiser anyway. The footballers also made the fatal mistake of not being Nice to the Waiter.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_722b3319
type
Camp Gay
 Cross and Poppy / int_722b3319
comment
Camp Gay: Edmond, when he chooses. When he doesn't, it's Straight Gay all the way. He picks his times based on amusement value – or Aesop value. The Breener has suggested that once Edmond was outed, he went all out … and all-in.
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Belief Makes You Stupid
 Cross and Poppy / int_79b5677
comment
Belief Makes You Stupid: Subverted, not surprisingly. But not inverted: Dr Emily Witchard the GP, and Edmond, are by no means HollywoodAtheists.
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Cross and Poppy / int_79b5677
 Cross and Poppy / int_7b7182fe
type
Closet Key
 Cross and Poppy / int_7b7182fe
comment
Closet Key: Played with. Both as to Sher's being Noel's and Noel's being Sher's. Father Noel Paddick never said he couldn't be attracted to another man, he just never thought he would be; and although Sher Mirza's out as bi to those who matter, he'd never before thought he'd have a reason to act on it for more than a night or a dirty weekend. And in the end, it doesn't really matter, because they both just want the other to be happy – including by being at ease with his conscience. So they agree to be a Chastity Couple. (On the other hand, sequels are promised….)
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Cross and Poppy / int_7b7182fe
 Cross and Poppy / int_842426f3
type
Grande Dame
 Cross and Poppy / int_842426f3
comment
Grande Dame: Lady Douty, in a Helen, Duchess of Denver, sort of way. The Duke said she did good works in the parish in such a fashion as to make virtue intolerable. That was before she died, of course. Nil nisi bonum and All That. Both Canon Judith Potecary in neighboring Beechbourne ("I need your validation like a fish needs a chasuble"), and Lady Crispin, the Duke's sister-in-law, will be, the minute they're old enough.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_853df68b
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Rail Enthusiast
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comment
Rail Enthusiast: Not only is the Duke determined to create a heritage railway for the district, but there's a huge model railway at Wolfdown House. And Father Paddick's journey from Wolverhampton to Bristol, by rail, to meet the Duke for the first time, is lyrically described.
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Cross and Poppy / int_853df68b
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Badass Boast
 Cross and Poppy / int_86b21114
comment
Badass Boast: Everyone gets one. Especially the Duke:
 Cross and Poppy / int_86b21114
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Cross and Poppy / int_86b21114
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No Communities Were Harmed
 Cross and Poppy / int_87629455
comment
No Communities Were Harmed: The work is discreet with place-names. Roads and topography and rail stations … not so much.
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Cross and Poppy / int_87629455
 Cross and Poppy / int_8a1215e0
type
Bratty Teenage Daughter
 Cross and Poppy / int_8a1215e0
comment
Bratty Teenage Daughter / Dumbass Teenage Son: Averted. The ducal niece and nephews are normal, sane, well-brought-up teens … although Hetty is not as clever as the rest of the family and is mostly interested in boys, horses, and TeenIdols (particularly – Running Gag alert – One Direction).
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Cross and Poppy / int_8a1215e0
 Cross and Poppy / int_8c1ad82f
type
Proud Warrior Race Guy
 Cross and Poppy / int_8c1ad82f
comment
Yeah, that one's a Crowning Moment of several things. Mileage will not vary. If you ever doubted the Brits were all Proud Warrior Race Guys….
 Cross and Poppy / int_8c1ad82f
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Cross and Poppy / int_8c1ad82f
 Cross and Poppy / int_8e92e125
type
Lawyer-Friendly Cameo
 Cross and Poppy / int_8e92e125
comment
Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The Duke's a duke. He knows everyone. So There's Boris Johnson at Father Paddick's institution as Rector; The Duke's always shouting down the telephone at the Cabinet for being Wet; There are Royals in the offing; And as Edmond notes, letting him loose on the Village Fête and the Village Concert is just asking for trouble. Over the years, the Duke has had Vera Lynn, BRIAN BLESSED, and Jethro Tull for the Village Concerts and Fetes; brought in Professor Brian Cox and Professor Brian May as guest science masters at the Free School (a jam session broke out); and managed to get Barry Cryer and Ronnie Corbett to star in the panto.
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Cross and Poppy / int_8e92e125
 Cross and Poppy / int_99b2613a
type
Oop North
 Cross and Poppy / int_99b2613a
comment
Oop North: Every member of the Five-Man Band save The Breener (if you count the West Midlands, for Father Noel Paddick, as the North – which it is by West Country standards). A certain amount of mild, Comedy of Manners Hilarity Ensues.
 Cross and Poppy / int_99b2613a
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Cross and Poppy / int_99b2613a
 Cross and Poppy / int_a39d6056
type
Nice to the Waiter
 Cross and Poppy / int_a39d6056
comment
The footballers also made the fatal mistake of not being Nice to the Waiter.
 Cross and Poppy / int_a39d6056
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Cross and Poppy / int_a39d6056
 Cross and Poppy / int_a3a7c41
type
Black Sheep
 Cross and Poppy / int_a3a7c41
comment
Black Sheep: Lord Crispin, the Duke's perpetually absent brother, who has abandoned his wife and children and is pretty much a modern Remittance Man. There's a Noodle Incident in there somewhere.
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Cross and Poppy / int_a3a7c41
 Cross and Poppy / int_a63f45d5
type
Cool Uncle
 Cross and Poppy / int_a63f45d5
comment
Cool Uncle: The Duke to Rupert, James, and Hetty.
 Cross and Poppy / int_a63f45d5
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Cross and Poppy / int_a63f45d5
 Cross and Poppy / int_a8a5e4ed
type
Christianity Is Catholic
 Cross and Poppy / int_a8a5e4ed
comment
Christianity is Catholic: Oh no it isn't. Brian "The Breener" Maguire is. So – of course – is that "Socrates in a Roman Collar," Monsignor Folan. But the C of E is front and center, in all its factions, along with atheists, agnostics, Sunni Muslims ( Sher, being stuck in the West Country as a Hanafi and a British Pakistani, is rather lonely in an area where the nearest masjid is Maliki and largely Moroccan: the writer has Shown His Work), Methodists, and other Non-Conformists.
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Cross and Poppy / int_a8a5e4ed
 Cross and Poppy / int_abe4d7b
type
Blue Blood
 Cross and Poppy / int_abe4d7b
comment
Blue Blood: Well, the Duke, obviously (and his nearby cousin several times over, Kit, the Duke of Trowbridge, whose title is owed to Charles II via a mistress). Had James The Second actually been married to the Duke of Taunton's great-several-generations-gran, Taunton would be a Royal Who Does Something. (Kit Trowbridge, though Frightfully Nice … would be Idle Rich even if he were royal.) As it is, he's an Old Etonian, he was up at the House, and he's a duke. That makes him quite dangerous enough as it stands.
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Cross and Poppy / int_abe4d7b
 Cross and Poppy / int_ae3d6438
type
Deadpan Snarker
 Cross and Poppy / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker: The duke is unabashedly an Oxbridge, Gentleman Snarker. Of course he's the Snark Knight. (To what extent he's an Author Avatar in this is up to the reader.) And many, many more. Father Paddick has his moments as well. As does Edmond I'm Not Thick Merely Because I Chose the Beautiful Game Over Uni, Ta Ever So Huskisson. Every adult and most of the teenagers get at least one good line. Even Lady Crispin.
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Cross and Poppy / int_ae3d6438
 Cross and Poppy / int_bbf11c0
type
Genius Bruiser
 Cross and Poppy / int_bbf11c0
comment
Genius Bruiser: The Breener, though he'll never admit the "genius" part. A man who kept wicket for England, Misses Nothing.
 Cross and Poppy / int_bbf11c0
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Cross and Poppy / int_bbf11c0
 Cross and Poppy / int_bc74ef27
type
Berserk Button
 Cross and Poppy / int_bc74ef27
comment
Edmond, on gay rights (which is one thing; accusing Sher of using the Quran as a closet unwisely presses Sher's Berserk Button;
 Cross and Poppy / int_bc74ef27
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Cross and Poppy / int_bc74ef27
 Cross and Poppy / int_c3cb84e2
type
Simple, yet Opulent
 Cross and Poppy / int_c3cb84e2
comment
Simple, yet Opulent: The Duke – having started (the title was in abeyance and the land and cash in trust until his father was middle-aged) as an Impoverished Patrician who could only dream of being Land Poor – is this in his personal style. When it comes to handing out dosh to others, though, he's very much the Eccentric Millionaire.
 Cross and Poppy / int_c3cb84e2
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Cross and Poppy / int_c3cb84e2
 Cross and Poppy / int_c57293d6
type
Chastity Couple
 Cross and Poppy / int_c57293d6
comment
as a Chastity Couple, Sher and Noel; and,
 Cross and Poppy / int_c57293d6
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Cross and Poppy / int_c57293d6
 Cross and Poppy / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Cross and Poppy / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: Echoes, allusions, inversions of Quotable Lines from every English poet…. Eliot and Borges and Pratchett have nothing on this guy. And nobody since Anthony Price has made more shout-outs to Kipling. Lampshaded when the Duke of Taunton is forever complaining that "nobody reads [Classic Author X] nowadays, what in buggery is the country coming to?"…. The Duke, when behind the wheel of his Bristol, is said to have Richard Hammond as his spirit animal.
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Cross and Poppy / int_c75df49a
 Cross and Poppy / int_c76f81b8
type
Non-Idle Rich
 Cross and Poppy / int_c76f81b8
comment
Non-Idle Rich: The Duke. And Sir Thomas.
 Cross and Poppy / int_c76f81b8
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Cross and Poppy / int_c76f81b8
 Cross and Poppy / int_ca895242
type
Officer and a Gentleman
 Cross and Poppy / int_ca895242
comment
Officer and a Gentleman: Subverted with the Duke. Technically, he's both; but he's a duke, and consequently insufferable at times: being a kindly gentleman is for the upper-middle classes, damn it all. There's a reason why the Duke of Edinburgh described him as having "a refreshing lack of diplomacy."
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Cross and Poppy / int_ca895242
 Cross and Poppy / int_cc4b45f6
type
Word of God
 Cross and Poppy / int_cc4b45f6
comment
Justified (or not: YMMV) by Word of God in the Afterword, with a detailed explanation you may or may not choose to believe.
 Cross and Poppy / int_cc4b45f6
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Cross and Poppy / int_cc4b45f6
 Cross and Poppy / int_d03fc3f1
type
Good Shepherd
 Cross and Poppy / int_d03fc3f1
comment
The Good Shepherd: Father Paddick, in spades; but really, the whole Church of England gets to act as this in the book, regardless of their stances on the issues being fought over. Father Paddick, in addition to putting a footballer on the floor with one punch, also charges a burning cottage armed only with holy water to save Sher from an attempted murder by arson.
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Cross and Poppy / int_d03fc3f1
 Cross and Poppy / int_d080f396
type
The Napoleon
 Cross and Poppy / int_d080f396
comment
The Napoleon: The Duke is vertically challenged. And is the Duke. You do the math(s). You might say … he's short with everyone.
 Cross and Poppy / int_d080f396
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Cross and Poppy / int_d080f396
 Cross and Poppy / int_d7fc9fd0
type
Vitriolic Best Buds
 Cross and Poppy / int_d7fc9fd0
comment
Vitriolic Best Buds: The Lads with one another; Edmond with everyone; the Duke with Sir Thomas and (eventually) the Archdeacon and the Bishop; and the Duke with Lady Crispin.
 Cross and Poppy / int_d7fc9fd0
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Cross and Poppy / int_d7fc9fd0
 Cross and Poppy / int_d9d8fd35
type
Battle Butler
 Cross and Poppy / int_d9d8fd35
comment
Battle Butler: The Duke's butler, Viney – Mister Viney to you, unless you're the Duke or his family – and indeed all the staff at Wolfdown House. Viney's the other churchwarden (with the Duke), Vice-Captain (with the Duke) of the Woolfonts Combined XI, the overall XO for everything, and runs rings around the local constabulary for intel and investigation. As the Duke says, 'I haven't a network of informers, really, I've a staff' – and the Duke was an Intelligence Corps officer at the sharp end in Iraq and Afghanistan. Viney's less a Battle Butler than a Battle Bunter.
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Cross and Poppy / int_d9d8fd35
 Cross and Poppy / int_e3739de7
type
Cast Full of Pretty Boys
 Cross and Poppy / int_e3739de7
comment
Cast Full of Pretty Boys: The Rector, Teddy, Edmond, The Breener, Sher, the ducal nephews….
 Cross and Poppy / int_e3739de7
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 Cross and Poppy / int_e49686
type
The Hero
 Cross and Poppy / int_e49686
comment
The Hero: Possibly the villages as a whole. No one of the characters quite fits – and several of them would doubtless argue that they don't fit … as did Fr. Paddick when he rescued Sher from a fire, and shrugged it off….
 Cross and Poppy / int_e49686
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Cross and Poppy / int_e49686
 Cross and Poppy / int_e54362ef
type
Hunk
 Cross and Poppy / int_e54362ef
comment
The Hunk: Father Paddick. (Sher is more the male-model sort.) Edmond calls him "Vertonghen in vestments;" even the Duke's brother, writing (ostensibly) from the US, compares him to Tom Brady. And he's so damned nice, with it … face it, Fr. Paddick is basically a really sexy Captain Carrot In a Clerical Collar.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_e5484d58
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Soul
 Cross and Poppy / int_e5484d58
comment
Northern Soul: A major plot point in Fr. Paddick's acceptance and the creation of the Five-Man Band, through the Village Concert. And of making Sher drool over him. Of course, almost every Northern Soul song is a case of Intercourse with You, so....
 Cross and Poppy / int_e5484d58
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 Cross and Poppy / int_e567510d
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Determinator
 Cross and Poppy / int_e567510d
comment
Determinator: Every character in the book has Strong Principles and an inability to give up. Particularly the Rector and the Duke. Which is fine when they agree; otherwise….
 Cross and Poppy / int_e567510d
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 Cross and Poppy / int_ef20dac5
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Servile Snarker
 Cross and Poppy / int_ef20dac5
comment
Servile Snarker: Averted – but only because there's nothing servile about Viney.
 Cross and Poppy / int_ef20dac5
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Cross and Poppy / int_ef20dac5
 Cross and Poppy / int_f23ad6de
type
Food Porn
 Cross and Poppy / int_f23ad6de
comment
Food Porn: As long as there's also drink, yes. Teddy's offer of a simple dinner – to Father Paddick – starts the bidding with rock oysters, salmon salad, saddle of rabbit with truffles and pea puree, creamed fennel, chard, and a raspberry and lemongrass pavlova. Father Paddick argues him down to cucumber soup and Coronation chicken. With difficulty. Teddy is a chef, after all. Used for scene-setting and characterization. When the Duke first introduces the incognito Father Paddick to the other main leads, it's over tea, and merely in the course of pouring out, everyone's social class, regional origin, character, back-story, sexual orientation, and religion (including Sher Mirza's being an observant Muslim who is fasting for Ramadan) is brought out.
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 Cross and Poppy / int_f96f188c
type
Drives Like Crazy
 Cross and Poppy / int_f96f188c
comment
Drives Like Crazy: The Duke is described as being Stirling Moss in a Bristol – on a C road. It's also asserted that Richard Hammond is his spirit animal.note Richard Hammond is of course often referred to as "The Hamster"….
 Cross and Poppy / int_f96f188c
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 Cross and Poppy / int_fccd06b6
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Beware the Nice Ones
 Cross and Poppy / int_fccd06b6
comment
Beware the Nice Ones / Beware the Quiet Ones: This is Rule Number One in the Woolfonts. Particularly after the new Rector arrives.
 Cross and Poppy / int_fccd06b6
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 Cross and Poppy / int_ffad4e9f
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Shown Their Work
 Cross and Poppy / int_ffad4e9f
comment
Shown Their Work: Church of England canon law, C of E politics, Sunni practices and the distinctions between one and another madhhab, Roman Catholic canon law, Anglican service music, military history, Redcoats With, Pakistani history, local surnames, British Pakistani history, police procedure, ecclesiastical architecture, peerages, secular architecture, Community Rail Partnerships…. Yep. Solid.
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Cross and Poppy

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

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Arcadia / int_6c6177f6
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Bar Brawl / int_6c6177f6
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Battle Butler / int_6c6177f6
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