2014-2016 fiction, fanfic connected to the Narnia books. Having
avoided the fateful railway accident of The Last Battle, Susan tries
to carry on her life.
As usual with fanfic I read, this was a recommendation from a
trusted friend. Many people have written about Susan Pevensie being
shut out of paradise for—whatever you think Lewis was trying to
express with the few words he gave to a subject he clearly found
distasteful. Element does it rather well here, by focusing on Susan,
with her family wiped out at a stroke, as she goes through the mundane
business of sorting through what they left behind.
I think it works because everyone here is a person. For example, in
Lewis's Narnia, Eustace Scrubb's parents Harold and Alberta are
placeholders for one of the many sorts of person Lewis doesn't approve
of. Here they are fleshed out until one comes to understand just why
they are the way they are, imperfect but trying to do their best as
they see it, and just as lost as everyone else. Here, two people can
disagree on something important without one of them being bad and
wrong and needing to be taught a lesson, and they can both become more
right as a result of the disagreement.
Not much actually happens here; there's no fantasy, no grand ending,
and indeed the work is marked as unfinished (though nothing's been
added since 2016). But there is a conclusion of sorts, a little over a
year later as Susan has made peace with the memories of her family and
friends.
Very much what I wanted after a number of recent book disappointments.
The work is freely available at
ao3.