Who was your first literary “crush”? Have you had others over the years?
I can’t believe that after 50+ years I remember this. It was Robin Hood, who I encountered in my first year of Junior High. The teacher assigned The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green and I adored it. I still have my very old, beat-up paperback from way back then.
Others have included Francis Crawford from Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles series (has anyone else read her work?) and Sherlock Holmes.
Not sure it was a crush but I certainly wanted to hang out with the Three Investigators–Bob Andrews, Pete Crenshaw, & Jupiter Jones–when I read the series in grade school. My ongoing literary crush is, was, & always will be Atticus Finch.
I was a junior, maybe senior in high school and became spellbound by Emile Zola after reading Germinal. It wasn’t that I had a “crush” on him per se, but rather a profound admiration and respect for his unflinching portrayal of the downtrodden alongside radical hope for a better future. Alexander Solzhenitsyn would have been second on my list.
I have author crushes but I can’t recall a particular character crush. My author crushes would include: Greg Iles and Amor Towles among others.
My first literary crush was probably Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was enthralled with all of the Little House on the Prairie books when I was very young. Many years later, I would say that Wally Lamb became a " crush"!
My first big crush was Little Women. I was enthralled with each sister and cried when a character died. (Even here, no spoiler, LOL) I was excited when I was able introduce this book to my daughter.
I can’t remember my first crush. But since 2017 when I started the Three Pines series, Armand Gamache has been my guy. Brilliant, charming, moody, flawed…I want to have dinner with him and Reine-Marie.