Line #64 Literature/MrWarrensProfession


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sebcoverpostcard4_3.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:When two big nerds fall in love...]]
3	-> "Lindsey Althorp, the only son of a wealthy baronet, has never worked a day in his life. Aubrey Warren was born in a workhouse and hasn’t stopped working since."
4
5	A QueerRomance by Sebastian Nothwell. Set in VictorianLondon (and Manchester!), 1892.
6
7	%%[This description was copied in violation of our Administrivia/{{Plagiarism}} policy. Please replace it with original writing.]
8
9	----
10	!! This book provides examples of:
11	%%* AllGaysLoveTheater
12	%%* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Lindsey, to Aubrey, in the midst of their biggest fight.
13	* {{Blackmail}}: Bound to come up in a story about two men in a romantic relationship in Victorian England.
14	* BlackmailBackfire: [[spoiler:Clarence]] definitely ends up the worse off for his attempts to blackmail the leads.
15	* BondingOverMissingParents: The scene in the portrait hall of Lindsey's country house allows for this between him and Aubrey, in addition to providing Aubrey the opportunity for internal angst about being a mysterious orphan with no real family ties.
16	* {{Bookworm}}: Lindsey for fiction, Aubrey for non-fiction. Justified in that books were the major source of information and entertainment in the Victorian age.
17	* CannotSpitItOut: Try as he might, Aubrey can't say "I love you" to Lindsey... [[spoiler:at least not until the end of the novel.]]
18	%%* CastFullOfGay
19	%%* ClosetKey: Aubrey is this for Lindsey.
20	* ConfirmedBachelor: Aubrey and Lindsey, for obvious reasons. [[spoiler:And several of their friends, as it turns out.]]
21	* CoolBigSis: Rowena, who ruthlessly rules the social hierarchy with effortless poise. And takes care of her little brother Lindsey besides.
22	* CuteBookworm: Both leads consider each other to be this.
23	* DontYouDarePityMe: Aubrey to Lindsey, during the fight that sparks the latter's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.
24	-->'''Aubrey:''' You’ll find I appreciate your pity even less than I desire your disdain.
25	* DoubleMeaningTitle: The entire plot only happens because of Aubrey's career, past and present. [[spoiler:And the book ends with his "profession" of love for Lindsey.]]
26	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Lindsey and Aubrey do get a HappilyEverAfter... eventually. [[spoiler:After the death of Lindsey's father. And the boiler explosion that burns off half of Aubrey's face. And the blackmail.]]
27	* EveryoneCanSeeIt: ...which is a dangerous thing in England post-Labouchere Amendment.
28	* FancyDinner: One of these sparks conflict in the mid-point of the novel.
29	* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Clarence Rook isn't a very good best friend to Lindsey.]]
30	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Lindsey being foolish and Rowena being responsible.
31	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The menu for the fancy dinner party is the same menu as the dinner service on the Titanic.
32	* FormalFullArrayOfCutlery: Appears at the fancy dinner party and throws Aubrey for a loop. (He figures it out by watching the other guests and mimicking them.)
33	* TheGayNineties: In every sense of the phrase.
34	* GrandRomanticGesture: Lindsey takes Aubrey to see the Electrical Exhibition at the Crystal Palace... and then arranges a private tour of the dynamos under the Palace that power the whole exhibition. Aubrey is thrilled.
35	* HappilyEverAfter: A prerequisite of the genre, which is fulfilled. Eventually.
36	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Lindsey is the male variety. Blond, blue-eyed, repeatedly described as sunshine in the form of a person, and far more concerned with the feelings and well-being of others than most men of his position. He fits the ChasteHero part of the description, as well--until he meets Aubrey.
37	* HereditaryHomosexuality: Lindsey is far from the only "invert" in the Althorp family. [[spoiler:His sister Rowena is a lesbian, and their uncle was executed by the British Royal Navy for sodomy.]]
38	* IronWoobie: Aubrey.
39	* JerkassHasAPoint: Lord Cyril Graves, in the course of explaining why he openly insulted Aubrey throughout the FancyDinner, also calls out Lindsey's failure to prepare Aubrey for the dinner and what it would entail.
40	-->'''Graves:''' You think me cruel. If I am cruel, then you put de Sade to shame. After all, Warren is a perfect stranger to me. A snide comment from my lips means nothing to him. You, however, to whom he looks for guidance, abandoned him to wolves such as myself. The poor wretch hardly knew his left from his right, much less which fork to use. And you left him to starve in the wilderness without so much as a hinting cough.
41	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: ''Theatre/MrsWarrensProfession'' by Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw is about a woman who traces her financial success back to her youthful stint as a sex worker. ''Mr Warren's Profession'' is about a man who used to be a sex worker.
42	* LoveAtFirstSight: Lindsey has this for Aubrey. Aubrey takes more convincing.
43	* MarriageOfConvenience: Lindsey and Emmeline.
44	* MarriedToTheJob: Aubrey.
45	* MysteriousPast: Aubrey.
46	* NobodyThinksItWillWork: Made abundantly clear by Lindsey's sister and friends in the three {{Shovel Talk}}s they give to Aubrey. [[spoiler:They're wrong.]]
47	* ObliviousYoungerSibling: Lindsey.
48	* OfficeRomance: Aubrey's a clerk, and Lindsey owns the business.
49	* QueerRomance: Or "same-sex romance," as the author sometimes puts it.
50	* ShelteredAristocrat: Lindsey's friends and family conspire to shield him not only from the outside world but from his own sexuality.
51	* ShoutOut: Both lead characters are bookworms, as is almost everyone in Lindsey's social circle. They name drop a lot of titles, all of which are real. An abbreviated list:
52	** ''{{Literature/Carmilla}}'' by Creator/JosephSheridanLeFanu
53	** ''Literature/HardTimes'' by Creator/CharlesDickens
54	** ''Literature/LadyAudleysSecret'' by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
55	** ''Theatre/LadyWindermeresFan'' by Creator/OscarWilde
56	** ''Lives of the Engineers'' by Samuel Smiles
57	** ''Manners and Tone of Good Society, or, Solecisms to be Avoided'' by A Member of the Aristocracy
58	** ''Mary Barton'' by Creator/ElizabethGaskell
59	** ''Self-Help'' by Samuel Smiles
60	** ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe
61	** ''Wormwood: A Drama of Paris'' by Creator/MarieCorelli
62	* ShovelTalk: Deconstructed. There are three shovel talks in total, from Lindsey's sister and friends, to Aubrey. Rather than implying that Lindsey's friends and family love and care about him, the shovel talks show that Lindsey is surrounded by meddlers, some less well-intentioned than others.
63	* SleepingWithTheBoss: The central conceit of the novel, as the only reason Lindsey and Aubrey meet in the first place is because Lindsey wins the mill where Aubrey works. [[spoiler:Smith suspects this is how Aubrey got the job in the first place, by sleeping with Mr Jennings.]]
64	* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Lindsey's reading habits lead to this.
65	* UnderstandingBoyfriend: Two of 'em!
66	* UnexpectedVirgin: Lindsey, much to Aubrey's initial bewilderment.
67	* UptownGirl: Lindsey, being a baronet with more money than sense, is the male variety.
68	* VictorianLondon: A major location, along with Victorian Manchester.
69	* {{Woobie}}: Aubrey is an orphan [[spoiler:and a child sex abuse survivor]] raised in poverty and living in squalid conditions, who then [[spoiler:gets fired and blackmailed and loses half his face to a steam boiler explosion]]. Chapters and chapters of hurt/comfort ensue.
70	* {{Workaholic}}: Aubrey. [[spoiler:Not even burning half his face off will stop him from trying to work.]] Much to Lindsey's confusion.
71

Context Literature / MrWarrensProfession