Serpent & Dove

Content Warning: This section contains references to violence and bodily harm.

The story of seemingly opposed personalities finding love is a tale as old as time. One such story, with a particularly French origin, is the fairy tale titled “La belle et la bête” (“Beauty and the Beast”), the most popular version of which was retold in 1756 by Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. Mahurin’s Serpent & Dove borrows heavily from its narrative but reverses the roles, making Reid the Belle character and Lou the Beast.

Most “Beauty and Beast” variants focus on courtship and marriage, privileging love over social conventions. As the story begins, the Belle character is happy in her father’s house and in no hurry to marry. Similarly, although Reid longs for connection, he doesn’t believe it possible after his heartbreak with Célie. Instead, he is focused on serving his spiritual father, the Archbishop, by captaining the Chasseurs. However, this is also stasis. To mature, Reid must move out of his father’s house, find his equal, and forge his own path. In animal bride/groom tales, this occurs when Belle’s father “disturbs” the monster’s property or loses a gambling debt. In atonement, his daughter is married off to the “monster.