Ana's Best Books of 2012

I haven't read as much HF as I thought this year and looking back at my reads there's only one book I gave 5* to - Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden that made me research about the Spanish Civil War and haunted me for weeks afterwards. This was the book I mentioned last year in my "eagerly anticipating" post so we can say my expectations were fulfilled.

But there are a few more books that also deserve a mention because I found them very enjoyable:

Oleanna by Julie K. Rose

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier

Defend and Betray by Anne Perry

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier - A guest review from Lucy

I read My Cousin Rachel ages ago, but thought I’d refresh my memory for this Historical Tapestry spotlight on Daphne Dumaurier- so I read it again! This second time around, I found it to be even better than the first.

I just love du Maurier’s style- this captivating novel which spins a bit of mystery with tense levels of anticipation and romantic love of course…you know the kind when a gentleman was a real gentleman- and Rachel…well, what a deceitful character! The intrigue between two cousins, Ambrose and Phillip and their fate with Rachel’s scheming and bewitching, is a thrill to read. Up until the end I got to wishing things would change; that the love would be reciprocated and that Rachel really meant otherwise- that with Phillip she would be different…of course I knew how it would end!

The scenery feels breathtaking; the suspense keeps you on edge (will Phillip ‘go’ from the same fate as Ambrose?); what will happen to Rachel? …Ambrose’s note?

 I just fell in love with this book all over again.

~~~~~~~~~

You can find Lucy blogging at Enchanted by Josephine. Thanks for participating in our Daphne du Maurier Season Lucy!

I'll Never Be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier - A guest review by Bree

I’ll Never Be Young Again is Daphne du Maurier’s second novel, first published in 1932. In the opening pages we are introduced to Richard (‘Dick’) the son of a great poet – perhaps one of the greatest literary voices of his time. A frustrated writer, by choice or design, Dick has fled the country home after a confrontation and is now perched on a bridge, intending to end it all. As he watches the passers-by, he hopes that one of them will save him, even constructing an elaborate fantasy of such a rescue. But then someone does save him.

And so Dick meets Jake, who will become one of, if not the most important person in his life. Jake convinces him that to end it would be unwise and together the two of them take passage on a ship. They pay for their passage by working, travelling to Oslo. When the ship goes into dry dock, Jake secures some horses and the two travel around Europe – by horse, by foot, by boat. It is on their way to France that tragedy strikes and Dick finds himself alone until he meets Hesta, a beautiful American studying music. In her, he thinks he has found everything that he needs in order to be who he thinks he is.

I’ll Never Be Young Again is du Maurier’s first attempt at male narrative voice and she creates quite a complex – and I must say, not entirely sympathetic – character in Dick. Whilst there are several moments that give the reader cause to feel for him and his situation, much of the story is spent portraying him in a rather unflattering light, especially during the time of his relationship with Hesta. Their relationship seems progressive for an Englishman of his time, even one living abroad, as he and Hesta live together without marrying – with Dick expressing absolutely no desire to marry or have children, stating that would ruin everything. However their relationship seems a power struggle, each attempting to have the upper hand by either bullying or cajoling the other into what they want. It’s a back and forth of assertiveness and apologies.

What interested me significantly more was the relationship between Dick and his rescuer Jake. What seems like just a good Samaritan doing a nice thing suddenly becomes more as Dick latches onto him and Jake sees no reason for Dick not to. They spend so much time together, it’s like Dick views Jake as a surrogate father, or perhaps the father he wished he’d had, following him wherever. Jake’s shady past is glossed over rather romantically and Dick barely turns a hair at this when you’d expect more questions to be raised. Jake is also a man of very few words, which makes his motivations and actually his whole character difficult to really understand and assess. He is strangely tolerant of Dick’s immaturities and the bad decisions he makes, always in the background patiently waiting for him to come to his senses. I would’ve thought that Dick’s time spent with Jake would’ve helped him mature and become a man but the way in which his relationship with Hesta went proves that primarily Dick remained self-absorbed and also self-indulgent, wilfully blind and uncaring of Hesta’s thoughts and feelings, actions which end up coming back on him late in the novel.

The only other du Maurier book I’ve read is Rebecca and this one definitely did not resonate with me as much as that one did. However this does contain some clever writing and some very complex characterisation and I was very impressed with how du Maurier nailed the male narrative. I may not have always liked Dick, but I certainly found him very convincing! I did find this very interesting and it has made me more determined to read more of her work because she’s an author that I have woefully neglected so far.

7/10

You can find Bree blogging at All the Books I Can Read. Thanks for guest reviewing for us Bree!

Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier

Lady Dona St Columb is beautiful, headstrong - and bored. Desperate to escape the pomp and ritual of the Restoration Court, she escapes to the hidden creeks and secret woods of the family estate at Navron, in Cornwall. Though renowned for her passionate engagement with life, privately she years for freedom, integrity and love - whatever the cost.

The peace Lady Dona craves, however, eludes her from the moment she stumbles across the mooring place of a white-sailed ship that plunders the Cornish coast. And as she becomes embroiled in a plot to steal another ship from under the nose of the English authorities, she realises that her heart is under siege from the French philosopher-pirate Jean Aubrey....

Lady Dona St Columb is somewhat notorious in London, which is not a bad achievement considering that she was part of the court of Charles II where there were plenty of notorious people, both men and women! She is known for accompanying her husband, Harry, and his friends to card games and bawdy houses. After one particularly ribald prank where she dressed as a boy and scaring the living daylights out of an elderly society matron, Dona realises that this life is empty and that she wants... more.

She leaves her husband and his friends and the court of Charles II, takes the kids and heads to the family's country estate - Navron House in Cornwall. Once she arrives she is a little surprised to find that there is only one servant in the house, William, and even more strange, there is a jar of tobacco and a book of poetry in her room. Dona was looking forward to some peace and quiet, but it isn't long before the true adventure finds her, in the form of a ship full of pirates led by the handsome and charismatic Jean Aubrey.

The local landowners are determined that they are going to catch the marauding French pirates who are stealing their goods and allegedly bothering their women folk but, so far, have been far to clever to be caught in their traps. Dona finds herself caught up in both sides with her husband and his friends working to catch him and Dona compromised by her growing relationship with Jean, but this might just work to his benefit.

Du Maurier is such a clever author. I had no doubt that Dona was shallow and unlikable as we first met her, in the same way that her husband was quite spineless and his friend Rockingham was much cleverer and quite sly and determined to capture Dona for himself. By the time we get to the end of the book, Dona is still impetuous and adventurous but this reader was also sure that she was a better person.

When I mentioned that I was reading this book on Goodreads, someone commented that this is one of Du Maurier's most romantic novels, and at its heart, Frenchman's Creek is a romantic book without necessarily meeting all the structural requirements of a romance. It is also quite bawdy in parts, something that quite surprised me. After reading a few nudge, nudge, wink, wink sections of narrative I realised that it wasn't just the way I was reading the book but that those nuances were deliberately placed.

For me, the strongest aspects of the book were the action sequences. There were beautiful passages of description and reflection, but it was when the pirates were in action and Dona caught up in danger and intrigue that my heart was racing and the pages kept on turning. Towards the end of the book the pacing was a little up and down, but it certainly kept my attention right to the very end!

One of the things that I found interesting was that the opening chapter was told from a modern perspective as someone takes the opportunity to take a picnic in the ruins of Navron House. With the use of modern narrative to introduce a story such a common motif in current historical fiction, it was interesting to note that it was being used by authors like Daphne du Maurier (and presumably others as well) were using it so long ago as well.

I have owned this book for many years but had never read it before. It's been a couple of years since I read my last Daphne du Maurier book, but I am determined to read more from her now!

Rating 4.5/5

The Flight of The Falcon - a Guest Review by Misfit

“No one could walk by night for fear of the of Falcon’s sudden descent into the city when, aided by his followers, he would seize and ravage….”

Oooh, I just love Du Maurier, she always delivers the goods. Armino Fabbio is working for Sunshine tours and while in Rome with his beef and barbarians (Americans and Brits) he comes across a down and out woman at the steps of a church, a woman who reminds him of someone from his childhood. Taking pity he slips her some money, but she later ends up murdered and Armino blames himself – if it hadn’t been for the money no one would have robbed and then murdered her – or so he reasons. Distraught over the woman’s identity he takes a holiday from his job and heads north to the city where he was born and where he recalls the murdered woman – Ruffano. Once there he finds himself and everyone around him being manipulated by a master puppeteer, who like Lazarus has returned from the dead.

Outside of that I’m not going to tell much more as I’d ruin it for the rest of you – read it for yourself. Du Maurier slowly builds her story into one heck of a climax as Armino finds himself in the midst of rival student factions and campus politics, all of which culminates in the final plot to recreate the “flight” of The Falcon, the first Duke of Ruffano, for the city festival – but will this flight end as disastrously as the first one? Despite a bit of a slow start, the finish was a nail-biter and she keeps you guessing until the very end. 4/5 stars.

***

You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat

The Loving Spirit - a Guest Review by Misfit

“High above the clustered houses and the grey harbour waters of Plyn, the loving spirit smiles and is free.”

Although you know I’m not going to tell if that’s from the beginning of the book or the end. This first novel of Du Maurier’s tells the story of four generations of the Coombe family of Plyn, Cornwall beginning in the early 1800s as young bride Janet Coombe, happy as she is with her children and husband, always longs for the freedom of the sea. Her son Joseph follows his mother’s dreams and sets sail in the merchant ship built by the Coombe family and named after his mother – as is her image the figurehead at the prow of the ship. Joseph eventually marries, but his real love is always the sea and when he can no longer sail he takes his bitterness out on his family, which eventually leads to dire changes in their lives.

Throughout the book, the loving spirit of Janet Coombe seems to guide her family through the best and worst times of their lives. As a first book it is certainly good, but far from what readers of her later classics might expect, and a bit slow paced for the most part except the last 50 or so pages – she had me biting my nails for a while there. While I do enjoy family sagas continuing over multiple generations, this one is far from the best either, a bit too short and not as well developed as I like them. I’d recommend this one for fans of Du Maurier wanting to get a look at her first book, but I doubt there’s enough here to hold the interest of a more casual reader. 3/5 stars.

***

You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again",
With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.

In my time blogging there are many books that you see reviewed over and over again. Rebecca was one such book. I had never read Daphne du Maurier before, but I was constantly hearing about her. One day when I was at the second-hand bookstore I picked up a copy of Rebecca to finally see what it was all about. The only problem was I couldn't convince myself to actually read it. The only cover I could find was this one:

I had heard this book was Gothic and maybe even a bit creepy, but this cover just made me think 'romance novel'. I try to not let myself judge a book by the cover, but I wasn't succeeding with this one.

 In the fall there is a reading challenge called the 'R.I.P. Challenge'. In 2010 I was seeing Rebecca on many lists either going to be reading it or recommending it as a book for that time of year. I kept looking at the above cover and thinking 'Really?'. I am obviously missing something. While searching through the library catalogue one day, though, I found that they had added a new copy of Rebecca. Despite having a copy sitting on my TBR pile, I requested it and finally read it. I included this cover in my original review:

  That's a big change from the ugly red cover. I am thinking they were worried no one would read du Maurier if they didn't make her look like a romance novelist.

Here are a couple excerpts from my original review:

I loved the characters in this book. Mrs. Danvers was a really well-written villain. You never knew what to expect from her at any given time. It was fascinating to watch her character progress and discover just how crazy she could be. She is very unhappy that Maxim has remarried and still feels like Rebecca is a presence in the household. She is determined to keep her memory well alive and to do anything in her power to bring about the end of the new Mrs. de Winter. I think Daphne du Maurier captured her on the page brilliantly. She really came alive for me. Then, there was Rebecca herself. She played the perfect ghost. Even though she was not alive for the novel, you still knew her really well by the end of it. She may be dead, but she has not actually left Manderley. From the surface she seemed like the perfect hostess for a beautiful house, but as the story progresses and the layers are peeled back you will be fascinated by the character that appears.

And:

I just loved this book so much! When I started it I was constantly interrupted and only managed to get through 200 pages. The next day I managed to block most things out and read to the end. I was so excited to see how the story played out, but on the other hand I was really disappointed that it was over with. There haven't been a lot of books like this so far this year, so I was so happy that I finally found one! It is was atmospheric, Gothic, and the perfect book for this time of the year. If you are participating in the R.I.P. challenge and haven't read this book before, you really should! I am glad that I did!

For Christmas of 2010, I decided to buy my own copy of Rebecca with an appealing cover. I have this one on my stacks:

I had hoped to reread it this year, but I think I will probably save it for the fall.

What do you think of the various covers of Rebecca? Would you be a cover snob like me?


Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940):

I have wanted to see this movie for ages, but I couldn't find a copy. I had no idea that you could watch the entire thing on YouTube. I still would love to own it at some point; but over the winter I sat down and revisited Manderley for the first time in over a year. From the opening line I was excited. I have seen Alfred Hitchcock movies over the years, but never this one. I expected it to be very good and it was. The movie stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine in the two lead roles. Judith Anderson plays Mrs. Danvers. It won best picture at the 1940 Academy Awards and you can easily tell why. It stays very close to the original story and the mood of the movie is perfect. It is very much worth a watch!




Now it is your turn. Let us know what you think of the covers for the book, the book itself, or your own experiences with the movie in the comments.

The Infernal Life of Branwell Brontë by Daphne du Maurier - A guest review by Alex

The Infernal Life of Branwell Brontë by Daphne du Maurier

In the introduction to The Infernal Life of Branwell Brontë, du Maurier’s biographer Justine Picardie informs us that this was her least sold book. Until I won it in a raffle at the Brussels Brontë Group’s Christmas Lunch I had no idea such it even existed. I knew she was a Brontë fan because of the obvious connections between Rebecca and Jane Eyre, but I can understand how Branwell, the second oldest sibling to make it to adulthood, must have seemed an irresistible subject: the golden boy, the failed genius, the tragic decline into early death. And so little information, so many mysteries waiting to come to light.

It‘s known that du Maurier did extensive research for this book. According to her other biographer Margaret Forster, it

(…) gave her the opportunity to test herself in a way she had, in fact, always wanted to do. There was a good deal of the scholar manqué in Daphne, in spite of her frequent claims to have a butterfly mind.

But if her intention was to produce an academic biography, her novelist streak got the better of her. Infernal World is what happens when a very gifted author builds a story out of limited resources: all the known events in Branwell’s life (at the time) are there, but based on them, du Maurier makes him come to life with touches of creative writing.

She gives us vivid pictures of what life must have been at the Parsonage, at Haworth’s pub and Masonic Lodge, and, carefully re-constructs their inhabitants without going too far or seeming to be telling stories. I found this image of the Brontë children playing together especially moving:

Miss Branwell [an aunt that came to life with the family when their mother died], quietly sewing in her bed-sitting-room next door, would wonder at the exclamations, the stifled laughter, the possible arguments of ‘It wouldn’t happen like that’, and ‘It would… it would… I’ve seen them myself,’ the boy’s voice rising higher in excitement. Then would be the time to interfere, to tap on the wall with the admonition, “Play quietly, now, Papa will hear you.’

 The only son among five (and then three) sisters, Branwell was always the prodigal son. As a child he initiated his sisters in the world-building they created until very late and which influenced their adult writing. It was the perfect testing ground for all the Brontë children and Branwell was their brilliant leader. Together wrote thousands of pages in tiny handwriting of stories set in fantastic countries – Angria and Gondal – which had their own geography, history and heroes. He had an extraordinary memory, he count write with both hands, he was taught Latin and Greek by their father, he wrote poetry and painted. The future was bright for Branwell. So bright that while writing her will in those early days, Aunt Branwell didn't find it necessary to include him. 

But by the time his aunt died, contrary to all expectation of his success, Branwell was destitute, alcoholic, accused of having an affair with the wife of his employer, and dependent on irregular employment and his aged father. He had entered the slow decline which would lead to his death at 31, just six weeks before Emily’s own and some months before Anne’s.

The Infernal World paints a vivid picture of this decline, brought about, according to du Maurier by his weak resistance to failure, a secluded childhood (he was home-schooled because his father though his was too nervous and sensitive - and possible mentally instable - to be educated with other children), and a weak spot for drinking, laudanum and everything that would make his forget his misfortunes.

du Maurier also speculates on the impact on Branwell on his compulsion to see the world though the heroic and melodramatic tales he created with his sisters as children:

Branwell’s friends and acquaintances had the uncomfortable habit, unknown to them, of turning into Angrian characters, and he himself, while trying to behave like Branwell Brontë, the promising young portrait-painter, was forever considering the world and those about him with the jaundiced, cynical eye of Alexander Percy [his main hero].

Portrait of the Brontë sisters, painted by Branwell (notice how he painted himself out of the picture) – British National Portrait Gallery

One of the most interesting things about the book is following du Maurier’s short-tempered criticism of Branwell’s writing. As Picardie says in her introduction, “she seemed to be losing interest in her idea of Branwell as an unrecognized genius”, and eventually became weighted down by “her increasing exasperation with Branwell’s failure to live up to his original promise.”. Here’s some of her most snarky comments:

“A Sunday School child of seven could have done better.”

“This is only part of a poem, one among many, that scattered the pages of Branwell’s Luddenden notebook. None of them shows outstanding talent”.

“And so on for another thirty interminable couplets.”

“Branwell’s odes to the Welsh mountains (…) are better left unquoted. Fantasy and laudanum were rapidly destroying what creative powers were still within him.”

I’d recommend The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë Picardie to all Brontë and du Maurier fans alike. The first will find a well written and vibrant look into the family’s lives based of the facts known in 1960 (for a more modern take I can’t push Juliet Barker’s biography enough) and the latter will get an insight into one of the du Maurier’s passion: this fascinating family from the Yorkshire moors that have reached cult status.

At the end of du Maurier’s life, when, in her decline, she even denied writing some of her own novels, the Yorkshire woman that took care of her noticed that the Brontës were one of the remaining topics that still made du Maurier “spark into animation”. As Picardie so well put it, “talking about the Brontës was the best therapy; and in that, Daphen du Maurier remained entirely true to herself.”

Images

http://c2.bibtopia.com/f/755/080/9781844080755.OL.0.m.jpg

http://echostains.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/bronte_sistersby-branwell-bronte-c1834.jpg

***

You can find Alex blogging at The Sleepless Reader

The King’s General - a Guest Review by Misft

Set during the English Civil War of the 1640′s, du Maurier retells a lesser known bit of Cornish history as an elderly Honor Harris reflects back on her life and love. Wooed by the charming, irascible but extremely flawed Richard Grenvile, eighteen year old Honor loses her heart and prepares to marry Richard until a tragic accident changes their lives. Richard and Honor separate (no spoilers, that’s in the first few chapters). They meet years later during the Civil War as Richard is now the King’s General in the West fighting the Parliamentarian rebels – although not all the Royalists think too highly of Richard’s high-handed approach to prisoners and discipline. While Honor refuses to marry Richard, her feelings for him are as strong as before and they begin a most unusual relationship as the tides of war ebb and flow around them.

Honor takes up residence at Menabilly, the family home of Honor’s brother-in-law Jonathan Rashleigh and things soon begin to go bump in the night in typical du Maurier fashion – mysterious comings and goings, a secret door, a mystery floorboard in the summerhouse and….more than that, I’m not telling – read it for yourself. Du Maurier once again weaves a magical tale, albeit this time with real-life characters. The dialogue between Richard and Honor sizzles off the pages, as does the enmity between Honor and Richard’s sister – and boy can those two swap some memorable barbs. The scene where those two sat and played at cards and witty repartee as the rebels sacked Menabilly to its bare walls was just brilliant, as was the bit when Richard over indulged in dinner and wine and called the troops back after retiring – simply priceless.

All in all a very unusual love story and an interesting glimpse at a footnote in Cornish history. I’d love to see this one on film – the actors would have a field day. As for Menabilly, du Maurier rented the home from the Rashleigh family and lived in it for some time and was the inspiration for her most famous novel, Rebecca. Five stars.

***

You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat

The Progress of Julius - a Guest Review by Misfit

“Something for nothing – something for nothing” is the mantra that governs the life of Julius Lévy. The story begins in 1860 in France as a young half-Jewish Julius learns the ways of selling in the local market place – always getting more than you give away – “something for nothing.” As the Prussians invade France the Lévys head for the relative safety of Paris, unforeseen events send Julius and his father heading for the relative safety of Algiers. Now orphaned, Julius learns to steal manipulate and swindle his way until he saves enough to strike out for England and the empire he feels destined to build – no matter what the cost to others around him – including his morbid obsession with his daughter.

That’s about all I’m going to tell, anymore and I’d be spoiling the story. Suffice it to say that Julius is a wholly despicable, unlikable character void of any knowledge of right or wrong. If he can’t have it then no one else can. While this third book of Du Maurier’s is still far from the excellence of her later books, it is a fascinating and disturbing read and quite amazing when you realize that she wrote this when she was all of twenty-six years old. Just be warned, Julius has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, so if you’re a reader who wants it all tied up with a pink ribbon and a HEA at the end, this probably isn’t the book for you. However, if you want a look at something besides the “romantic suspense” of Du Maurier’s later works I’d look this one up. 4/5 stars.

***

You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to read du Maurier's Hungry Hill. I wanted to read something different from her best known works and thought that a family saga might make an interesting story.

Well... it did! An interesting, but, also a tragic and depressing story. The story of the Brodrick family and their life in Ireland from 1820 to 1920. The story opens with the patriarch John Brodrick, called Copper John. However we immediately know that the family has been in Ireland for a few generations and that one of the Brodrick man ended up being killed by a member of the Donovan family and the feud is still very much open. In fact one could say that the story begins with a Donovan cursing Copper John and all his children.

I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten ...but this hill will be standing still to confound you.

Copper John is a man of progress. He lives in Clonmere with his five children and has decided he will open a mine on Hungry Hill. Although the land belongs to his partner it is Copper John who runs the mine and makes it a success. Hungry Hill ends up being their fortune.

However the Brodricks are never well accepted by the locals. Something neither Copper John nor Henry, his oldest son, are very worried about but that his second son, John. soon realises and feels uncomfortable with. Trouble with the miners leads Henry to fall ill and eventually die. John becomes his father heir but he is only interested in his dogs. Even after he marries and has children his interest is only in what gives him pleasure and he leaves all boring and tiresome decisions to his carefree and temperamental wife Fanny Rosa. It is an interesting thing that John seems like a sympathetic character in the beginning. He understands the way the locals think and anticipates the troubles his father is going to have. But he becomes more and more of a dreamer and his marriage makes him even more selfish and detached from the reality he finds tiresome.

John also dies young. He tries to end the feud with the Donovans and catches diphtheria. His children are still young and are left in the care of their mother. It is his oldest son, Johnnie, who eventually succeeds Copper John. The mines are still making them rich and Johnnie, a bit the image of his own mother, thinks only of his own pleasure. He lacks any self-control, which brings him very little friends and it is only when he falls in love with his brother Henry's fiancée that he realises he leads an empty life. He makes friends with the Donovans and once again that association does not end well. It seems the Donovans never forget which side they are on despite the Brodricks trying to end the feud. Johnnie eventually dies of an alcohol overdose...

It's his brother Henry that becomes the head of the family. Nothing like Johnnie he is profoundly in love with his wife and cares for his children and his business. One can say that if his father's marriage made him a worse person, Henry's marriage made him a better one. When his wife dies giving birth to their fourth child he is unable to cope with the reality of his life without her. His second marriage ruins his relationship with his children, with his friends and leaves only a shrewd and cold businessman.

His son Hal, enjoyed a close relationship with his mother and ends feeling rejected by his father. He knows his father thinks of him as a failure and the insecurity that comes out of that never lets him pursue his dream of painting and eventually sees him as a clerk in his own family's company. And once again it is a Donovan that leads to his death, still has a young man. He has time to see the mine come to an end though; other markets and raw materials make it unprofitable and after being sold the mine at Hungry Hill is finally closed.

We next see Hal's son, who was two when his father died, go back to the family home as an adult. He happens to find himself drinking with the wrong company in a period of civil war and the Donovan curse that started this story is finally fulfilled and his home his destroyed. Would the Brodrick family fate have been different had Copper John asked the Hill for permission before opening the mine?

I loved du Maurier's writing and I suppose that is what made the difference in a story where there are so few nice characters and quite a number of them are nasty villains. The richest the Brodrick men become the weaker and tortured they seem to become too. But she made me interested and engaged in what happened to them and I could easily have kept on reading for another generation or two.

Frenchman's Creek - a Guest Review by Chris

I’ve read a number of books and short stories by Daphne du Maurier but Frenchman’s Creek is quite a bit different. Du Maurier once said that the only romance she ever wrote was Frenchman’s Creek. Romance purists might argue with that assessment, for while much of the story is romantic not all the markers of a romance are there.

The heroine, Dona St Columb, is an entitled and bored aristocrat living at Court with her husband and 2 children during the Restoration (though it’s rather vague about the when). She’s not like other married ladies though. She has a reputation for mischief, entering bawdy houses dressed as a man with her husband and his friends. The guys love her, even if they are a little scandalized by her behaviour. Her latest adventure gives her pause after she terrifies a little old lady during one of her pranks. Dona has an epiphany: this is not the life she wants to lead.

Dona leaves the city and heads for her husband’s estate in Cornwall, just her and the kids. She plans some quiet alone time, sleeping late and avoiding the usual country pleasantries like visiting the neighbours, but peace and quiet are not to be. A neighbour warns her that a pirate is on the loose! A French pirate at that- the worst kind! He’s been robbing the county hoity-toities blind. Little does she know that this blood thirsty pirate has been hiding out in the creek near her home.

But wait! Turns out this pirate’s reputation has been exaggerated. The Frenchman is a true gentleman, suave and debonair, and like Dona he is a free spirit. It seems that she’s found a bosom pal in the Frenchman. Will Dona turn to a life on the high seas?

Frenchman’s Creek is literary Calgon. (Calgon! Take Me Away!) Who needs Christian Grey of the Shady novel while there’s the Frenchman? Handsome, cultured, and very understanding. He knows what Dona wants before she does. Plus, he’s a rich pirate. Who wouldn’t think about sailing away with him?

For Dona, the Frenchman comes along at the right moment. She’s having a crisis. Pushing thirty, she sees that the life she’s lived up until now has been filled with frivolity. She married her husband because she liked his eyes. Not much to start a marriage on. Yet, she still yearns for adventure and freedom. There was something about this that bothered me (two somethings, actually) and while I sometimes sympathized with Dona’s need for freedom, I didn’t like where things were going.

Dona does get her head together and redeems herself, no more frightening old ladies for her, and all it took was a brush with the Frenchman.

Something I found interesting about Dona was her propensity for dressing like a boy. There is physical freedom in the clothing but also a social freedom in becoming male. Dona wishes that she could be a man and sail away. Daphne believed herself to have a male side to her personality and claimed it gave her the creative energy she used for writing. Maybe she felt that this male side gave her permission to do things that a proper lady could not, much like Dona did. An adventurous story of the life of a pirate had extra appeal for Daphne and as well as her readers, who were suffering through World War II at the time of her writing Frenchman’s Creek.

If you’d like to temporarily escape with a handsome pirate and some excellent writing, pick up Frenchman’s Creek. You won’t regret it.


*Sources: Answers, Daphne du Maurier

***

You can find Chris blogging at Chrisbookarama and she is also the host of the Daphne du Maurier challenge

The Glassblowers - a Guest Review by Misfit

“Somehow, we no longer seemed to preach the brotherhood of man”

In this book du Maurier recounts the tale of her forebears, the Busson family of master glass-blowers leading up to and through the French Revolution. Told through the POV of Sophie as she looks back on her life, daughter of master glass-blower Mathurin Busson and his formidable (in a good way) wife Magdaleine and her siblings Robert, Pierre, Michel and Edmé. For Robert, the eldest working his craft in the countryside is not enough and he dreams of greatness in Paris – but unable to manage his spending he always ends up in financial disaster and bankruptcy and he depends on his family to bail him out time and again.

The countryside where the Busson family lives is not greatly affected by the first stirrings of the revolution in the cities, but that soon changes when Michel and Sophie’s husband Francois become National Guardsman and find themselves slowly being caught up in the nationalist fervor sweeping the country. At first Sophie is horrified at the behavior of her brother and husband as they join others in sacking the manor houses and churches -

“The people were mad. They had to have a victim. No single one of them was to blame, it was like a fever sweeping them.”

Eventually she too finds herself buying into the revolutionary ideals as the madness continues to grow and suspicion and rumor grip the countryside. In the end a new and “stable” government takes control but it is never enough. Eventually Sophie and her family are swept up in the War in the Vendée, a little known but horrific footnote in history (do go to Wik and read up on it). Once The Terror is over the Busson siblings rebuild their lives and eventually things come full circle with the return of Robert – who fled to England as an émigré to avoid the debts of his last business debacle.

This novel is a bit slower paced at times (although the scenes from the Vendée were downright unputdownable) and might not appeal to all readers, but I enjoyed it a great deal. A refreshing change seeing the Revolution from the countryside – major events such as the taking of the Bastille, the Women’s March on Versailles and the executions of Louis and Marie were events that happened far away. As maddening as he was in his doomed financial efforts, Robert was great fun and I loved the way the author worked in the “birth” of the family name in England – du Maurier. Definitely recommended for du Maurier fans or those interested in the history of the Revolution.

***

You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat