Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
Lady Dona St Columb seems to revel in scandal: she is involved in every intrigue of the Restoration Court. But secretly, the shallowness of Court life disgusts her, and in her heart she longs for freedom and honest love. Retreating to Navron, her husband’s Cornish estate, she seeks peace and solitude away from London. But Navron is being used as the base for a French pirate, an outlaw hunted all over Cornwall.
Instead of feeling fear, Dona’s thirst for adventure has never been more aroused; in Jean-Benoit Aubéry she finds a sensitive man who would, like her, gamble his life for a moment’s joy. Together they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which will force Dona to make the ultimate choice: will she sacrifice her lover to certain death, or risk her own life to save him?
Review
So far, Frenchman’s Creek is my least favourite du Maurier novel and I’m afraid I found most of it rather tedious. The story gets off to a very slow start as du Maurier begins with lengthy descriptions of Cornwall but the passages were mind numbingly dull to read. Normally, I love du Maurier’s settings as they create the tone for the story, so I guess the tedium should’ve been a warning that this book was going to be a hard read for me.
When du Maurier wrote Frenchman’s Creek, she was feeling trapped by her own life, and she intended the book to be a romantic adventure. The problem is the romance elements of the book are a complete dud as the couple’s relationship is entirely without passion, in fact Dona’s interactions with William have more spark to them. While I realise the Frenchman is supposed to be an enigmatic figure, he just did not seem fleshed out enough to me and I never got a sense of who he was supposed to be.
The book is more successful in exploring the constraints society places on women, all of which is expressed by Dona’s increasing dissatisfaction with her life. Dona attempts to escape her suffocating lifestyle, as she no longer loves her irritating husband and is tired of the games people play in society. Dona escapes to Navron with her children in an attempt to find out who she really is beneath the aristocratic trappings but ultimately discovers that she cannot ever be free of her responsibilities which is rather depressing.
