Book review: Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier

My rating: 4/5 stars

Written in the 1940s but set in the 17th century, this is a novel about discontentment vs responsibility. Dona is a noblewoman who escapes to Cornwall from the courts of London with her two young children and their nanny - without her husband, who is at best careless and neglectful. Du Maurier's prose is always absorbing and beautiful. Somehow she manages to linger on the rugged beauty of the Cornish coast whilst keeping the pace of the plot trotting along like a horse and cart. Dona herself I found self-absorbed and childish, pouting because her whims were overlooked, and yet I was still rooting for her - that is skillful writing. Though I couldn't condone her actions, I was still entranced by her adventure on board an actual pirate ship, and of course completely won over by the eponymous Frenchman. Do our circumstances ever justify immoral and irresponsible behaviour? That's the lingering question du Maurier leaves us with.

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