This is a minor Daphne du Maurier fest about 2 of her novels: Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek. I will leave Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel for another time. (There are of course many others but those are the four famous stories.) Looking along my bookshelves I found I had all 4 stories in a chunky Book Club Associates volume and I opened the book at the beginning of Rebecca. Very quickly though I found the book far too heavy and cumbersome and bought a secondhand paperback (they use the term pre-loved these days!) from Biblio. I haven’t looked at anything ‘du Maurier’ for many years and I found my foremost memory was of the film. There have of course been many versions but this particular one had Joanna David as the second Mrs de Winter and Anna Massey as Mrs Danvers. Large, cold, round, staring eyes I remember very clearly. Very freaky, very frightening and intimidating. Anna Massey played her character beautifully and scared me to death.
So, this novel is firmly gothic and that is not a quality of which I’m usually fond. Northanger Abbey is for instance my least favourite Jane Austen book by a long way. Even worse, Ann Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho and The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole; definitely never to be read again. These last 2 were culled from my bookshelves long, long ago, (remnants of prescribed reading in student days.) However, Rebecca is such a great story that I force myself to cope with the heavy shadows, the dark overhanging branches, the fog rolling in from the sea and of course the brooding presence of the housekeeper Mrs Danvers, appearing suddenly, silently and unexpectedly in doorways.
Thus, Maxim de Winter is in Monte Carlo, apparently escaping from some disaster or unfortunate incident. The naive girl he meets there is the complete antithesis of his deceased wife Rebecca. With almost indecent haste he falls in love with her, marries and after an Italian honeymoon returns with her to Manderley, his Cornish estate. At this point the reader feels intensely sorry for this poor girl who flounders in a social situation for which she has no preparation or experience.
Then there are several twists and turns to this story that hold your interest and make you keep turning the pages. I am not going to detail them as that would definitely be a spoiler (to use today’s terminology.) One thing that is rather fascinating is du Maurier’s decision to give no name to the heroine. We only know her as Mrs de Winter. It is a very effective literary device as it allows Rebecca’s name to loom large over the whole story. Names are powerful, you know something about a person if you can name them. The second Mrs de Winter is insignificant. She is seen only in relation to the other characters for most of the book. She is literally stripped of any identity the moment she meets Maxim and the purpose of her character is to unravel the mystery that is Rebecca. She is not the leading lady in her own life let alone in the story that she relates. Everything is judged with reference to Rebecca. The threatening tone is lifted by a happy ending. I needed it.
So, to ‘Frenchman’s Creek.’ I hadn’t read this for decades but knew I had a paperback copy with an atmospheric picture on the cover. Quite easily found. What I hadn’t remembered was the piece of paper that I had obviously used as a bookmark at some point. It turned out to be a photocopy of a poem by Robert Browning called ‘Meeting at Night.’ Here it is:
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro’ it’s joys and fears
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
Robert Browning
Browning was of course dead and gone long before du Maurier was born and yet this poem could almost be used as a synopsis of the book. I wish I could remember how I came across the poem but it escapes me … however it also pleases me and the poem will remain with the book.
This is probably the most heart wrenchingly romantic book I have ever read. It deals brilliantly with the madness of love and sets it within the already romantic setting of southern Cornwall. Read and enjoy as you are transported to a different time and a different world. It is a beautiful book.
Daphne du Maurier lived most of her life in Cornwall and evokes the spirit of that land effectively. I don’t know Cornwall well but I have visited several times, once driving over a foggy, desolate Bodmin Moor with shaggy, ginger, large horned cows appearing out of the swirling gloom. I have been to the Helford River area and was entranced by the beauty of the place. It wasn’t difficult to see pirate ships silently floating into tiny, hidden creeks. All of it a haven for smugglers, probably now as then. What I wasn’t prepared for was the ‘otherness’ of Cornwall, particularly the southern part. It does indeed feel slightly foreign with the Cornish flag frequently prominent and alternative Cornish signposts and place names. Definitely one of the Celtic edges of Britain.
I have travelled vicariously. A great Cornish adventure.
PS Interestingly, the Radio Times tells me that Radio 4 have a du Maurier season. This coming Wednesday 6th March it involves Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy, so it can’t be bad.