My Review for Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
I read Frenchman's Creek many, many years ago and I had no recollection of what it was about, so when it was chosen as the September read for #classiclitbookclub 📚 I was excited for the re-read.
I felt it was a more light-hearted read than other Daphne du Maurier books that I've read. There was a touch of fun, but it was incredibly scandalous for a lady of her time, who basically left her children with the Nanny and ran away to sea with a pirate – even if only for a short time! 😱 Dona was longing for the freedom away from the stuffy confines of her marriage and she finds it aboard La Mouette with her Frenchman. ❤️⛵
I loved William, the butler, who was complicit in Dona's wanderings and helped her cover up her assignations with the swashbuckling pirate. More than once, he put his life on the line to save hers. 👏
When we chatted about this one in our book club, many people were shocked she could leave her children to focus on herself. But they weren't in any harm, they were well looked after and Dona needed some fun and danger before she settled down for the rest of her life. ⚓🌊
The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe for any folly, any outrage that will alter the tedium of her days. But there is another, secret Dona who longs for a life of honest love -- and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger.
It is this Dona who flees the stews of London for remote Navron, looking for peace of mind in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds there the passion her spirit craves -- in the love of a daring pirate hunted by all Cornwall, a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamble his life for a moment's joy.
Daphne du Maurier (13th May 1907 - 19th April 1989) was first and foremost a really excellent storyteller but she was also part of the remarkable du Maurier dynasty - a granddaughter, daughter, sister, military wife, mother and grandmother. Daphne is often thought of as reclusive; she was perhaps solitary, comfortable with her own company and the make-believe world that she lived in and which enabled her to bring us her wonderful novels and short stories. Her social media accounts are approved by her estate.
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