Daphne du Maurier herself describes this as the only “romantic” novel she wrote. It does have a lighter story line perhaps than some of her other work but it is still a terrific swashbuckling story and does cover important themes such as the freedom and independence men had while women were constrained by responsibilities and how society felt they should behave. Dona St Columb is a feisty heroine who grabs some excitement and independence while she can, knowing only too well that this can only be shortlived.
September 2009 Guest Editor Emily Barr on Frenchman's Creek by DAPHNE DU MAURIER
Women escaping from their day to day lives is a theme to which I find myself returning again and again. This novel is the ultimate such story, a wildly exciting and utterly engrossing adventure. Since I moved to Cornwall I have been reading Du Maurier again, and concluding that she is not sufficiently appreciated as a fabulous, literary, exciting writer.
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 freedom, honest love - and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger. To escape the shallowness of court life, Dona retreats to Navron, her husband's remote Cornish estate. There, she seeks peace in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. But she finds instead a daring pirate, hunted by all Cornwall, a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamble his life for a moment's joy. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain death or risk her own life to save him.