words in scarlet ink

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it here before, but Daphne DuMaurier is one of my favorite authors. In spite of this fact, I have not read all her books. This is one of the most recent ones I’ve read.

Frenchman’s Creek takes place during the reign of King Charles II. Dona, Lady of St. Columb and some level of aristocrat, leaves London in a fit of disgust with the society of the time. She retreats to her husband’s country estate in Cornwall, which hasn’t been used in several years. She quickly discovers that it’s being used as a base by the French pirate Jean-Benoit Aubéry, who has a notorious reputation and has been terrorizing the coast near by. She meets him and they begin a love affair.

Dressed as a boy, Dona joins the pirate crew and takes part in one particularly spectacular robbery, which brings her husband and his friend Rockingham to Cornwall. With other men, they plot to capture Aubéry, but Aubéry and his clever crew get the best of the search party – tying them up and robbing them.

I don’t remember exactly what happens but Dona has to kill Rockingham because he attacks her in a jealous rage when he figures out she’s in love with Aubéry. Naturally, Rockingham had his sights on Dona as well, and was a lunatic. Aubéry is eventually captured, but Dona helps him escape, and while she’s tempted to go with him on his ship so they can travel and have adventures together, she ultimately chooses to stay with her children and her husband.

This isn’t du Maurier’s usual style of novel – it’s much more romantic than the other works I’ve read by her, and it wasn’t as dark as other stories, with no horror elements. I did not have an issue with this. du Maurier’s language was as beautiful as ever, and the story was fun.

There an be an argument made that this book was semi-autobiographical. du Maurier struggled with identity during her life. As a girl she wished to be a boy and was a fierce tomboy. She described her sexuality as that of two people – a loving wife and mother, the persona she showed the world, and “a lover” which was she described as an overwhelmingly masculine energy. “The lover” was the force behind her creative work. There was also speculation that she was bisexual (but this is just speculation and has been denied by her children/surviving family). She is also remembered as something as a recluse who got tired of the aristocratic society she belonged to and the general public, but this depends on who you talked to.

With that in mind, it’s possible to see that struggle play out in this work. Dona becomes disgusted with her life and takes a break from it and joins a pirate crew dressed as a boy, while also engaging in a passionate fling with the captain. She is tempted to leave, but ultimately decides that her place is with her husband and children (much like du Maurier stayed with her husband and children, despite that her marriage wasn’t entirely happy.)

I really loved this story for the language, though. It’s an almost dreamy love story with a bit of adventure. It’s quite enjoyable and much more lighthearted than her usual stories, which both shows her depth as an author to jump into almost a different genre of work entirely. It’s not my favorite of her works (I think Rebecca will always be my favorite), but it was good work and I highly recommend it.