The King's General by Daphne Du Maurier

A swashbuckling Cornish adventure with an unlikely heroine, as usual Daphne Du Maurier did not disappoint!

Published in 1946, The King's General' weaves a fictional love story around the real people and events of the English Civil War. Set in seventeenth century Cornwall, Du Maurier crafts her characters from real people and sets them in their ancestral homes, many of which still exist today. It was the history of her own home 'Menabilly'  that provided the inspiration for the story, a skeleton and a pair of Cavalier's shoes found hidden in a secret passage way, the perfect backdrop for the unfolding drama. 

The novel opens on a rather melancholy note, Honor Harris, who at thirty eight years old is weighed down by the sadness of her earlier life, reflects upon her current circumstances. Now reduced to living on the charity of others, Honor looks back over the events that led her and her brother, Robin, to such a low ebb. Narrating her own story Honor takes the reader back to the family home of Lanrest, where as a ten year old girl she is preparing to meet her new sister in law, a person already shrouded in suspicion. The youngest child in a large and hitherto happy family, Du Maurier skilfully weaves fiction around historical fact.

The dreaded Gartred Grenville is everything Honor hoped she would not be, formed, perhaps, in the same mould as  Du Maurier's most famous creation, Rebecca. A deep  animosity develops between Honor and Gartred, with the latter making several malign appearances, seemingly bent on smiting Honor's happiness to further her own ends. Disappointingly this rivalry never reaches a climax and the much hoped for revenge is never served, the increasingly toxic relationship between Honor and her sister in law just seems to wither. 

At the tender age of eighteen, Honor meets Gartred's brother, the swashbuckling, Richard Grenville and a life long love is born. A tragic accident prevents a happy ending but the catastrophic events of the civil war dwarf the personal struggles of the main characters. Moving to Menabilly, built and owned by the Rashleigh family, Honor sees and feels at first hand the horror and destruction of civil war. The novel covers the main events of the period outlining the struggle of  Cornwall's Royalist's to resist the Rounhead's attempts to capture the County for Parliament. The large cast of characters detracted from the central plot as it was hard to remember who was who or to feel any empathy for those involved. Interesting from a historical point of view but the plot lacked the author's usual rigour, the characters remained firmly on the page. There is a short interview with Daphne Du Maurier, ( Menabilly 'You Tube') during which she reveals that a film company bought the rights to "The Kings General" but it was never made, such a shame as it would have been perfect for Errol Flynn as Richard Grenville, Bette Davis as Honor Harris  and Merle Oberon as Gartred Grenville. If nothing else it was agreed that this novel, although not one of our favourite Daphne Du Maurier novels, did at least ignite the spark of our historical curiosity.

Nestled in the shadow of Hadrian's Wall, The Twice Brewed Inn offers a welcome rest to weary hikers, exhausted from a days trek through the magnificent Northumberland countryside. Steeped in history this welcoming spot seemed the perfect venue to discuss "The King's General". A limited menu offered traditional wholesome pub grub, a hearty filling meal at a reasonable price. In fact as pub grub goes it was better than expected. Despite the relaxation of Covid rules, masks and queues were still the order of the day but the bar was busy with most tables full. The staff were helpful and efficient but clearly very busy. A great place to sate your appetite and quench your thirst after a strenuous hike but not so great for the casual diner. The drive along the military road, however, makes the small gripes worth it, Northumberland's wild and rugged landscape basking in the evening sun is quite a sight to start the night.

We will meet again in early September to discuss .......... 

 

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

A haunting tale from the heart of Northumberland

Having read several of her previous novels, we hoped that this latest offering would be the pinnacle of Sarah Moss's work so far. In "Night Waking' the author succeeded in bringing the wild beauty of a remote Scottish Island to life, would she be able to evoke the essence of Northumberland in her latest novel?  

The novel opens with the sacrificial murder of a young girl, bound and naked, dragged out to a bog  to face a long and lingering death. An echo from the ancient past, her pain buried in the peat of the moors for over two thousand years. Interest piqued, the main story takes place in modern day, All the ingredients were there for a hauntingly good history lesson on the Iron Age. The main character is Sylvie a young girl from  a patriarchal northern  family whose spare time is spent taking part in historical re -enactments. The family have been asked to help with a university field study, chiefly because Sylvie's overbearing father is renowned for his survival skills. They travel to the far North, yes it does sound  like 'A Game of Thrones ' to The Wall, where they live as Iron Age people in a reconstructed round house. It was at this point that flaws in the plot began to emerge, why didn't the students and professor live in the round house with the family? If they truly wanted to experience life in those times surely they should all have lived together under one thatched roof rather than each enjoying the luxury of their own private, neon tent. A clear theme in the book is misogyny, the author compares the treatment of women and girls in the Iron Age to that of women today, Sylvie's father is a violent wife beater who turns his rage on his daughter as she develops into a young, independent woman. A worthy topic to tackle but a bit lazy to make the perpetrator an uneducated thug, domestic violence knows no social class and a slightly less monochrome abuser would have added depth to the  narrative. Again there were plot holes, horrendous beatings in plain sight, a conspiracy of silence amongst a group of people renowned for their stance on equality and non violence. This just didn't ring true, a university professor would not suddenly abandon his moral code on a short summer holiday. Clearly the reader was supposed to believe that isolation and the mystic draw of the landscape turned reasonable well balanced people into monsters but the narrative failed to build to this crescendo. The characters were not well developed, the reader was not led to see the flaws in each that would lead them to perpetrate such a crime against Sylvie. We needed to feel the gradual decent into madness brought on by the attempt to live as Iron Age people, isolation and the rationing of food would have gone along way to explain this but the students had so many trips to 'Spar' that it was hard to imagine any kind of mind bending taking place.

Night Waking evoked  the raw beauty of a Scottish Isle, the landscape almost became a character in the narrative. Northumberland is without doubt one of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes in the world, vast expanses of moorland, deep, dark forests, acres of sand dunes and secluded seaside bays. Perhaps it was the speed at which the author wrote this novel that robbed it of it's alure, the true essence of Northumberland sacrificed to Moss's  haste to push out her latest work. The group were left wondering which part of Northumberland the story was set in.

The plot was interesting the setting should have been unequalled and the characters had the potential to make you feel pity and revulsion in equal measure.  The reader was left feeling that they would like to know more about everyday life in an Iron Age round house. A very interesting example of one can be visited at .....

The Scottish Crannog Centre  info@crannog.co.uk

The Hadrian at Wall provided the backdrop for our discussions of the book. Having been told the place was on the up and in line for an award we had high hopes. Unfortunately they were not to be realised as the food was over cooked and the coffee was cold. The waitress fulfilled our requests with a grudging hostility a mutual lack of respect flourished between served and server.

Our next book takes us to the opposite end of the country for an epic walk.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn