Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier

“It is a pity you were not born a boy,” he said, “you would have discovered then what danger meant. Like myself, you are an outlaw at heart, . . . .”  A page or so along the pirate emphasizes the point, “It is a pity indeed you are not a boy, you could have come with me.”  So says our French pirate to the fair lady who meets his eyes above the embers of their dying campfire. 

Ah, there’s the rub.  What does a woman do if she is too independent-minded and too clever for the time and place in which she lives?  What does a woman do who longs to be more than her sex will typically allow? That is, in the words of Professor Higgins, why can’t a woman be more like a man? Of course, were the woman in question a man, our French pirate would not care a fig if he came along for the ride or not! Perhaps a woman should be a woman.  

Frenchman's Creek, Helford River, England

Our heroine, Lady Dona St Columb, is an upper-crust Brit in 17^th century London.  She has a husband and two small children.  She gets involved with a dashing French pirate who parks his boat along the banks of a creek on her country estate.  While this plot line may seem a bit thin and contrived, the novel’s theme is neither.  This is a tale of star-crossed lovers!  Regardless of plot, thick or thin, who can resist a story of two people finding their soulmate only to find that soulmate to be just out of reach. 

 As in Mary Anne and My Cousin Rachel, Du Maurier’s female protagonist is not all that likeable.  Lady Dona is at first glance petulant and imperious, a bit abrasive.  As we read on, though, she acquires more dimension and depth.  She softens a bit.  Perhaps, we concede, perhaps she is just like anyone else, looking for true love.  Perhaps through no fault of her own she ended up with a husband ill-suited to her temperament.  Perhaps she should leave him?  Perhaps she should follow her dreams.  After all, don’t we all deserve to be happy?

About a third of the way through, I found the book hard to put down.  Du Maurier’s writing is expert, the setting is bucolic and remote.  The romance is high and the suspense is unrelenting!  The energy builds with the dopey husband, the dashing pirate, candelight dinners, the twists, the turns, the moonlit dramas and the sailing ship.  In fact, I’m not so sure that the excitement doesn’t continue right up until the closing sentence of the book.  Indeed, after reading the last word, I was disappointed to look up and see only my own living room and myself sitting there in a mere tee-shirt and sweatpants.  No silk gown, no candlelight, no creek and no pirate. 

What is the upshot of all this adventure?  Ultimately, it seems, men are daring and unafraid of being afraid.  Women are nurturers and naturally seek a safer harbor.  But you must read the book for yourself! Like Mary Anne and My Cousin Rachel this is probably more of a woman’s book.