A Review By Keith Smith

A romantic escape set in the wild creeklands of Cornwall. That was our holiday…… for this is where I read my first Du Maurier novel last week (so long ago now!), within touching distance of all the locations, Frenchman’s Creek off the Helford, and Navron at the top of the river. That certainly added to the enjoyment I experienced. But even if I hadn’t been there on holiday I would, with Du Maurier, have been there in spirit, for that is the power of her writing.

Lady Dona St Columb leads a wasted life at the court of Charles II, and when one of her pranks goes wrong she decides enough is enough and she will escape to the solitude of her husband’s Cornish estates. There she gets more adventure than she bargained for when she meets the gentleman French rogue and pirate who is currently the scourge of all Cornwall. She falls in love and discovers her true self in the process. The match is doomed from the start. Sounds over-sentimental and girlie? Well it is…of course it is. On the other hand, Du Maurier is a capable writer, and we get as much pleasure from the nuances of her description of the marvellous settings as we do from the rather obvious and unsophisticated plot. Pure escapism, and perhaps none the worse for it.