50 Book Challenge: book 49
Rule Britannia – Daphne du Maurier
“This is the 51st state of the USA,” sang Matt Johnson in 1986 and, in this book, it is. With themes perhaps similar to the author’s famous short story The Birds, the members of a most unusual Cornish household wake up one morning to find that the Yanks have invaded, in the guise of a “friendly takeover” designed to help a Britain reeling from an unexpected withdrawal from the European project. Facing bankruptcy and economic collapse, the ‘coalition government’ feels it has little choice but to accept the American ‘proposal’. And, chillingly, the troops roll in. Many citizens welcome the union between the two countries: the main objectors are in the Celtic fringes of Wales, Scotland – and Cornwall.
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This book, written in 1972, was Daphne du Maurier’s last full-length novel. And I get the feeling that it hasn’t always been all that well-received. Certainly in the new Virago edition of this work Ella Westland, an academic at the University of Exeter specialising in Cornish writing who provides the introduction, appears to almost be apologising for it and I have no idea why. Apparently fans of the author were “bemused” on publication and uncomfortable with the larger-than-life central characters and slightly burlesque tone. Perhaps those people were still labouring under the impression, four decades into her writing career, that du Maurier was an author of romance novels or melodrama. In fact, she is so much more. Those of us that know her as an astoundingly versatile writer who can operate in any genre from historical romance and Gothic horror to science fiction and psychological thrillers, adopting a male or female persona with equal ease, will be prepared for anything. It’s crucial to remember that her plots never look good when written out on the back of a book jacket – but usually work brilliantly between the pages. And one quality of her work that I particularly admire is the way she never shies away from the difficult ending, the thing that is just right for the story but rather refuses to let her characters or readers off the hook easily by going for a kinder but ultimately less satisfying option. Prime examples (and strongly recommended reads) would be The Scapegoat and Frenchman’s Creek.
Rule Britannia, as Westland’s introduction demonstrates with some success, is also interesting for the parallels it has with the author’s life. She was, of course, a lifelong devotee and advocate of Cornwall and the Cornish. This book features a retired grande dame of the stage and the du Mauriers were perhaps the ultimate theatrical family of their era. There’s a slight lack of sensibility regarding racial stereotyping – a Welsh and a black character both fall foul of this. But, that duly noted, it’s a book every bit as much worth reading as her earlier work. I found it a compelling page-turner and a very welcome addition to my collection. It comes strongly recommended – but then I’ve yet to read a novel by this author that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed.
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