Full Description

Frenchman’s Creek

"Highly personalized adventure, ultra-romantic mood, and skillful storytelling." —New York Times

DAPHNE DU MAURIER'S LOST CLASSIC; AN ELECTRIFYING TALE OF LOVE AND SCANDAL ON THE HIGH SEAS.

Jaded by the numbing politeness of Restoration London, Lady Dona St. Columb revolts against high society. She rides into the countryside, guided only by her restlessness and her longing to escape.

But when chance leads her to meet a French pirate, hidden within Cornwall's shadowy forests, Dona discovers that her passions and thirst for adventure have never been more aroused. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain death or risk her own life to save him.

Frenchman's Creek is the breathtaking story of a woman searching for love and adventure who embraces the dangerous life of a fugitive on the seas.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Excerpt

Excerpt

One

W hen the east wind blows up Helford river the shining waters become troubled and disturbed and the little waves beat angrily upon the sandy shores. The short seas break above the bar at ebb-tide, and the waders fly inland to the mud-flats, their wings skimming the surface, and calling to one another as they go. Only the gulls remain, wheeling and crying above the foam, diving now and again in search of food, their grey feathers glistening with the salt spray.

The long rollers of the Channel, travelling from beyond Lizard point, follow hard upon the steep seas at the river mouth, and mingling with the surge and wash of deep sea water comes the brown tide, swollen with the last rains and brackish from the mud, bearing upon its face dead twigs and straws, and strange forgotten things, leaves too early fallen, young birds, and the buds of flowers.

The open roadstead is deserted, for an east wind makes uneasy anchorage, and but for the few houses scattered here and there above Helford passage, and the group of bungalows about Port Navas, the river would be the same as it was in a century now forgotten, in a time that has left few memories.

In those days the hills and the valleys were alone in splendour, there were no buildings to desecrate the rough fields and cliffs, no chimney pots to peer out of the tall woods. There were a few cottages in Helford hamlet, but they made no impression upon the river life itself, which belonged to the birds — curlew and redshank, guillemot and puffin. No yachts rode to the tide then, as they do to-day, and that stretch of placid water where the river divides to Constantine and Gweek was calm and undisturbed.

The river was little known, save to a few mariners who had found shelter there when the south-west gales drove them inshore from their course up-channel, and they found the place lonely and austere, a little frightening because of the silence, and when the wind was fair again were glad to weigh anchor and set sail. Helford hamlet was no inducement to a sailor ashore, the few cottage folk dull-witted and uncommunicative, and the fellow who has been away from warmth and women over-long has little desire to wander in the woods or dabble with the waders in the mud at ebb-tide. So the winding river remained unvisited, the woods and the hills untrodden, and all the drowsy beauty of midsummer that gives Helford river a strange enchantment was never seen and never known.

To-day there are many voices to blunder in upon the silence. The pleasure steamers come and go, leaving a churning wake, and yachtsmen visit one another, and even the day-tripper, his dull eye surfeited with undigested beauty, ploughs in and out amongst the shallows, a prawning net in hand. Sometimes, in a little puffing car, he jerks his way along the uneven, muddy track that leads sharply to the right out of Helford village, and takes his tea with his fellow-trippers in the stone kitchen of the old farm building that once was Navron House. There is something of grandeur about it even now. Part of the original quadrangle still stands, enclosing the farm-yard of to-day, and the two pillars that once formed the entrance to the house, now over-grown with ivy and encrusted with lichen, serve as props to the modern barn with its corrugated roof.

The farm kitchen, where the tripper takes his tea, was part of Navron dining-hall, and the little half-stair, now terminating in a bricked-up wall, was the stair leading to the gallery. The rest of the house must have crumbled away, or been demolished, for the square farm-building, though handsome enough, bears little likeness to the Navron of the old prints, shaped like the letter E, and of the formal garden and the park there is no trace to-day.

The tripper eats his split and drinks his tea, smiling upon the landscape, knowing nothing of the woman who stood there once, long ago, in another summer, who caught the gleam of the river amidst the trees, as he does, and who lifted her head to the sky and felt the sun.

He hears the homely farm-yard noises, the clanking of pails, the lowing of cattle, the rough voices of the farmer and his son as they call to each other across the yard, but his ears are deaf to the echoes of that other time, when someone whistled softly from the dark belt of trees, his hands cupped to his mouth, and was swiftly answered by the thin, stooping figure crouching beneath the walls of the silent house, while above them the casement opened, and Dona watched and listened, her hands playing a little nameless melody upon the sill, her ringlets falling forward over her face.

The river flows on, the trees rustle in the summer wind, and down on the mud flats the oyster-catchers stand at ebb-tide scanning the shallows for food, and the curlews cry, but the men and women of that other time are forgotten, their headstones encrusted with lichen and moss, their names indecipherable.

To-day the cattle stamp and churn the earth over the vanished porch of Navron House, where once a man stood as the clock struck midnight, his face smiling in the dim candlelight, his drawn sword in his hand.

In spring the farmer's children gather primroses and snowdrops in the banks above the creek, their muddy boots snapping the dead twigs and the fallen leaves of a spent summer, and the creek itself, swollen with the rains of a long winter, looks desolate and grey.

The trees still crowd thick and darkly to the water's edge, and the moss is succulent and green upon the little quay where Dona built her fire and looked across the flames and laughed at her lover, but to-day no ship lies at anchor in the pool, with rakish masts pointing to the skies, there is no rattle of chain through the hawse hole, no rich tobacco smell upon the air, no echo of voices coming across the water in a lilting foreign tongue.

The solitary yachtsman who leaves his yacht in the open roadstead of Helford, and goes exploring up river in his dinghy on a night in midsummer, when the night-jars call, hesitates when he comes upon the mouth of the creek, for there is something of mystery about it even now, something of enchantment. Being a stranger, the yachtsman looks back over his shoulder to the safe yacht in the roadstead, and to the broad waters of the river, and he pauses, resting on his paddles, aware suddenly of the deep silence of the creek, of its narrow twisting channel, and he feels — for no reason known to him — that he is an interloper, a trespasser in time. He ventures a little way along the left bank of the creek, the sound of the blades upon the water seeming over-loud and echoing oddly amongst the trees on the farther bank, and as he creeps forward the creek narrows, the trees crowd yet more thickly to the water's edge, and he feels a spell upon him, fascinating, strange, a thing of queer excitement not fully understood.

Reviews

Reviews

“Daphne du Maurier has the deserved reputation of being an outstanding storyteller. She has the gift of conveying mystery and holding suspense, above all of suggesting the grip of the unknown on ordinary lives.”

Nina Auerbach
“Daphne du Maurier is a complex, powerful, unique writer, so unorthodox that no critical tradition, from formalism to feminism, can digest her.”

Book Thoughts By Lisa Lisa Harvey
Author: Daphne Du Maurier
Rating: 5/5
Grade: C - 14 and up (mild language and sexual suggestion)

Thank you to Danielle with Sourcebooks for sending me this newly reprinted edition of Du Maurier’s novel originally published in 1941. I read and loved Rebecca as a teenager, and am unsure why I never sought out any of the other novels by the author, but after reading this book I will be sure to do so. I am so glad that Sourcebooks is reprinting this, and hope that it can find its way to many other people who have missed it, as I have.

On the rare occasion I have the experience where book and mood meet perfectly. This happened with Frenchman’s Creek, a book I am sure that I would have very much enjoyed no matter my mood, but which was exactly the book I was seeking at the time I read it. The wild, windy March days—with looming storm, and gathering clouds, the brief hours of sunshine tempered by drops of ice cold rain, and mud-causing snow—have left me restless and wild myself, longing for escape.
And so enter Dona St. Columb, the beautiful but restless Lady, tired of London high society, longing for escape from the falsity and uselessness of her life. After a foolish escapade, and stupid flirtation, she sets off, with her two young children and their nurse, to her husband’s country estate surrounded by forest river and ocean. All she wants is to find some solitude and peace—far away from the stench of the stifling London summer, and a husband who can not understand her.

Forget the children’s tears, forget Prue’s grievance, forget the pursed up mouth of the coachman, forget Harry and his troubled distressed blue eyes when she announced her decision. "But damn, Dona, what have I done, what have I said, don’t you know that I adore you?" Forget all these things, because this was freedom, to stand here for one minute with her face to the sun and the wind, this was living, to smile and to be alone.



The descriptions of the nature and life teeming around the estate—the birds and butterflies, wildflowers and trees, creeks and ocean—bringing joy and peace to Dona and her children, are so well done that I feel as if I were there, in the Cornish countryside. I am transported away from the cold wind, the six inches of March snow I shoveled off of the walks this morning, the snow which keeps coming and will necessitate another shoveling in a few short hours. Instead I drowse lazily, being baked by the sun; I tramp through the thick woods; I stand above the ocean, the salty breeze enlivening me.

The birds were astir again, after their noonday silence, and the silent butterflies danced and fluttered, while drowsy bumblebees hummed in the warm air, winging their way to the topmost branches of the trees...

and there, suddenly before her for the first time was the creek, still and soundless, shrouded by the trees, hidden from the eyes of men. She stared at it in wonder, for she had had no knowledge of its existence, this stealthy branch of the parent river creeping into her own property, so sheltered, so concealed by the woods themselves. The tide was ebbing, the water was oozing away from the mudflats, and here, where she stood, was the head of the creek itself, for the stream ended in a trickle, and the trickle in a spring. The creek twisted around a belt of trees, and she began to walk along the bank, happy, fascinated, forgetting her mission, for this discovery was a pleasure quite unexpected, this creek was a source of enchantment, a new escape, better than Navron itself, a place to drowse and sleep, a lotus-land.



Her stodgy neighbor had warned her about pirates, who have been robbing from the estates up and down the coast, and reportedly having their way with the womenfolk. Their leader a dangerous frenchman, so stealthy and with a ship so fast that he has not been aprehended. Dona had listened to the reports with some amusement, but really paid them no mind until she caught sight of the ship in the creek on her land, and at the same time found herself covered with a coat, and forced onto the pirate ship.What she finds there astounds her, there is no sign of the steriotypical pirate, but an educated, tidy, considerate artist. And beyond the peace which she had sought and found, Dona finds the adventure and passion her spirit had been seeking, and someone who understands.


...she had known then that this was to happen, nothing could prevent it; she was part of his body, and part of his mind, they belonged to eachother, both wanderers, both fugitives, cast in the same mould.



Danger, excitement, love, a meeting of souls, Lady St. Columb has found it all. Unfortunately she can not keep it all, something must be given up: her children and husband and very way of life, or the new love and adventure which she so craved. Yet events transpire that make it not even such a cut and dried choice as this.

Anyone who has ever felt the need to escape from the cage of daily life will identify with and love this book. It has found its way into my heart, and will be added to the stack of favorites I pull out when I feel in the right restless mood, and need a satisfying read.

Ex Libris Sharon Goforth
Title: Frenchman’s Creek

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Rating: 5/5

Lady Dona St. Columbe, wife of Sir Harry St. Columbe and the mother of two young children, is bored. She is tired of the London life of the privileged - the endless dinners, parties, and drinking with insufferable acquaintances - and longs to escape. After a night of drinking with her husband’s best friend and taking part in an outrageous prank dressed as a man, she gathers her children and leaves her husband and London for Navron, their home in Cornwall. It is at Navron that Dona hopes to find the peace and quiet she craves. It isn’t long, though, before she makes the startling discovery that she is not alone. A pirate ship lies in a creek on her property and its captain soon holds the key to her heart. When Sir Harry suddenly returns to Navron at the urging of his neighbors, Dona has to decide whether to remain in her old life as a wealthy but bored wife and mother, or to follow her love to happiness and danger.

In Frenchman’s Creek, Du Maurier takes the reader on a highly imaginative romantic adventure. Within this context, she explores the importance of escape when certain life situations seem intolerable and how that escape can revive us for the return. The story itself is its own form of escape, complete with dashing characters and a page turning, adventure-filled plot. Du Maurier’s descriptions are vivid:

"The setting sun behind her made a pathway on the sea, stretching to the far horizon, and as Dona lay and watched, her mind all drowsy and content, her heart at peace, she saw a smudge on the horizon, and presently the smudge took shape and form, and she saw the white sails of a ship. For a while it made no progress, for there was no breath upon the water, and it seemed to hang there, between sea and sky, like a painted toy. She could see the high poop-deck, and the fo’c’sle head, and the curious raking masts, and the men upon her must have had luck with their fishing for a crowd of gulls clustered around the ship, wheeling and crying, and diving to the water. Presently a little tremor of a breeze came off the headland where Dona lay, and she saw the breeze ruffle the waves below her, and travel out across the sea towards the waiting ship. Suddenly the sails caught the breeze and filled, they bellied out in the wind, lovely and white and free, the gulls rose in a mass, screaming above the masts, the setting sun caught the painted ship in a gleam of gold, and silently stealthily, leaving a long dark ripple behind her, the ship stole in towards the land. And a feeling came upon Dona, as though a hand touched her heart, and a voice whispered in her brain, ’I shall remember this.’ A premonition of wonder, of fear, of sudden strange elation. She turned swiftly, smiling to herself for no reason, humming a little tune, and strode back across the hills to Navron House, skirting the mud and jumping the ditches like a child, while the sky darkened, and the moon rose, and the night wind whispered in the tall trees." (pgs 38-39)

I loved reading this book. I had read it years ago, and I enjoyed it as much again this time around as I did before. Although the story was written in the 1940’s and takes place in the 17th century, it is contemporary in feeling and in attitude. The denouement will keep one thinking for a long time after the book has been finished, and would be a great discussion topic for book groups.

Many thanks to Danielle Jackson of Sourcebooks for the opportunity to revisit this wonderful book. Sourcebooks’ reprinting of Frenchman’s Creek will be available to the public this spring. If you love romance and adventure in well-written literature, then you won’t want to miss it!

Medieval Bookworm Meghan Kawka
Lady Dona St. Columb leads a life in London with which she has grown tired. After doing something that even she finds reprehensible, she takes her children and flees to her husband’s country estate, Navron, trying her best to get away from him, his friends, and her own scandalous reputation. While walking at Navron, she discovers someone who helps her to completely reevaluate herself, her life, and learn to be a woman that she likes rather than a woman she despises.

My expectations for this book were about medium. I loved Rebecca and really did not care for The House on the Strand. I really enjoyed this book, though. I tend to always appreciate books about self-discovery, and Dona does a great deal of discovering. She has a lot of hard looks at her life and what she’s doing with it and she figures she wants something else. That something else is actually a lot more scandalous than her current life, but she definitely grows as a person, especially regarding the decisions she makes towards the end.

Du Maurier seems to have a thing for characters without real names. The Frenchman has a name, Jean-Benoit, but almost never goes by it. He exists as an entity, onto which we can place our expectations of a pirate, a Frenchman, a romantic hero, and he can fulfill them. He’s got a personality, but it’s almost as though his lack of name and real characterization makes him less distinct and almost legendary in his exploits. I think this is a really interesting device that du Maurier uses and it really adds something to Dona’s infatuation with him; most women have a thing for the mysterious and dangerous man.

I also just love the prose in this book. It’s sparse but beautiful at the same time. Let me give you an example that speaks for itself, the first few sentences:

When the east wind blows up Helford River the shining waters become troubled and disturbed and the little waves beat angrily upon the sandy shores. The short seas break above the bar at ebb-tide, and the waders fly inland to the mud-flats, their wings skimming the surface, and calling to one another as they go. Only the gulls remain, wheeling and crying above the foam, diving now and again in search of food, their grey feathers glistening with the salt spray.

- p. 1, Frenchman’s Creek.

For me, that evokes some gorgeous imagery and is a fantastic way to set up a book about a pirate and a lady, don’t you think? Du Maurier’s prose is very distinctive and when the story is good, it works extremely well. This is the case with Frenchman’s Creek. The story is intriguing and the book is an absolute pleasure to read. I had a lovely time with this, and I think you would too.

Buy Frenchman’s Creek on Amazon. It’s just been re-released by Sourcebooks and this is a gorgeous edition. If you’ve been interested in reading more by Daphne du Maurier, or you’re looking for a great, well-written piece of fiction, I recommend this book.

Reading Extravaganza Liliana Swistek
I always am hesitant when it comes to reviewing or writing about classic literature. It’s not because I don’t like it but quite the opposite. Classic writers had the true talent for creating art but it is very often very difficult for me to pinpoint exactly why I loved a certain classic. The overall quality rather, the ability to transport me to the world seen through the eyes of its creator, the feel of the novel and how it leaves me in the end are the signs of true talent and not a learned skill. And so is the case with Daphne Du Maurier and Frenchman’s Creek.

Lady Dona St. Columb suffers from what one might call a mid-life crisis. It’s the age of Restoration in England and as she approaches her thirtieth birthday, Dona feels fed up with London, with her husband, and with herself. To remedy that, she escapes the life of boredom and aimless living by going with her two children to her husband’s country estate in Cornwall. She only seeks internal peace and to find her true self, away from the demands of high court and the phoniness of those around her. She finds peace at Navron House but not for long, because she also finds a French pirate and his crew moored in the creek near the house. And with the Frenchman’s appearance her true sense of adventure awakes. But the quest she embarks upon has its consequences which sooner or later Dona will have to face.

I thoroughly enjoyed Frenchman’s Creek. The opening of the novel seems quite different from other historical fiction. It starts with a description of the creek and Navron House in contemporary settings (contemporary to Du Maurier) and from there a reader is transported to a different time and thrown into the lives of people, who are now forgotten but who once occupied this place. I love how the nature is an omnipresent element throughout the novel. It seems to be a part of Dona, of her other self she wasn’t aware of while living in London but that she found in the country. The descriptions of the birds’ songs, of grass leaves swaying in the summer breeze, and the ominous views of the river and the creek were all very evocative and really aroused my imagination as I didn’t think they could. I found it really wonderful how Du Maurier, through her writing, managed to impose on me the changing atmosphere of Dona’s life. The first part of the book made me feel as if everything stood still, just like I imagined Dona felt about her life, bored, disenchanted and lazy, with no purpose and no goal ahead. However, as she meets the pirate and a wonderful craving for change and adventure rises within Dona, I felt my own excitement growing. I actually think that only a chosen few writers have managed to influence my mood and my manner of reading as the story progressed to such extent. Add to it the romance, the mischief and quite a few thrills, and you have a great book. Dona’s character was naturally my favorite one. This woman’s longing for change, escaping mundane life, refusing to accept that this is it, the end of the road for her speak of great courage for those times. She wants to find her own, true self and will not escape from it once it’s found. I really liked Frenchman’s Creek, it reminded me why classics are classics, endured for many generations and will be read by countless others.

A Lovely Shore Breeze CaiteMaire Fitz
My dear readers, I have a few things to confess. First, before receiving this book and another du Maurier book, My Cousin Rachel, from the kind folks at Sourcebooks, I had never read any of du Maurier’s books. Certainly, I had heard for her, and in fact have a copy of perhaps her most famous novel, Rebecca, in my TBR pile. So, when I was offered the books, I accepted them without doing the usual research, at least a quick glance about the plot on Amazon or elsewhere, that I do to be sure a book might be something that interests me.

So when I received Frenchman’s Creek and read a synopsis of the plot, my heart sank a bit. 17th century England (not a huge fan of historical novels) passions being aroused (not a fan of romance novels) and pirates! For heavens sake....French pirates. I foresaw having to write another less than thrilled review.
Well, my dear readers, I was wrong! In fact, Frenchman’s Creek turned out to be a quite enjoyable book that I would offer to you with a strong recommendation, even if it might not be your usual cup of tea. Even more so if it is your usual fare.

Our heroine, Lady Dona St. Columb, is bored and just a bit disgusted with life as a member of the aristocracy in London during the reign of Charles II. Her own participation in what starts as a prank, with one of her husband’s friends, a prank that takes a bit of a nasty turn, convinces her to leave her husband and his friends to their partying ways in the capital. Taking her two young children and a small staff, she leaves for a summer’s stay at her husband’s remote and rarely used estate on the wild coast of Cornwall. Well, at least not used by it’s owners, because she arrives to find that in their absence, a famous pirate, who has been attacking estates along the coast, has been using the house as his temporary base of operation. But the Frenchman is no ordinary pirate, as he himself will admit.

“There are no dark problems about it. I have no grudge against society, no bitter hatred of my fellow-men. It just happens that the problems of piracy interest me, suit my particular bent of thought.”

He is intelligent, and charming and as fast as you can say swashbuckling, Dona is finding herself falling under his spell and finding an outlet for the adventure and escape and fulfillment she so craves.

“It seems to her, as they sat there side by side, without a word, that she has never known peace before, until this moment, that all the restless devils inside her who fought and struggled so often for release were, because of this silence and his presence, now appeased. She felt, in a sense, like someone who had fallen under a spell, under some strange enchantment, because this sensation of quietude was foreign to her, who had lived hitherto in a turmoil of sound and movement.”

She finds an escape and an adventure in her brief role, acting as his cabin boy..which I admit sound like the straight line for a smutty joke. But while this book is sometimes considered a precursor of the modern day bodice rippers, you will find no smut here and only vague references to the physical side of their relationship. No, this is more about soul mates, like-minded in their adventure. But it is an adventure that seems destined to have an unhappy outcome, as her husband arrives from London to assist his neighbors in their attempts to capture the Frenchman, once and for all, and she will have to choose between her previous life, including her children, and a life that seems like a fantasy. Happily ever after seems unlikely....

From the quotes, you can get a sense of du Maurier’s writing style, that is rather florid and yet that I found very readable. The setting, on the wild Cornish coast, is appealing, and most of all, for whatever their faults, and they do have some faults, especially our heroine, the characters are very appealing. I was especially taken with the Frenchman’s right hand man, William, whom he left at the estate, acting as the butler in his absences, while the pirate is off doing what pirates do... pirating. He is a very amusing and wise sidekick and gets some of the best dialogue in the book. Surprising, there is a good bit of humor in the book, and a lot of it comes from the mouth of my man William.

Overall, there is a very modern feel to the novel, for a book set in the late 1600’s and published in 1942, over 65 years ago. It actually addresses some interesting questions, such as the limits on the roles of women and issues of gender. Dona discuses at one point..a point that sadly it seems I failed to mark...that she wishes she had been born a man, that part of her seems to be male, an idea that it seems du Maurier herself shared. That would certainly raise some interesting questions about her relationship with the pirate then...

In sum, an entertaining, very well written story, quite a bit more than a bare outline of the story might lead you to expect. Well, that is unless you already have a thing for pirates, as I am sure several of you most likely do. Some people do not consider it du Maurier’s best book and when it was first released, it was to mixed reviews. Actually, that is grand from my point of view, because then I still have the best ahead of me to read!

And just a word about this edition, recently published by Sourcebooks. It is a very nice trade paperback, very attractive, with, in my opinion, a lovely cover. And you know I am one to sometimes judge a book by it’s cover! Ok, maybe not actually judge the book itself, but I do like an attractive cover and it does add to the pleasure of a book for me. This one is a winner, on several scores.

The Literate Housewife Jennifer Conner
Dona St. Columb, a woman bored with her life in London, is determined to flee from the city the day after her participation in a practical joke along with Rockingham, her husband’s best friend, makes her ashamed of the woman she has become. She is driven to distraction by her husband Harry and his incessent yawning and drinking habit, and decides to leave for her husband’s family estate in Cornwell with only her two children and their nanny. For all of his faults, Harry is besotted with his wife and agrees to let her go to Navron alone. The countryside proves very relaxing to Lady St. Columb, but little did she know that she would find the adventure she had always longed for in the notorious pirate who has been looting the area in her husband’s absence. While she longs to learn all that her Frenchman wants to teach her about life, love, and adventure, Dona has to weigh the rewards against the loss of her family, her already questionable reputation, and her life itself if she were to be caught.

It has been a long time since I’ve read Rebecca, the novel for which Daphne du Maurier is most well known. Rebecca is one of those rare jems where I love the novel and the film equally. In fact, I was introduced to du Maurier through the movie in the first place. I have always wanted to re-read the novel and explore her other titles, so I quickly requested a copy of Frenchman’s Creek from Sourcebooks as soon as I found out that they were available for review. Dona is such a different character from the second Mrs. De Winter and I absolutely loved her. She was a woman who loved her children but wanted more from life than motherhood during the reign of Charles II, when there weren’t really many acceptable outlets. Although her feelings for Harry were cold and judgemental, his lax nature was a saving grace of sorts. It’s far better to do as you please and feel shame for the things you’ve done than suffer from the strangulation of a strict and domineering husband. Just like Harry, I loved her despite or perhaps because of her faults.

The first chapter got off to a slow start for me, but that was quickly forgotten when Lady St. Columb reprimanded her driver for letting the horses rest on the way to Navron. It was when Dona met William, the man in charge of caring for Navron, that du Maurier really worked her magic. Their dialog and interactions are so human and so full of sacrastic wit, double meanings, and complete understanding. It was a treat to read each and every time that spoke to one another. Much the same could be said of her relationship with Frenchman. The two spoke the same language of escape and dreams. It was hard for me to find fault in Dona when in such a short period of time William and the Frenchman knew her better than her husband and their friends in London. Harry had no clue how to love his wife because he couldn’t understand her and Rockingham was simply acting upon his base nature. He never cared for Dona the way that William or the Frenchman did.

In everyone’s life there comes a time when daydreaming of running away from reality makes the idea so very appealing. Frenchman’s Creek is the perfect novel to read to fulfill those fantasies. Although I’ve never been one for pirates (not even when portrayed by Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom), I could not help being drawn in to the lure of sailing away from the world with a dashing pirate. This novel isn’t about pure escapism, though. It is quick to acknowledge the costs of acting impulsively and experiencing the greatest high you had ever imagined. At some point, you must come down from it. It isn’t just the appeal taking up with pirates that makes this novel special. du Maurier’s dialog provides just as much spark as the Frenchman while her prose creates both the calm tranquility and the absolute danger that Dona encounters in Cornwall. Be careful when you set out to read this novel. Daphne du Maurier will capture your imagination with more stealth, speed, and skill than any of her pirates ever could.

Peeking Between the Pages Darlene Smoliak
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier was such a fun read for me. It’s kind of romancey and yet not sappy in the least and I guess that’s why I liked it so much. There are no blatant intimate scenes, just subtle innuendo and sometimes that really adds a lot to a novel.

Dona, a bored housewife and mother, is our main character and what a hoot she is. She belonged in modern society not back in 17th century England. Being completely and utterly tired of things at home with her husband Harry and high society, she takes off with her children for Navron House. Once there, she finds only one servant in residence, William, who just happens to be in cahoots with our illustrious pirate.

Dona is looking for adventure and excitement and that’s just what she gets when by chance she meets her French pirate. He fulfills her in all the ways she’s been yearning for giving her love and a purpose to her life however dangerous it may be. She finally gets to experience all the danger and heart thumping excitement she’s wanted and she’s never been happier.

As with most things though, in the end, Dona has to make a life decision. Does she go back to her old and boring life as a mother and wife or does she risk everything and leave with her Frenchman and live the life of a pirate with her true love instead. What will she do?... Where in the end does her heart lead her?...

I can easily see why Daphne du Maurier is considered such an amazing and talented writer. While Dona is the main character, all of the characters jump out at you. She makes them all interesting in their own little ways. I loved the dialogue in the book with some of the most memorable being between Dona and her servant William, who if you remember is also in with the pirate. It had me laughing out loud more than a few times.

I really enjoyed du Maurier’s writing and I’ll just share one of my favorite quotes...
’She looked out towards the ship, straining at her moorings there in the creek, the riding-light swaying to the freshening wind, while the men on board her slept soundly; and she thought of those silent trespassers who would come upon her out of the darkness. No creaking of oars in the night, no shadow of boats, but a wet hand stretching from the water upon the chain, and a wet footmark upon the fo’c’sle head, and lithe dripping figures dropping down upon her decks, a whisper, and a whistle, and a strangled smothered cry’. (pg 137, Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier)

This is a entertaining read and one I would recommend if you enjoy a classic historical romance. Really, Frenchman’s Creek is a tale of escape and who doesn’t want to escape their lives once in a while for something more risky and exciting! This edition is newly released through Sourcebooks and the cover is absolutely amazing. It’s dark and just a little mysterious just as you would suspect a pirate’s life might be! You can purchase Frenchman’s Creek here in the US and here in Canada.

Book Loons Barbara Ligens
Wow, I can certainly tell why Sourcebooks wants to bring back stories like these! Who wouldn’t want a respite from a tiresome husband, two reprobate dogs and all the bother that comes from being rich and bored. A handsome, educated pirate who immediately understands her as an adventuress is just what Lady Dona St. Columb needs.

It definitely helps that William, the servant of the manor to which Dona has escaped, is beyond compare in his ability to be helpful to both Dona and the pirate. It must be because he and the pirate are French - they just know how to live life to the fullest! Meanwhile, on the English side, the Lord is usually pretty heavy with drink and therefore not always aware of what is going on. But the neighbors feel his presence will help them fight the pirate, and when he comes he brings a dangerous friend.

More will not be said, but please know the story contains lots of wonderful ups and downs and is just waiting for you to savor. I think one of the reasons Du Maurier’s writing is so satisfactory is that it is honest. Despite the ability of Lady Dona to seize an opportunity for great love, she knows and will never forget what is truly important, and the pirate only thinks the more of her for it. Frenchman’s Creek is a most satisfying tale.

The Tome Traveller’s Weblog Carey Anderson
Weary of the endless social whirl of London, with its inane amusements and harsh adventures, Dona St. Columb takes her children and escapes to their Cornwall estate of Navron. She leaves behind her tolerable but frequently drunk husband Harry and flees to the quiet countryside.

Once at Navron she finds William, the butler, is the sole servant and the house is largely musty and unused. All but her own bedroom, which is freshly aired and has a curious jar of tobacco in the bedside table.

As Dona begins to relax into the rhythms of country life, she hears rumors of a French pirate plaguing the area. Soon William will prove to be Dona’s link to the handsome villain and his ship, La Mouette. She will be drawn to this unlikely pirate and experience the adventure, and the heartbreak, of a lifetime.

There is a reason that Daphne du Maurier’s books are classics today and that reason is her haunting use of language. Her books, including this one, are so beautifully written and so perfectly evoke the timeless, lonely quality of Cornwall that the reader feels transported.

I love the way she opens Frenchman’s Creek , through the eyes of a modern visitor (well, modern as of 1941 when the book was written) who feels the brush of the ghost of a long ago tale, a tale so deep with feeling that it echos even still:


"He is alone, and yet - can that be a whisper, in the shallows, close to the bank, and does a figure stand there, the moonlight glinting upon his buckled shoes and the cutlass in his hand, and is that a woman by his side, a cloak around her shoulders, her dark ringlets drawn back behind her ears? He is wrong, of course, those are only the shadows of the trees, and the whispers are no more than the rustle of the leaves and the stir of a sleeping bird, but he is baffled suddenly, and a little scared, he feels he must go no farther, and that the head of the creek beyond the farther bank is barred to him and must remain unvisited. And so he turns to go, heading the dinghy’s nose for the roadstead, and as he pulls away the sounds and the whispers become more insistent to his ears, there comes the patter of footsteps, a call, and a cry in the night, a far faint whistle, and a curious lilting song. He strains his eyes in the darkness, and the massed shadows before him loom hard and clear like the outline of a ship. A thing of grace and beauty, born in another time, a painted phantom ship. And now his heart begins to beat, and he strains at his paddles, and the little dinghy shoots swiftly over the dark water away from enchantment, for what he has seen is not of his world, and what he has heard is beyond his understanding."

This is excellent and intense storytelling, many thanks to Sourcebooks for re-releasing the novels of this classic author. All the popular pirate romances these days (Jack Sparrow included) owe a debt of gratitude to Daphne du Maurier for paving the way with Frenchman’s Creek.

Books and Needlepoint Kristi Herbrand
I loved this book. For some reason I tend to avoid books that were published before I was born. I am not sure why this is, as I always seem to enjoy them. Maybe because many of these were books or authors that we were "supposed" to read in school.

After reading the first chapter of The Frenchman’s Creek, I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the book. Before I knew it, I was so caught up in the story that I did not want to put it down.

Her writing is so easy and flowing that it was wonderful to read -

The wheel of La Mouette lifted under her hands, and the ship heeled over in the freshening breeze, and all this, she thought, is part of what we feel for each other, and part of the loveliness of living, the strength that lies in the hull of a ship, the beauty of sails, the surge of water, the taste of the sea, the touch of the wind on our faces, and even the little simple pleasures of eating, and drinking, and sleeping, all these we share with delight and understanding, because of the happiness we have in one another. (p162)

I have owned My Cousin Rachel, Rebecca, and Jamaica Inn for at least 15 years and have not read them. I am definitely going to read them after enjoying Frenchman’s Creek so much!

Reader for Life Tina Baich
Daphne Du Maurier is a true spinner of tales. She expertly weaves romance and mystery into a thought-provoking story. Frenchman’s Creek is no exception. The tale of Dona St Columb entrances the reader from the beginning and makes one consider the state of her own life. I heartily recommend Frenchman’s Creek to anyone who appreciates romance, mystery or the gothic novel. One of my favorite books is Du Maurier’s Rebecca, and Frenchman’s Creek does not disappoint. It solidifies my love of Daphne Du Maurier. I praise Sourcebooks for bringing her work to a new generation of readers.

The Review From Here Tracee Gleichner
When I received and email from Danielle at Sourcebooks to see if I would be interested in reading a few of Daphne du Maurier’s books I jumped at the chance. I have heard so much about this author over the years but haven’t had the time to read anything. Now was as good a time as any.

To call this book a straight romance novel would be doing it an injustice. This author has a way of dragging you in and putting you in the same frame of mind as Lady St. Columb. This novel is set in the 1700s in Cornwall. Lady St. Columb is looking for more to life so she leaves the city and heads to the country home where she honeymooned, bring with her her two children and their nanny.

She happens to find the hideout of a pirate and her sense of adventure is piqued. She decides she is going to try and live a little and disguises herself as a cabin boy to get closer to the pirate. What she doesn’t expect is to fall in love with the pirate, even though he is a scoundrel in every sense of the word…and she’s married.

There are so many different aspects in this book, but the author has such a way of weaving her tale to make you feel as if you know this Lady, and what she is going through. Even though she is spending time with another man while she is married, I could really relate.

I am just sorry that it has taken me this long to read something by this fantastic author. This will not be the last book I read by her though, that’s a guarantee!

The Book Nest Corinne Edwards
Lady Dona St. Columb is so unhappy with society life in London, that she just leaves it. She packs up her kids, their nurse (of course) and removes to the countryside. There she hopes to find some peace and a period of solace from the frippery and falseness that is being the wife of the inebriated and daft Lord. St. Columb.

Life along the river is blissful and the bounty of nature itself seems to fill her with more of a sense of purpose, a love of what is real and unspoilt. And when news of a French pirate reaches her, curiosity leads to a confrontation that takes Lady Dona on an adventure that will change her view of life, and of herself, forever.

At first, Dona bothered me. Her selfishness seemed to be her main characteristic. But the more I read, the more I related to her hatred for pretending to be someone she’s not, for having to spend her life being on show instead of being able to live on her own terms. And while I could never really agree morally with her choices, I had so much sympathy for her reactions and I stopped questioning her motives. She’s not a heroine, by any means, but she did feel real and fleshed out.

Her interactions with the Frenchman, her pirate, are so beautifully written, so romantic. And our French pirate - he’s one of the more passionate and believable characters I’ve maybe ever read. I could imagine him and his expressions so perfectly in my head. du Maurier has a gift for writing simple and yet vivid descriptions and her dialogue is witty and unassuming. Even though this story is, when I think of it, so very unbelievable, she somehow got me to believe it. It’s romantic and scandalous and adventurous. The most pleasant journey I’ve ever taken with a pirate.

Devourer of Books Jen Karbaek
Dona St. Columb is sick of her life in Restoration London. In order to get away from the life she has led and the actions she has take - some of which do not make her very proud of herself - she takes her children and all but flees to her husband’s estate in Cornwall. Once there, she is called upon by an insufferable neighbor who requests that she summon her husband from London in order that he might help their neighbors rid themselves of a dastardly pirate who has been terrorizing the area. Dona is no shrinking violet to be scared of a little thing like a pirate. In fact, she ends up befriending - and more - the Frenchman, joining him in love and adventure before the gentlemen of the surrounding area close in upon him.

This was the first novel of du Marurier’s I have read and I must say, it was definitely enjoyable. She has quite a way with words, the language she used was simply beautiful. I particularly liked the opening of the novel, where a fisherman from the story’s future begins to feel the pull of the creek and the story of Dona and the Frenchman. It was definitely more romance-y than I really prefer, although only suggestive and not explicit. The romance aspect of the story is the one thing I really didn’t like, actually. I didn’t really get how exactly Dona and the Frenchman fell in love. It wasn’t a nice, gradual deepening of emotion, it seemed more as if they like and lusted for one another, perhaps Dona lusting most of all for something different than what she had in her life. That part just didn’t really work for me, but then I’m not a fan of romances.

Despite my slight problem with the central relationship in the book, I did like “Frenchman’s Creek.” The prose and the adventure story were enough for me to be thoroughly satisfied.

Books are My Only Friends Tripp Ritter
Daphne Du Maurier is best known for the novel Rebecca, but she actually wrote a number of novels, plays and screenplays. While much of her work has been in the shadows for years, we are starting to see a bit more of her. Sourcebooks has recently republished her Frenchman’s Creek. Fans of Rafael Sabatini and other romantic period adventures will be quite pleased with this book. Set in du Maurier’s beloved Cornwall in the Restoration era, the restless and unhappily married Lady Dona St Colomb finds herself captured and eventually joining forces with a pirate.

Du Maurier clearly loves the region in which the book is set. She does an excellent job describing it and the action sequences. I suspect that most readers enjoyment will hinge on their reaction to Dona. Those looking for vicarious escape from their own troubles will take heart in her rejection of her circumstances and her place in society as she finds true love and her hearts desire at the side of a pirate. Others may blanch at her carefree rejection of parental and marital responsibility.

Reviewing her background on Wikipedia, there is the possibility that the book served as a form of escapism for Du Maurier herself. She believed that she had two personalities within her. One was a loving mother while another was a free spirited artist. There is also the question of whether her own marriage was happy or not and. I suppose that most novels can find their roots in the persona lives of their authors, but it remains interesting.

A Reader’s Respite Michele Jacobson
In 1941 du Maurier wrote Frenchman’s Creek, the only romance she ever penned. A woman who longs for the freedom that her era doesn’t allow women grabs it anyway and dashing pirates abound in this riveting love story. But as with all du Maurier’s novels, there is an aura of unsettledness that permeates the atmosphere, setting it apart from other novels in the genre. This is a fabulous read for fans of romance or fans of gothic historical fiction and it is a tribute to the folks at Sourcebooks for choosing such a timeless classic to reprint today.

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• Length: 8.00 in
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• Page Count: 288 pages