Castle Dor - Daphne du Maurier

 

This time, it's another du Maurier review - I'm slowly making my way through her entire ouevre! This was, in part, the unfinished final novel of Arthur Quiller-Couch, known under the alias 'Q'. When he died and left a partly-completed manuscript behind, his daughter sent it to du Maurier in the hope that she could finish his final novel.

Castle Dor is set in du Maurier's beloved Cornwall and follows newlyweds the Lewarne's - a wealthy older landlord and his startlingly young wife. When Linnet Lewarne and Breton onion-seller Amyot Trestane first meet, their instant attraction sets off a chain of devastating events. The novel is based on the legend of Tristan and Iseult, and what ensues is a tragic love story which ultimately ends in heartbreak. A bit of light reading, you might say!

For me, the novel took a little while to get into. Quiller-Couch's writing style is rather markedly different to du Maurier's and, if I'm honest, was less enjoyable for me. I suppose that's because I'm used to the agelessness of du Maurier's writing, and the way she transcends the generations. I could pretty much point out exactly where Quilter-Couch's writing ended and du Maurier's began.

However, once I was about halfway in, this novel really took off for me. This is a more challenging du Maurier read and very different to something like Rebecca, but I highly enjoyed it and appreciated the basis of the legend, which I was unfamiliar with prior to reading this.