Frenchman's Creek Review

So I actually read this book last month. But it's not too late to talk about it!

Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier is a classic historical fiction book set in the 17th century in the UK. It is about Dona St. Columb, a noblewoman who has grown disillusioned and bored with her high class life and decides to engage in escapism to one of her estates in the countryside. While there, she finds out the house has been used as a hideout for a French pirate. She meets the French pirate and his crew one day while out for a walk, and falls in love with him. He also asks her to join his crew. Dona decides to lie to everyone in her social circle back home that she is sick and is not to be visited, but the truth is that she escapes to the Frenchman's pirate crew! She goes on a little pirate adventure with him and makes herself his unofficial cabin boy. However, her little trick causes a lot of tension back home, as everyone in the community knows about the pirates' crimes and they want to capture him. Dona has to find a way to protect herself and her new pirate crew. 

This was a very fascinating book! It is my second Daphne du Maurier book so far. It is a short book (around 200 pages), but in that short amount of time the author really captured the atmosphere and motivations of the settings and characters. 

One thing I find neat about this book is how a lot of the characters do some pretty despicable things, and yet they remain so sympathetic. For example, our main character Dona literally leaves her previous man Harry for a pirate she just met! But she also felt restricted in her aristocratic lifestyle, and becoming a pirate gave her the freedom she always desired. I think characters like these work because they are still pretty relatable in the things that they do/say/think/feel. Not all authors are good at making a character do terrible things and yet you still side with them. I felt the same way about the characters in Rebecca, the other book I read from the same author. I'm guessing it's a staple of her books! I will have to read more and see. 

I gave it 4 stars. Being a classic book, there is some outdated language on certain people groups sprinkled throughout the story. But what did you expect from a classic book?

I also surprisingly enjoyed this more than Rebecca. I guess I liked the escapist aspect of it of getting involved with swashbuckling pirates!