LatinosUSA

Hi, all:

I bring you a classic by an author I’ve become fond of in recent times, although she is very well-known.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

She was a woman, and for no reason in heaven or earth she loved him. He had kissed her, and she was bound to him for ever.

On a bitter November evening, Mary Yellan crosses the windswept Cornish moors to seek revenge with her Aunt Patience at Jamaica Inn. But the crumbling inn is no safe haven, and Patience is a changed woman, cowering before her domineering husband Joss. In fear of her life, and disturbed by her powerful attraction to Joss’s younger brother, Mary is soon plunged into a brutal world of smuggling and murder in which she can trust no one – not even herself.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/259569663

About the author:

Daphne du Maurier was born in 1906 and educated at home and in Paris. She began writing in 1928, and many of her bestselling novels were set in Cornwall, where she lived for most of her life. She was made a DBE in 1969 and died in 1989.

My review:

I had read only one or two of Daphne du Maurier’s novels years back and remembered Rebecca particularly well, but I read a collection of her short stories recently and wanted to catch up on more of her longer writing.

I am sure I watched the movie version of this novel a long time ago, but I don’t remember much about it, so it was a new experience to me.

This novel has strong Gothic elements, with a plot centred on a lone young woman (Mary) whose mother dies after a long illness, and who sets off to live with her aunt and her husband, at the request of her dying mother. Her mother didn’t know that her sister’s circumstances had changed, and she now lived in an inn in the middle of nowhere (in an isolated part of Cornwall), nor that her husband was a man of ill repute who was suspected of being involved in criminal activities. Mary soon realises her aunt bears little resemblance to the cheerful and kind woman she remembered from her visits when she was a child, and she soon discovers that her uncle Joss is a dangerous man who drinks too much and keeps bad company. As to his activities, she is convinced he is a smuggler, and she only keeps quiet about his activities for his aunt’s sake. But there are plenty of dark dealings taking place, and Mary meets Joss’s brother, Jem, who might be a bit of a rogue, but also somebody she feels very attracted to. She is a determined young woman who wants to be in charge of her own life, and that gets her into trouble more than once. By chance, she comes across someone who offers to listen and help: a local vicar, Francis Davey, a pretty peculiar character. I won’t reveal any more of the plot to avoid spoilers, but there are plenty of adventures, risks, lucky escapes, and some hair-raising moments. And a fairly satisfying ending, although that depends on individual taste.

Cornwall and the moors play a fundamental role in the novel, and the author excels in her descriptions of the area, conferring it a strong sense of place. The darkness, the fog, the marshes, the extreme weather… all create an atmosphere of wildness and menace that add to the Gothic aspects of the story and its appeal.

Du Maurier also creates psychologically complex characters, especially Mary, Joss, Jem, and Francis Davey. Good or bad (and there are many shades of grey as well), they all have complex behaviours and reasoning that Mary, whose point of view guides us through the story, does not always understand. She is quite astute, though, and tries to use her insights to her advantage to be a step ahead and out of harm’s way. She is aware of her own weaknesses and tries hard to fight against those, not always successfully.

The writing is at times lyrical, and there are plenty of descriptions, mostly of the landscape, that make us feel as if we were there, which can be scary on occasion. The author is also good at putting us in the protagonist’s shoes and sharing her doubts, feelings, and suspicions. Because there is a mystery at the heart of the story, and there are twists and red herrings, as is to be expected in the genre.

All in all, this is a beautifully written novel, well-built, with strong characters, and a wondrous sense of place and setting. A word of warning: there is violence (mostly implicit, but not exclusively), although most people who enjoy Gothic fiction won’t be surprised by it, especially those who read contemporary thrillers or crime fiction, which tend to be more extreme.

There is also an interesting introduction, which I enjoyed, but it does give away a fair amount of detail about the novel. So, if you prefer not to know anything before reading a book, wait until after to read the introduction.

Thanks to everybody for visiting, reading, and commenting, and remember to keep smiling and be safe. ♥