Customer Reviews

King's General

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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"The King's General" is a beautiful novel, lovingly written by an author who knows what she's presenting. Set in Cornwall (a trademark of the author), it encompasses the era of the English Civil War by telling the tale through the eyes of Honor Harris, one of fictions's most original heroines.

This book was spring water after all of the low grade vintage purple prose I have read lately. Honor is neither beautiful nor rich, but she has strength, gentleness, practicality and wit, all of which serve her better than beauty or money ever could. Her lover, Sir Richard Grenville, is a handsome and proud man who relies on her love and loyalty to get him through the trying times he faces as the commander of Charles I's forces in the West, hence the title.

What makes this story so juicy is its spareness. The prose is delicious in its lack of details, much the same as Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" or Jennifer Robeson's "Lady of the Forest" are written. Details are revealed through conversation which might normally be told through description if du Maurier were not so deft with her pen. There is mystery, romance, adventure and comedy within the covers, but it is relayed in such a way as to add to the main story, the sure mark of an author with taste and the ability to draw lifelike characters. And there are such characters to be had: Honor, who is strong and gentle at the same time; Richard, reckless and wild; Gartred, beautiful and calculating; Richard's son Dick, sickly and outcast; and the house of secrets called Menabilly, alone and desolate upon the moor.

I came across this book wholly by chance. It is a 1948 paperback that is falling apart, the pages brittle and dog-eared. It is my sincere hope that I will be able to find the story again in a more durable format, but until such time I shall read this lovely novel until it is completely destroyed.

I highly recommend "Jamaica Inn" and "Frenchman's Creek" as companion novels to this one. Du Maurier's history-based novels have stood the test of time as classics and I am proud to give this one such a high rating.

This is a bittersweet love story set against the backdrop of the English civil war... I first read this about 20 years ago. Though I was frustrated with the lack of detail, I was so enthralled by the main characters. I ordered it used from Amazon and re-read it yesterday. I was still enthralled and did not want it to end. I re-read passages from it immediately after I finished!

The King's General is a product of Daphne Du Maurier's love of her native Cornwall, English history, and her superior writing capabilities. She does an excellent job of capturing the feel of 17th century Cornwall in the midst of England's civil war. Even someone like myself with no interest in this particular subject matter found it all to be very readable.

I suppose my only quibble with The King's General has to do with its too many melodramatic episodes. The main element of the story involves two Cornwall families with interwoven romances, feuds, and family traumas. While certainly some of the romantic scenes are, well, romantic. But just as often the scenes seem almost comically contrived. Lots of male and female egos going amuck. At times The King's General felt like a gothic romance novel, ... which probably isn't what the author intended.


Bottom line: despite some over-the-top scenes The King's General is a very worthy read.

When I first read it, I knew it was not your average Barbie Doll Love Story. Why? Because Gartred, the amazing beauty, was far from beautiful on the inside. And the heroine, Honor, was crippled on her wedding day, just before getting married. She wasn't perfect either, but like she said, she got over her new body, it didn't happen over days, or months, but years. And during that time, the man she loved and was to wed, wed another, for money. She wasn't a saint, she felt jealous and happy that the marriage wasn't well. But it was so real and emotional, and the story was written in first-person giving honest and harsh emotions and understanding to why she loved such a despicable man as Richard Grenvile.

Passionate, proud, arrogant, selfish and cruel, Richard Greville, a brilliant soldier, is his own worst enemy. His story, narrated by his one-time fiancé Honor Harris - a spirited and intelligent woman who is crippled in a freak accident the day before their planned wedding, takes place during the time of the English Civil War (1642-1646). Honor remains devoted to Richard despite clearly seeing his many faults - but refuses to marry him, while Richard maintains his passion for her mind and body, brushing aside the reality of her damaged legs with all the brusqueness and self-absorption he demonstrates towards anything he doesn't see as relevent. Richard creates havoc with - but also pays a heavy price for - his arrogance and lack of empathy for others. The King's General is not just a a work of historical fiction but brutally and accurately portrays the heavy cost on individuals and families of a senseless war. It was inspired by the history of the house where Daphne du Maurier was living at the time of writing.

This is the third novel I've read written by Daphne du Maurier, she is an amazingly talented writer. I read a ridiculous number of books every year and only rarely do I find myself giving out five star reviews. I love historical fiction and I love Daphne Du Maurier's writing.

The King's General is a complex and compelling story. Du Maurier weaves together a bitter-sweet love story and a tale of brutal civil war then adds a dash of suspense. The characters she creates are based on actual people and they are fully developed and realistic.

As are her descriptions of war;
'The aftermath of war was not a pleasant sight to the beholder. The country was laid waste, for one thing, and that the fault of the enemy. The corn ruined, the orchards devastated, the houses smoking. And in return for this the Cornish people had taken toll upon the rebel prisoners. There were many of them still lying in the ditches, with the dust and flies upon them.'

'I knew then as I peered forth from the curtains of my litter that war can make beasts of every one of us and that the men and women of my own breed could act even worse in warfare than the men and women of the Eastern counties. We had, each one of us, because of the civil war, streaked back two centuries in time and were become like those half savages of the fourteen hundreds who, during the War of the Roses, slit one another's throats without compunction.'

By page forty you can tell this is a story to be savored and that you will be sorry when it is over. It's poignant, sweet, tender, romantic, suspenseful, horrifying and sad. I loved it and highly recommend it.