Castle Dor (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by Daphne Du Maurier (Author), Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (Author), Nina Bawden (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review
'A stunning gem' Amazon.com 'All the familiar ingredients of passion, jealousy and tragic love ... novel in the spellbinding du Maurier tradition' Manchester Evening News

Product Description
Both a spellbinding love story and a superb evocation of Cornwall's mythic past, Castle Dor is a book with unique and fascinating origins. It began life as the unfinished last novel of Sir Arthur Quiller- Couch, the celebrated 'Q', and was passed by his daughter to Daphne du Maurier whose storytelling skills were perfectly suited to the task of completing the old master's tale. The result is this magical, compelling recreation of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, transplanted in time to the Cornwall of the last century. A chance encounter between the Breton onion-seller, Amyot Trestane, and the newly-wed Linnet Lewarne launches their tragic story, taking them in the fateful footsteps of the doomed lovers of Cornish legend ...

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Virago Press Ltd (June 3, 2004)
• ISBN-10: 1844080676
• ISBN-13: 978-1844080670
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,341,444 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DuMaurier's overlooked gem, December 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Castle Dor (Hardcover)

Castle Dor's 19th-century Cornwall and its Arthurian mists have kept me coming back since I was a "in love with love" teenager. Like all of DuMaurier's work, it's either the first step -- or surely the determining step if you're already on the path -- to total Anglophilia (the only "philia" I think I care to own up to!).

The original manuscript was started by Arthur Quiller-Couch, and completed with remarkable seamlessness by DuMaurier upon his death. Written from the perspective of a quiet and respected country doctor, it's also an unusual lens for an author known best for her heroines.

A solitary "man of science," Dr. Carfax recognizes the pattern of an ancient and eternal doomed love being replayed in his era, and is pulled into it ... as are we, inevitably, with the coincidence of names and circumstance hinting at one of the greatest tragedies of Morte D'Arthur.

This is a lovely book; haunting, and a guaranteed keeper for devotees of the bittersweet.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An overlooked Gem!!, April 15, 2002

By	Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Castle Dor (Hardcover)

This book was given to my by my uncle when I was 10, for he knew it would appeal to me. It did and still does. I have reread this many times, and was just pulling it out to do it again and thought maybe I would pass on my love for this book.

The original manuscript was done by Arthur Quiller-Couch but never finished, so the great Daphne Dumaurier picked up the baton and carried on to give us a haunting tale of Auld Souls, star-crossed lovers shrouded in the mists of Cornwall. A simply country doctor recognises the signs and moves to keep the doomed lovers apart so the ancient pattern will not be repeated. But the more they try to keep them from each other, the more Fate steps is so prove the pattern cannot be broken.

A stunning gem, one I am surprised is not reprinted more or made in a movie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Not in your world.....but in some borderland of buried kings and lovers", May 5, 2009

By	Misfit (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Castle Dor (Paperback)

Linnette Lewarne, married to a much older man, meets Breton Amyot by pure chance and their fates are forever sealed as they begin to relive a past that has happened time and time again through the centuries - that of Tristan and Iseult. Doctor Carfax watches from the sidelines as he puts the pieces of the puzzle together with that of the legends and ends with a race against time to stop the legend from repeating itself into tragedy once again - all culminating in a on a very foggy Cornwall All Hallows E'en. Is the good Doctor in time or not?

Well you know me, I don't tell. Castle Dor, unfinished at the death of author Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch ("Q"), was completed by Du Maurier at the request of his daughter. A bit slow and dry at the start (I've not read anything from "Q" before, nor am I all that familiar with the legends of Tristan and Iseult), but a good finish, albeit not the strongest. If you're big into the legends of T&I I'd go for it, but Du Maurier fans will probably be disappointed - the parts she contributed at the end are minimal and not her usual style. 3/5 stars.