historical fiction – What Cathy Read Next…

About the Book

She set men’s hearts on fire and scandalized a country.

In Regency London, the only way for a woman to succeed is to beat men at their own game. So when Mary Anne Clarke seeks an escape from her squalid surroundings in Bowling Inn Alley, she ventures first into the scurrilous world of the pamphleteers. Her personal charms are such, however, that before long she comes to the notice of the Duke of York.

With her taste for luxury and power, Mary Anne, now a royal mistress, must aim higher. Her lofty connections allow her to establish a thriving trade in military commissions, provoking a scandal that rocks the government – and brings personal disgrace.

Format: Hardcover (379 pages) Publisher: Victor Gollancz
Publication date: 1st January 1954 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Mary Anne is the first book from my new Classics Club list. Set during the Napoleonic Wars it’s a fictional account of the life of Daphne du Maurier’s own great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Clarke. From 1803 to 1808, Mary Anne was the mistress of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (the ‘Grand Old Duke of York of the nursery rhyme) who was the second son of King George III.

Mary Anne’s story is one of a woman determined to rise above the circumstances of her birth and provide a better life for her three children, the product of a disastrous early marriage to a man with whom she was smitten but who turned out to be an inveterate gambler and drunkard. Scarred by this experience Mary Anne is encouraged to use her beauty and charm to attract a succession of wealthy men willing to support her increasingly lavish lifestyle. Throughout she keeps her marriage a secret, presenting herself as a widow.

When she comes to the notice of the Duke of York, it looks like she’s hit the jackpot. He appears besotted with her although she knows, given his position and the fact he is married, she will never be anything more than his mistress. Having said that I thought she developed a genuine affection for him. However, even the Duke proves unable to fund Mary Anne’s lifestyle – the dinner parties, the gowns, the jewellery – resulting in her running up debts with numerous traders. Forced to look elsewhere for money she becomes involved in using her influence with the Duke to obtain military commissions for those willing to pay.

Unfortunately it all comes tumbling down when her relationship with the Duke comes to an end. Mary Anne finds herself facing financial ruin and embarks on a campaign of revenge threatening to reveal his personal letters. Eventually she goes one step too far with catastrophic consequences.

Mary Anne makes a lively, very engaging heroine. She is quick-witted and charming but at the same time there’s a ruthless streak to her. And the line ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ could have been written with her in mind. Although she professes to be acting in the interests of her children, they have to move frequently from place to place whenever creditors threaten and Mary Anne is forced to seek a new patron.

The book’s major flaw is that it gets bogged down in a lengthy section describing a Parliamentary inquiry into the Duke of York which reads like a court transcript. Apparently du Maurier herself wasn’t entirely satisfied with the book acknowledging that some of it read more like newspaper reportage.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nathalie Buscombe as the text in my hardback copy was too small to read comfortably. I thought she did a great job of conveying the wit and charm that proved so irresistible to Mary Anne’s male acquaintances.

In three words: Lively, fascinating, detailed
Try something similar: England’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton by Kate Williams

About the Author

Daphne du Maurier (born May 13, 1907, London, England—died April 19, 1989, Par, Cornwall) was an English novelist and playwright, daughter of actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier, best known for her novel Rebecca (1938).

Du Maurier’s first novel, The Loving Spirit (1931), was followed by many successful, usually romantic tales set on the wild coast of Cornwall, where she came to live. She also wrote historical fiction, several plays, and Vanishing Cornwall (1967), a travel guide. Her popular Rebecca was made into a motion picture in 1940.

Du Maurier was made a Dame Commander in the Order of the British Empire in 1969. She published an autobiography, Growing Pains, in 1977; the collection The Rendezvous and Other Stories in 1980; and a literary reminiscence, The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories, in 1981. (Source: Britannica)

For many the First World War didn’t end in 1918; its impact lasted for years, even decades afterwards. Here are ten historical novels that explore the aftermath of the First World War. Links from each title will take you to my full review.

When I Come Home Again by Caroline Scott – November 1918. A uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. He has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. When his photograph is published in a newspaper, three women come forward, each equally convinced he is their missing husband, son or brother.

The Paris Peacemakers by Flora Johnston – Paris 1919. The fragile negotiations of the international Peace Conference are underway. Stella Rutherford employed as a typist to the Conference throws herself into her work to escape her grief for her beloved brother.

Two Storm Wood by Philip Gray – 1919. On the desolate battlefields of northern France, special battalions face the solemn task of recovering and identifying the remains of fallen soldiers for mass burial. And a young woman travels to the now abandoned battlefields searching for the truth about how her fiancé died.

Blasted Things by Lesley Glaister – 1920. Clementine, who nursed at the front, is suffering the after-effects of her wartime experiences, bringing her to the brink of a monstrous act. She meets Vincent, left with severe facial wounds by his time in the trenches, but whose damage goes much deeper than the painted tin mask he wears.

The Eights by Joanna Miller – It’s 1920 and for the first time in its 1000-year history female students are being admitted to Oxford University. It should be a moment of celebration but the ghosts of the Great War are still evident in the bereaved or those battling with life-changing physical injury or psychological damage.

Green Ink by Stephen May – No one really knows what happened to Victor Grayson who vanished one night in late September 1920. Could his disappearance be related to his volte-face from passionate opponent of Britain’s entry into the First World War to enthusiastic advocate?

The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott – 1921. Harry travels through battle-scarred France, hired by grieving families to photograph grave sites, but also searching for news of his brother, reported missing in action.

The Visitors by Caroline Scott – 1923. Esme Nicholls travels to Cornwall to spend the summer in a community of eccentric artists and former soldiers. Her husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up there and she hopes to learn more about the man she loved and lost.

In the Garden of Sorrows by Karen Jewell – Isabel Fuller is deadened with grief at the death of her oldest son in the First World War, haunted by visions of him dying alone, and bitter at her husband for encouraging him to enlist. When a young, charismatic preacher arrives one summer, he awakens in her feelings long forgotten.

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor – It may be 20 years after the end of the First World War but on a remote island off the coast of Wales the dwindling population is still feeling its effects. Empty houses remind them of men who never returned and remnants of the war – uniforms, helmets, fragments of naval mines – still wash up on the shore.

What other historical novels have you read that explore the impact of the First World War?