The General’s King.

You might have heard of Daphne du Maurier. OK, maybe of her novel Rebecca, or at least the adaptation by Hitchcock. Well, she wrote many other novels and short stories, in fact Hitchcock adapted her novella The Birds and her novel Jamaica Inn. She was a master of suspense too.

The General’s King is one of her many novels and it has been frequently overlooked. It’s historical fiction, very well documented, set during the English Civil War; in fact many events of the novel really happened, especially the Cornish campaign, and the lack of power of Charles II, sympathetic to the protagonists but unable to help them. The titular character really existed; Sir Richard Grenville was really a royalist general, famous for his courage and his extravagant ruthlessness. He even tried secure Cornwall’s independence while he was at it, and lost many fortunes and women until the end of his days (and now, he has a Wikipedia entry). He is not the protagonist though, but the narrator, Honor Harris. She’s a Cornish noblewoman, and therefore, the point of view completely backs the Royalists and it’s more focused on Cornwall.

Du Maurier often writes the house when the main episodes of her novels happen as a real character. It was always her real home, called Menabilly and in Cornwall. In the novel, the house has its real name. There is a reason; what sets her narration was the founding of a skeleton in a secret room of the house, surrounded by Cavalier remnants.

Thanks to this novel, I know about the only Civil War in England as to not be at loss six years after reading the novel, since the story is unforgettable. The only problem is that it lacks the Roundhead (Parliamentarian) view. It’s however shows the cruelty of the Civil War; there is this brief scene when Honor passes through a field with men hanging of the trees, and realises that they are of the Parliamentarian troops, and it must be Richard’s deed, since he doesn’t believe in taking prisoners.