With world events becoming ever more unbelievable – for some of us – there has been a temptation to turn to certain kinds of dystopian fiction. It is surprising perhaps that Daphne Du Maurier’s final novel is being seen by some as being strangely prescient for these troubling times in the UK. While not dystopian fiction of course, Rule Britannia feels like oddly appropriate reading material for the current chaos we find ourselves in.
I’m not certain that this novel was judged very well upon its publication in 1972 – people perhaps thinking the premise rather ridiculous then. Now of course we judge the ridiculous differently all sorts of absurd situations have become perfectly credible in the last few years. Suddenly, Du Maurier’s imagined political upheavals don’t seem so very ridiculous after all.
She set her final novel in the very near future (to 1972), the country divided along similar lines to today, and imagines a new and increasingly sinister alliance with the US.
“The entry into Europe was a flop, a disaster… So what happened? A general election with the country hopelessly divided, then a referendum, and finally the Coalition Government we have today, which has seized on the idea of USUK as a drowning man clutches at a straw.”
Twenty year old Emma lives in Cornwall with her grandmother; a famous retired actress – who in her retirement has adopted a brood of six unruly boys – aged from 3 to 19. It’s a far from conventional household. There’s Andy who climbs out on to the roof to shoot arrows, Sam who cares lovingly for a pet squirrel and an injured pigeon in his bedroom. Joe the eldest, who’s calm, good sense is so often relied upon but has been crippled by his inability to read and write. Terry; the first to have been adopted is a favourite with his benefactress and the housekeeper. Colin the white blond six year old – and his constant companion, three year old Ben, a small black child who has yet to learn to speak. The boys, naturally enough, try hard to teach him all the swear words they know, with rather obvious results. Du Maurier’s characterisation is fantastic, and it is partly what makes this book so hugely readable.
Emma calls her grandmother Mad – a name she once lisped in childhood but which no one else is permitted to call her, she is simply Madam to everyone else. Dottie – Mad’s dresser for forty years is the cook housekeeper for this huge and eccentric household. Emma; frequently frustrated by this house of indulged unruly boys and has been considering going to London to join her father – Pa, a banker with some influence with the government – when she wakes one morning to find the world has gone mad. A warship lies in the harbour – within sight of the house. There’s no TV, no radio and no post, American soldiers are advancing up the beach, and one trigger happy soldier shoots a dog from a neighbouring farm. The UK – having withdrawn from Europe are facing certain bankruptcy and have entered into a partnership with the US – the country now called USUK.
“Mad wasn’t in bed. She was sitting up in her chair by the open window that overlooked the bay, field-glasses to her eyes. She was fully dressed, if such a term could be used to describe her outfit, which was a combination of Robin Hood and the uniform worn by the late lamented Mao Tse-Tung. It was certainly practical for early November on the Cornish coast, if the person wearing it was about to engage in archery or clean a locomotive. Mad was destined to do neither, so far as her grand-daughter was aware, but then you never could be sure what the day would bring.”
This tiny corner of Cornwall becomes a microcosm for the whole country – a major American base – it also feels the brunt of this equal partnership – which very soon begins to look suspiciously like a takeover. Quickly, things begin to change for the residents of this small coastal community, there are road blocks set up along the lanes surrounding Mad’s house and residents are required to show passes to the soldiers who guard them. There is a definite air of tense suspicion and Mad and some of her neighbours are not about to just roll over. However, things are destined to get infinitely worse.
As she approaches her eightieth birthday, Mad enlists the help of her bunch of wonderful lost boys, like some kind of ageing Peter Pan, driving her granddaughter wild with worry in the process. A sudden shocking death brings a whole new level of seriousness to proceedings. Mad is desperate to protect her household, no matter what. With a local farmer, a Welsh beachcomber who lives in the woods, and her doctor as additional support Mad sets out to make things as difficult as possible for the Americans in their midst.
“There’s an expression for it, Emma thought, they call it snowballing. Someone starts something, and it gathers impetus, and more join in, and then there’s an avalanche, and people or property or causes are destroyed.”
This novel is marvellously compelling, Du Maurier’s last novel is a little anti-American I suppose – I wonder how American readers viewed it? – but her storytelling is as good as ever, and she does poke a little gentle fun at the Royal family along the way. I loved Mad and her boys plotting insurrection and rebellion. Du Maurier recreates the arrogant, swagger of the occupier and the divisions created in a community as some side with the occupier while others work to thwart them. It is a novel which is immediately hard to put down, and I devoured quite quickly.
How fascinating! I wasn’t aware that du Maurier had written anything like this. It’s been a while since I read any of her novels, so maybe it’s time I took another look at her work. Like you, I’m left wondering how this was viewed at the time of publication, both here and in the US.
I have only really read her best known novels, but I do have three others tbr, which I am quite keen to try now. This was very entertaining.
I must confess that I have (whispers) *never read anything by DDM*. I look forward to putting that right sometime soon, particularly as this book looks like a great read.
Oh well I would recommend starting with those best known novels like Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, her shorter fiction is brilliant too. She is a good writer, a very compelling storyteller.
Great advice thanks!
I hope you try some Du Maurier soon.
😊
I have ordered Rebecca from the library. 🙂
Yay, it’s soooooo good!
I’d never come across this du Maurier before but it sounds fascinating, particularly in the light of our current chaos (or mess as I like to call it – expletives deleted!).
I only heard of it last year. I was determined to get to it but only had a kindle edition. When I found this very cheap first edition on ebay I snapped it up, and was prompted to finally read it.
I read this when it was first published and you’re right, it wasn’t well received at the time. I haven’t thought about it in years and so had forgotten how prescient it is. I must look out my copy and give it a re-read.
It is definitely worth looking at again, I think. Very interesting and a very readable, compelling story.
One of the less mentioned benefits of growing up in Cornwall when I did was that Daphne Du Maurier’s books were everywhere. It came as a shock to me when Virago started reissuing them, saying that everything but Rebecca was out of print. I remember reading and liking this one many years ago. It does sound horribly relevant and I am so tempted to find a copy to re-read. The new Virago edition is very pretty …
I ‘m so glad that Virago saw fit to re-issue them. This one is surprisingly relevant today.
Wow! I’d never heard of t his one but how scarily prescient…I can imagine it having a lot of resonance at the moment!!
It does have quite a lot of resonance but at the end of the day it is just a very compelling read. A good page turner for half term.
I’ve read most of du Maurier’s novels now, and although I don’t think this is one of her best I did enjoy it and found it quite entertaining. It’s been a few years since I read it, so it didn’t seem particularly relevant at the time, but it certainly does now!
It isn’t her best even of the ones I have read, but her characters are really good, and she writes a very compelling story. It seems more relevant than it may have done once.
Ali, I haven’t read this one yet. However I am slowly but surely collecting and reading all of du Maurier’s books, so I hope to get to this one day, hopefully not too far off!
Well I have collected four, including this one, feeling it was time that I read more Du Maurier. I hope you enjoy this one too when you get a chance to read it.
Thank you 🙂 The next du Maurier on my TBR is The Loving Spirit.
[…] Rule Britannia – Daphne Du Maurier (1972) – Over at Heavenali, Ali Hope declares Du Maurier’s final novel “marvellously compelling” and “oddly appropriate reading material for the current chaos we find ourselves in.” […]
I was very tempted to buy it in the bookshop recently – it’s one of the few Du Maurier’s I haven’t read and it certainly sounds remarkably prescient!
It is strangely prescient, although Du Maurier’s story goes further than our present chaos surely will. It’s very readable however and I loved the characters.
I have a very old copy of this, snagged at a college booksale years ago, and I remember being faintly disappointed with the cover flap’s description (I was reading her suspense novels/stories at the time and, as you’ve said, this is something else entirely). Your description of it, however, makes me think that I should have another look. After all, when I think how riotously funny some of the descriptions on the vintage copies of Iris Murdoch’s books are (on Liz’s blog), I should assume that the description of this one, in its early days, might have been a little off as well. (Espeically if it was an American edition, and you think it might not have held the same appeal for U.S. readers.) Thanks for the nudge in its direction!
It certainly isn’t like her suspense novels, but it’s every bit as compelling and her characters are good. There may be some unrealistic things about the story and the ending, but it is so readable and these days, not as mad as it might once have seemed.
American readers have told me how perplexed they were by this book, but I think that people in Cornwall had some quite bad experiences with American troops billeted there, and it must have stuck in du Maurier’s mind, something she saved up for years.
I can well understand it perplexing American readers. I ‘m sure she must have been inspired by the billeting of troops in Cornwall.
[…] Rule Britannia by Daphne Du Maurier (1972) was another very compelling read. Her final novel – which doesn’t seem to have been well thought of at the time but has now been seen by some as oddly prescient for our times. Du Maurier imagines a time a little in the future from when she was writing when the UK having had a divisive referendum have left the Common Market and almost bankrupt have entered into a rather sinister alliance with the US. It is naturally rather anti-American, but I have to admit to thoroughly enjoying it. […]
[…] is however, a strangely relevant one, as Ali explains in her review. This is part of the blurb from the Victor Gollancz 1972 First […]
[…] Rule Britannia (1972) Was Daphne Du Maurier’s final novel – and an interesting one for many reasons. It isn’t her best novel – but I found it very readable and there are some wonderful characters, I’m sure I’ll read it again. In it Du Maurier imagines a Britain moving away from Europe, embarking on an alliance with the US which begins to look rather like a takeover bid. Warning; it is pretty anti-American – but it perhaps that in itself is interesting in what it tells is about Du Maurier’s thoughts at this time. […]
[…] has been abandoned and Britain has merged with America to form the nation of USUK. Heaven-Ali also reviewed it on her blog in 2019. It sounds like a book I’d like to get my hands […]