Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier Review of The Loving Spirit - Ann Willmore. She was inspired to write the book after discovering the wreck of a schooner called the Jane Slade in Pont Creek and then reading the letters and boatyard records of the Slade family, who were shipbuilders in the nearby village of Polruan. She visited the Slade family graves at the local church of Lanteglos and talked to Harry Adams, who was a member of the Slade family. Gradually she built up a picture of the family and their life and history, until the story of The Loving Spirit began to form in her mind. The Slade family became the Coombe family, with Janet Coombe as the central character. Polruan became Plyn and Lanteglos church became Lanoc church. The Loving Spirit is a family saga spanning four generations of the Coombe family, ship builders and mariners, who live in and around the Cornish village of Plyn. The key characters are Janet Coombe, her son Joseph, his son Christopher and Christopher�s daughter Jennifer. The story begins shortly before Janet is due to marry her cousin Thomas, a ship builder in Plyn. She is torn by her future, on the one hand there is a wildness in her, a love of the sea and a desire for freedom, and on the other hand there is an understanding that the secure role of wife and mother is what is expected of her. Despite her doubts she marries Thomas, in Lanoc church, and they settle down to married life and have six children. She is a good mother and loves all her children, but the third child, Joseph, is her favourite. He also has a wild streak and they share a love of the sea. Two of Thomas and Janet�s sons, Samuel and Herbert, follow Thomas into the ship building business. Their youngest son, Phillip, becomes a successful businessman in Plyn, but is jealous of the love that Janet has for Joseph. To Janet�s great joy Joseph becomes a sailor and leads the life that she would have chosen, if she had been a man. He eventually qualifies as a Master Mariner and is able to captain a ship. Meanwhile, Thomas, Samuel and Herbert are building a ship that is to be named after Janet and which has a figurehead carved in her image. There is much excitement because Joseph is to be the first master of the new ship. Janet�s health has been failing for some time but she goes down to the quay, with everyone else, for the launch of the ship. Sadly as the Janet Coombe is launched Janet dies and it seems as though her spirit leaves her and enters the ship. With Janet dead the story then follows Joseph�s life. He marries a woman called Susan Collins and they have four children. Joseph is mainly away at sea and the burden of bearing his children and the hard work of bringing them up and running the home during his long absences is too much for Susan and she dies when she is in her early forties. When Joseph marries again he chooses a much younger woman than himself, called Annie Tabb. It is Joseph�s dearest wish that his oldest son, Christopher, will follow him into a career at sea and one day be master of the Janet Coombe. However, Christopher is afraid of the sea and when he admits this to his father Joseph hands the ship over to his nephew, Dick, instead and wants nothing more to do with Christopher. Christopher moves away to London where he gets a job and meets Bertha Parkins. He marries her and they have two sons. Meanwhile Joseph, whose wildness is a key element of his character throughout the story, has a breakdown and is admitted to Sudmin Asylum. Later he is discharged but tragedy strikes the family when he is drowned. Christopher and his family move back to Cornwall and he starts work in the family shipyard. Christopher and Bertha�s third child, Jennifer, is born in Plyn. Phillip, Janet�s youngest son and the villain of the story, has become a powerful and wealthy member of the community in Plyn. He tries to bankrupt Christopher and bring about the downfall of the shipyard. Christopher�s decision to murder him is thwarted when a distress call warns that the Janet Coombe is in danger. Christopher and many other men try to save the ship and her crew, but she is wrecked on the rocks and Christopher is drowned. Before he dies he hears Janet�s voice. Shortly after Christopher�s death, with the shipyard in financial ruin, Bertha takes her family back to London. The story now turns to Christopher�s daughter, Jennifer. She is only six when her father dies and her upbringing in London is very different to life in Plyn. Jennifer is brought up in a boarding house among mainly adult company. The First World War breaks out and London is full of people in uniform. Her brothers join the army and her older brother, Harold, is killed in action. Jennifer�s days of childhood innocence are over and she becomes restless. When Bertha remarries, Jennifer decides to return to Plyn. Once back in Cornwall she discovers the wreck of the Janet Coombe and the family graves in Lanoc churchyard she is tremendously drawn to her family from the past and feels that she really belongs in Plyn. She becomes friends with her cousin, John Stevens, who has taken over the old Coombe shipyard and built it up into a successful business. Jennifer goes to work for her Great Uncle Phillip and moves into his house as his companion. He is still a wealthy and villainous man, but now he is old and quite mad. When he looks at Jennifer he sees someone who embodies in her person the souls of Janet, Joseph and Christopher and he hates her. He knows that when he dies Jennifer will inherit his house and fortune, so to prevent this he decides to destroy everything. He transfers all his fortune into bonds, shares and Bank of England notes. He makes a pile of them in a room in his house and having trapped Jennifer in the room, he sets fire to it. His plan does not work. John rescues Jennifer, but Phillip dies in the fire. Later Jennifer and John marry and they live over the shipyard, where the figurehead of the Janet Coombe is mounted on the shipyard wall and watches over them. The Loving Spirit was an ambitious first novel and attained a moderate success when it was published in 1931. The story starts strongly but looses itself a little in the middle, fortunately finding itself again so that it has a positive and satisfactory ending. The chapters of the book that are set in Cornwall are wild and passionate and could be compared with the writing of the Bronte�s. You could even draw comparison between Janet and Joseph and Cathy and Heathcliffe. However, the chapters that are set in London take on a totally different writing style and are almost a separate story within the main book. Critics have likened the writing of these chapters to H G Wells in �Kipps�, the style being much more relaxed and witty. It has been suggested that this may be due to the fact that Daphne du Maurier had been brought up in London and so wrote with greater confidence. A number of traits in Daphne du Mauriers personality begin to emerge in this book and become more obvious in her later writing. As a child and throughout life she fought with the opposing needs to fit in to the lifestyle that she was born into and the desire to pursue life with the freedom of a man. She longed to be independent and free to live her life her own way and to write. The way she describes her feelings when she discovered Cornwall help to explain this: �Here was the freedom I desired, long sought for, not yet known. Freedom to write, to walk, to wander. Freedom to climb hills, to pull a boat, to be alone�. This side of her personality is clearly reflected in the persona of Janet Coombe. Daphne du Maurier�s autobiographical book, The Rebecca Notebooks, written in 1980, includes a chapter entitled �This I Believe� in which she explains her personal and religious convictions. She has a strong belief in the ability to communicate though generations and it is this belief that she writes into The Loving Spirit, the spirit of Janet Coombe that touches the members of her family in future generations � The Loving Spirit. The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier (Heinemann 1931, Doubleday 1931). Further reading: The Rebecca Notebooks by Daphne du Maurier (Doubleday 1980, Gollancz 1981) Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster (Chatto & Windus 1993) (Published in the US as Daphne du Maurier - The Secret World of the Renowned Storyteller (Doubleday 1993)). From Facts to Fiction � the men and women of Polruan who inspired Daphne du Maurier�s first novel by Helen Doe (Printed by Parchment, Banbury, Oxon. 1997) Daphne du Maurier by Richard Kelly (Twayne 1987). Daphne du Maurier Writing, Identity and the Gothic Imagination by Avril Horner and Susan Zlosnik (Macmillan 1998). The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier (1931) Daphne du Maurier (1907 – 1989), the prolific British novelist, playwright, and short story writer started her publishing career at age twenty-two with her first novel, The Loving Spirit (1931). The title was inspired by the name of a poem by Emily Brontë. It’s well known that du Maurier was greatly inspired by the Brontë sisters; her masterwork, Rebecca (1938), has echoes of Jane Eyre . Beginning in the early 1800s, The Loving Spirit tells the story of the Coombes family, and is mainly set in Cornwall, a part of England in which the author spent much of her life. Janet Coombes marries her cousin, Thomas Coombes, who is a shipbuilder. The novel follows the adventures and trials of this family for four generations. A fascinating fact: The Loving Spirit captured the attention of a young British army major, Frederick A.M. “Boy” Browning. Resolving to meet its author, he traveled to find her. They met the following year, and married a few months later, in 1932. The Loving Spirit was well received and launched what would become a stellar career. This book, along with du Maurier’s subsequent works, have offered generations of readers books that are rich historical detail, with elements of romance and intrigue. Since her fictional works shaded into the realm of popular fiction in their time, they were sometimes criticized as lacking in depth or intellect. That view that has since been revised. From the 2003 Time-Warner Books UK edition of The Loving Spirit : “Cornwall, 1900s. Plyn Boat Yard is a hive of activity, and Janet Coombe longs to share in the excitement of seafaring: to travel, to have adventures, to know freedom. But constrained by the times, instead she marries her cousin Thomas, a boat builder, and settles down to raise a family. Janet’s loving spirit — the passionate yearning for adventure and for love — is passed down to her son, and through him to his children’s children. As generations of the family struggle against hardship and loss, their intricately plotted history is set against the greater backdrop of war and social change in Britain. Her debut novel established du Maurier’s reputation and style with an inimitable blend of romance, history and adventure.” A 1931 review of The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier. From the original review in the Province Sun, November 1, 1931: Rebecca West , in her criticism of this book, describes it as “a whopper of a romantic novel in the vein of Emily Brontë.” That it is. It is also in the vein of George du Maurier , grandfather of the authoress; it’s also a legitimate descendant of Peter Ibbetson. It will be something of a relief to anyone who is wearied with the intense psychological exactitudes of modern fiction to plunge into a tale so romantic and full of life, because, apart from satisfying the average intelligent person’s instinct —the instinct that announces itself very early in life — romance is kin to poetry, and in poetry can be found here and there a flash of insight that penetrates through and beyond the muddle of everyday life. This book contains the curious blend of instinct, knowledge, and intuition that marks the genuine teller of tales. As the first novel by a young writer, it foretells a future of pleasurable prospects. “Please God, make me a lad afore I’m grown,” was Janet Coombe’s early prayer, but no miracle happened. She remained a girl — restless and hoydenish, with a loving, unsatisfied spirit — mad an affectionate and successful marriage with her cousin, Thomas Coombe, and bore him six children. This was in 1830 and subsequent years. Of these children, Samuel and Mary, the two oldest, and Herbert, the fourth, were hard-working, estimable souls, just like their father. Joseph, the third child, was twin spirit with his mother. Philip, the fifth child, was a stranger in the family. Elizabeth, the sixth, was a happy blend of both parents. Here Miss du Maurier shows her powers. She recognizes the law of polarity. The violent cleaving of spirit to spirit, the very closeness of the tie between Janet and Joseph sets up a counterbalancing force. Desiring above all things spiritual union with some one person and finding it only in her second son, Janet herself gives birth to his destroyer. Philip, her fourth son, from his childhood to his old age, when Joseph’s grandchild is all that is left to remind him closely of the past, goes his secret way to smash the loving transmissible spirit from whose warmth he feels himself shut out. Christopher, Joseph’s son, feels the weight of his Uncle Philip’s hatred. Jennifer, Christopher’s daughter, almost dies of it. The good nonentities of the family are swept aside into bewildered poverty by it. It remains for Elizabeth, her excellent husband and their son and grandson to throw in their weight, and the end of the book finds the loving spirt of the time being at rest from its violent journeying. There is a great quality of courage here; the tale is cast in a large mold. With a feeling of personal exile, the reader is dragged into London for a time, but the main events happen in Cornwall, on the coast, where the English Channel starts at one end of its stormy passage between the Atlantic and the North Sea. They could not be placed more suitably. Quotes from The Loving Spirit. “She gave to both Thomas and Samuel her natural spontaneity of feeling and a great simplicity of heart; but the spirit of Janet was free and unfettered, waiting to rise from its self-enforced seclusion to mingle with intangible things, like the wind, the sea, and the skies, hand in hand with the one for whom she waited. Then she, too, would become part of these things forever, abstract and immortal.” “Dust unto dust. There was no reason then for life—it was only a fraction of a moment between birth and death, a movement upon the surface of water, and then it was still. Janet had loved and suffered, she had known beauty and pain, and now she was finished—blotted by the heedless earth, to be no more than a few dull letters on a stone.” “Though Thomas liked to think he had his own way over things, it was generally Janet who had the last say in the matter. She would fling a word at her husband and no more, and he would go off to his work with an uneasy feeling at the back of his mind that she had won. He called it ‘giving in to Janie,’ but it was more than that, it was unconscious subservience to a quieter but stronger personality than his own.” “The child destined to be a writer is vulnerable to every wind that blows. Now warm, now chill, next joyous, then despairing, the essence of his nature is to escape the atmosphere about him, no matter how stable, even loving. No ties, no binding chains, save those he forges for himself. Or so he thinks. But escape can be delusion, and what he is running from is not the enclosing world and its inhabitants, but his own inadequate self that fears to meet the demands which life makes upon it. Therefore create. Act God. Fashion men and women as Prometheus fashioned them from clay, and, by doing this, work out the unconscious strife within and be reconciled.” More about The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier. On the Daphne du Maurier official website Wikipedia Reader discussion on Goodreads. *This is an Amazon Affiliate link. If the product is purchased by linking through, Literary Ladies Guide receives a modest commission, which helps maintain our site and helps it to continue growing! The Loving Spirit — Daphne Du Maurier. Plyn Boat Yard is a hive of activity, and Janet Coombe, born in turn of the 20th century Cornwall, she longs to share in the excitement of seafaring: to travel, to have adventures, to know freedom. But constrained by the times, instead she marries her cousin Thomas, a boat builder, and settles down to raise a family. Janet's loving spirit - the passionate yearning for adventure and for love - is passed down to her son, and through him to his children's children. As generations of the family struggle against hardship and loss, their intricately plotted history is set against the greater backdrop of war and social change in Britain. 6 Essential Novels by Daphne du Maurier. If you want to delve into the novels of Daphne du Maurier (1907 – 1989), where should you begin? The prolific British novelist, playwright, and short-story writer launched her publishing career at age twenty-two with The Loving Spirit (1931), her first novel. She went on to publish numerous works of full-length and short fiction as well as nonfiction and plays. Arguably, Rebecca (1938) is du Maurier’s masterwork and best-known work. And there’s a group of novels among her canon that approach it in terms of quality and longevity. Here we’ll list the books that Dame Daphne is best remembered for. With the exception of The Loving Spirit , all of the following have also been made into well-known films, sometimes more than once. The Loving Spirit (1931) Though no longer as well known as some of du Maurier’s more iconic works, The Loving Spirit is included here because it was her first, and launched what would become a stellar career. Beginning in the early 1800s, The Loving Spirit tells the story of the Coombes family and is mainly set in Cornwall, a part of England in which the author spent much of her life. Janet Coombes marries her cousin, Thomas Coombes, who is a shipbuilder. The novel follows the adventures and trials of this family for four generations. A modern reprint of this novel rightly described it as having “established du Maurier’s reputation and style with an inimitable blend of romance, history, and adventure.” Many readers who are familiar with du Maurier’s later, and more famous works, have been delighted to discover her first novel. More about The Loving Spirit . Jamaica Inn (1936) Jamaica Inn is a period piece set in Cornwall, England in 1820. Central to the story is a group of “wreckers” — murderers who run ships aground, kill sailors, and steal cargo. Upon her mother’s death, Mary Yellan moves from the farm in Helford where she was raised, to live with her mother’s sister. Her Aunt Patience is married to a vicious drunkard who has her completely intimidated. Mary soon realizes that things aren’t as they should be at this inn, which never has guests and isn’t open to the public. Filled with fascinating and creepy characters, Jamaica Inn is one of Daphne du Maurier’s best-known works. The film adaptation of Jamaica Inn came out in 1939 and was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. More about Jamaica Inn . Rebecca (1938) Rebecca is surely the most iconic of du Maurier’s novels. It celebrated its eightieth anniversary of publication in 2018, never having gone out of print. “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” is one of the most iconic first lines in English literature. The story is cleverly told in the first person by the shy, awkward, and nameless young bride of the older, mysterious Maxim de Winter. She is, like the other inhabitants of Manderley castle, haunted by the shadow by her husband’s deceased first wife, Rebecca. Like the best of du Maurier’s works, this one keeps the reader guessing until the very end. The film adaptation of Rebecca , also directed by Alfred Hitchcock, came out in 1940. There have been a few mini-series adaptations as well. More about Rebecca . Frenchman’s Creek (1941) Frenchman’s Creek is another of du Maurier’s Cornwall-set historical novels. Set during the reign of King Charles II. the story centers on a love affair between Dona, Lady St. Columb, and Jean-Benoit Aubéry, a French pirate. The novel was reissued in a new edition in 2020. From the publisher (Sourcebooks): “A classic from master of gothic romance and suspense, Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman’s Creek is an electrifying tale of love and scandal on the high seas. Jaded by the numbing politeness of London in the late 1600s, Lady Dona St. Columb revolts against high society. She rides into the countryside, guided only by her restlessness and her longing to escape. But when chance leads her to meet a French pirate, hidden within Cornwall’s shadowy forests, Dona discovers that her passions and thirst for adventure have never been more aroused.” The first film adaptation of Frenchman’s Creek was released in 1944. It starred the versatile Joan Fontaine as Lady Dona, in a very different role than the one she portrayed as the second Mrs. de Winter in the first film version of Rebecca . More about Frenchman’s Creek . My Cousin Rachel (1951) My Cousin Rachel , like Rebecca , is a romantic thriller. It’s set primarily on a large estate in Cornwall, England, where du Maurier drew real-life inspiration from Antony House. There she saw a portrait of a woman named Rachel Carew, and the creative spark was lit. Told by Philip young man heir to the estate of his uncle. The uncle, who marries the mysterious Rachel, rapidly and mysteriously declines and dies. Has he been poisoned by his young wife? Rachel, like eponymous Rebecca, remains a puzzle to the end. Is she a devil or an angel? The reader must decide. The first, and very well-received film adaptation of My Cousin Rachel came out in 1951, starring Olivia de Havilland, with Richard Burton in his first film role. There have been several adaptations since. including the less-than-successful 2017 film. More about My Cousin Rachel . The Scapegoat (1957) The Scapegoat was one of du Maurier’s successful mid-career novels, coming after Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, and My Cousin Rachel . In her skillful hands, this suspense novel makes an ingenious doppelgänger plot work on many levels. It’s the story of a disaffected Englishman and an aristocratic Frenchman who meet by an accidental encounter and are at once struck by how much they resemble one another. John, an English academic, is compelled by Count Jean de Gué into switching places with him. What ensues is how he is swept into the count’s complicated intrigues and family life. The 1959 film version of The Scapegoat starred Alec Guinness and Bette Davis. More about The Scapegoat . *This is an Amazon affiliate link. If the product is purchased by linking through, Literary Ladies Guide receives a modest commission, which helps maintain our site and helps it to continue growing! ISBN 13: 9780434216017. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) was born in London, the daughter of the famous actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of George du Maurier, the author and artist. In 1931 her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published. A biography of her father and three other novels followed, but it was the novel Rebecca that launched her into the literary stratosphere and made her one of the most popular authors of her day. In 1932, du Maurier married Major Frederick Browning, with whom she had three children.Many of du Maurier's bestselling novels and short stories were adapted into award-winning films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. In 1969 du Maurier was awarded a DBE. She lived most of her life in Cornwall, the setting for many of her books. Miss du Maurier creates on the grand scale . a rich vein of humour and satire, observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic are here * OBSERVER * Daphne du Maurier's lushly written novel . . . is a rapturous celebration of the beauties of the Cornish landscape * Michele Roberts * No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature", something very few novelists ever do -- Margaret Forster She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian * Daphne du Maurier's lushly written novel . . . is a rapturous celebration of the beauties of the Cornish landscape -- Michele Roberts. "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title. 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