Mary Anne

I noticed this book had never been reviewed which I think is a tradgedy as it's a fantastic book about an amazing woman (apparently based on Du Mauriers great grand mother). It's a historic fiction set during the Napoleonic Wars which explores the relationships between men and women and tells the

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story of one womans (Mary Anne's) high aspirations. Definately worth a read!

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Mary Anne is an historical fiction, written about the author's own ancestor, Mary Anne Clark. I admire the way Du Maurier portrayed her ancestress. She was honest about her character without glossing the edges or making excuses or reprimands. The woman was who she was and she impacted history.

Who

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she was, was a mistress to the Duke of York in the late 1700s or early 1800s. She was a survivor in a man's world. This story gives much insight into the history and events of those days. The way people lived and thought, political events and currents. It was an enjoyable read, though not the same mood as Daphne Du Maurier's novels.

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I sometimes forget how good Du Maurier's prose is, so books languish on the shelf. A fictionalised biography of her ancestor, DuMaruier's Mary Anne is a pithy deconstruction of a woman's sole source of power in the eighteenth century. The third person PoV disguises quite how unreliable a narrator

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Mary Anne is, but her attempts to deny and suppress her feelings comes through strongly, especially in the second half of the novel. I admit, though I knew it couldn't have a happy ending (that a happy ending wouldn't have fit the character regardless) I wish there had been a little more self-discovery for Mary Anne, perhaps in exploration of her time in prison.

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Though the blurbs of her books make them sound like romantic potboilers, Daphne du Maurier is no writer of cheesy romances. Her prose is subtle, her plots layered, and her characters - especially her heroines - often refreshingly complex, shaped as much by their flaws as their virtues. The plot of

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this book is as represented in all the reviews, but what the reviews can't capture is the delight of sinking into a story with characters who are authentic, believable, real. Mary Anne is no historical superwoman (a la Pope Joan) - just a believable woman of her time whose passion and ambition turn out to be both her salvation and her destruction. Good writing is hard to find - good writing about strong women even harder. Hope others enjoy this as I did!

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A strange novel,the story told in a rather hurried, precied way, perhaps echoing the impatience of Mary Anne herself, who kept herself and her family by entertaining lovers and brokering promotions.

Du Maurier appeared to have researched deeply her great-great-grandmother's life, especially the way

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she made and frittered money. But I didn't feel she showed exactly why her relative captivated practically every man who crossed her path.

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Mary Anne was Daphne du Maurier's great-great-grandmother. This is a novel about Mary Anne's life. She married a ne'er do well and later became mistress to a royal duke. She became part of a scandal that shocked England's staid Victorian society. I truly enjoyed this book although it became very

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legal towards the end. I give this story an A!

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Rated generally lower than I expect to rate Daphne du Maurier because it didn't really have the...same atmosphere I come to expect from her from reading My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca. But it's always nice to read about Maurier's heroines, they're always well written and Mary Anne is no different,

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she's perhaps the more headstrong that I've seen her write, and perhaps the strongest.

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Knowing that the story was based on du Maurier's grandmother's life made it interesting, but if I hadn't known that, I think I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. It was as if her usual fluid story-telling became bogged down by the facts, but it is an amazing story to have in one's family history.

Can't quite decide between 3 & 4 stars. This tells the tale of Du Maurier's great great grandmother, Mary Anne Clarke, who was mistress to the Duke of York. She was then pivotal in the investigation into the sale of commissions that took place in the House of Commons. A novelised biography, the

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first sections chart her upbringing in London poverty, then her hasty marriage and subsequent struggles with a lacklustre drunk of a husband. This wasnlt the life she wanted when she was in poveryt, and so her ambition rises still further. She eventually leaves him and finds her way to be mistress of the Duke of York. And here, she does actually seem to be happy, although there are perenial money problems, which is, in part, leads her into the murky issue of selling commisions. She takes a sum of money to put a name forward for a comission or exchange within the armed forces, of which the Duke is Commander in Chief. It is illegal, but it's not exactly unusual at this time in history. It all then starts to go down hill after she ceases her relationship with the Duke. There are the debts, the inability to maintain the standard of living to which she'd become accustomed. This all leads her into increasingly desparate ways of extracting money from old acquaintances, including the writing of defamatory pamphlets. This ends with a court case and the ultimate downfall. It's an interesting sotry, although the sections leading up to her period as mistress are more interesting, surprising and enjoyable to read than the book thereafter. The fall is, in part, due to her own inability to compromise and moderate herself. She thinks she has been hard done by, and never blames herself for a single part of what happens to her. But she never makes any attempt to plan for the future - she always lives for the day. This has its consequences.

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My first Daphne du Maurier book, and I did experience some trouble getting trough it. But I loved the story and how it evolved.

This was a surprising entry from Daphne Du Maurier. I don't expect historical fiction from her, so this book was a pleasant surprise. The author was able to keep the narrative moving through a lengthy period courtroom drama. Her heroine is winning and believable, her male characters vaguely drawn.

My first Daphne du Maurier book, and I did experience some trouble getting trough it. But I loved the story and how it evolved.

Du Maurier writes (wrote) beautifully. Mary Anne is fully realised, but in a way it's a pity that she was not only a real person, but a great-great-grandmother of Du Maurier. The story fizzles out a bit after the great court case, which would probably not have happened had Mary Anne been a

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fictional character.
I read this many years ago, and very much enjoyed re-reading it.

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From what I can remember this was a pretty good book. I have a feeling the ending was meh due to a lack of review on my other site. But thinking about reading it again :)

Read Rebecca—or Balzac or Maupassant or Zola—or Austen—instead.