Rating: 4 out of 5

This is the third Daphne du Maurier book I’ve read. It was an enjoyable, swashbuckling, romantic but also with compromise and reality, tale but for me it didn’t have the depth of characters, or descriptions, that “Rebecca” or “My cousin Rachel” had. It benefitted, as most books do, from a couple of longer reading sessions rather than just managing a handful of pages before falling asleep.

Worth reading.

Highlighted passages:

‘Why are you a pirate?’ she said at last, breaking the silence. ‘Why do you ride horses that are too spirited?’ he answered. ‘Because of the danger, because of the speed, because I might fall,’ she said. ‘That is why I am a pirate,’ he said.

‘And are you happy?’ ‘I am content.’ ‘What is the difference?’ ‘Between happiness and contentment? Ah, there you have me. It is not easy to put into words. Contentment is a state of mind and body when the two work in harmony, and there is no friction. The mind is at peace, and the body also. The two are sufficient to themselves. Happiness is elusive - coming perhaps once in a life-time - and approaching ecstasy.’

she was possessed by a strange sense of unreality as though it was not she who moved, but some other woman,

Originally posted to my Goodreads account