''Rule Britannia'' is
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...
's last novel,
[Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier « Pining for the West](_blank)
Retrieved 4 August 2013 published in 1972 by
Victor Gollancz
Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian.
Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Chris ...
.
The novel is set in a fictional near future in which the UK's recent withdrawal from the
EEC has brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy.
Plot summary
Emma, 20, lives with her elderly grandmother, Mad (short for Madam), a famous retired actress, in the small village of Poldrea in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. They share a large house near the coast with Mad's six ‘maladjusted’ adopted sons who range in age from 3 to 18. One morning, Emma wakes to the sound of aeroplanes overhead. An American warship has anchored in the bay and
United States Marines
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...
are marching over the fields. They are trigger-happy, and one of them shoots and kills a local farmer's dog.
After some hours of civil confusion, a television announcement is made by the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
; due to recent economic and military failures on the
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
, the UK and the USA have joined together as a single nation, to be called USUK. The new government of USUK declares a
state of emergency, institutes roadblocks, and cuts local telephone and postal communication. To Mad and her family the US Marines appear less like invited friends than a hostile invading force.
Andy, 12, one of Mad's adopted boys who has an obsession with bows and arrows and a hazy understanding of the concepts of right and wrong, shoots and kills one of the Marines. Mad, Emma and some of the locals cover up the death, and throw the body over the cliff into the sea. It is not found for several days, and in the absence of a culprit the military authorities crack down on the local population by cutting food, electricity and water supplies, and arresting and taking into custody all the local men and youths.
Mad encourages the local farmers to an act of civil disobedience in which huge piles of rotting manure are dumped in front of the local
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
where the military authorities have arranged their
thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...
celebrations. Shortly afterwards, there is a huge explosion which sinks the warship in the bay. Nobody knows the cause, but in a televised speech the prime minister hints of sabotage "by unknown agents hostile to USUK”.
Mad and her family retreat to their cellar, where they subsist for several days on apples and beetroot, and water from a re-opened well. Early one morning, Emma and the boys are woken by aircraft and what appears to be gunfire, explosions and depth charges, while Mad sleeps on. Power has been restored, and a television announcer states that the sinking of the American warship may have been caused by torpedo action. In any event, the security regulations have been relaxed, and the Marines are to leave the local area. A stream of helicopters flies overhead, leaving Cornwall.
The local doctor arrives in his
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
. Emma notices Mad standing in welcome at her porch, but when she realises that nobody else can see her she tells the doctor that he had better go down into the basement, where Mad has been asleep for a very long time. The novel concludes with the helicopters still flying eastward into the sun.
Dedication
The book is dedicated to the actress
Gladys Cooper, who died in 1971. Cooper had been one of the leading ladies of Daphne's father, the actor and impresario
Gerald du Maurier
Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier (26 March 1873 – 11 April 1934) was an English actor and manager. He was the son of author George du Maurier and his wife, Emma Wightwick, and the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. In 1903, he ...
.
[Westland, Ella, introduction to ''Rule Britannia'', Virago Press, 2004]
Background
Du Maurier started work on the novel early in 1972, following up an idea she had had for "a funny novel … mocking everything". It was to be "a mockup of what this country may be like in the mid-seventies”, and on its completion she was sure that she had pulled off a fast and funny piece of satire that would be "popular autumn reading".
Critical reception
Reviewers did not share the author's opinion of her work, and most notices were unenthusiastic. There was general consensus that, at best, the novel was pedestrian and, at worst, it was plain silly. Du Maurier's biographer,
Margaret Forster
Margaret Forster (25 May 1938 – 8 February 2016) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and critic, best known for the 1965 novel ''Georgy Girl'', made into a successful film of the same name, which inspired a hit song by T ...
, called it in 1993 "the poorest novel she ever wrote".
Ella Westland, in her introduction to the 2004
Virago
A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...
reprint, called the tone of the book "mocking" – shifting from the funny and farcical to the bleak and bizarre. Du Maurier's publishers were worried by the implausible plot, and it bemused many of her readers. Yet, Westland said, the novel is held together by its very absurdity. She noted that the author had known the story of
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...
since early childhood, her father
Gerald du Maurier
Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier (26 March 1873 – 11 April 1934) was an English actor and manager. He was the son of author George du Maurier and his wife, Emma Wightwick, and the brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. In 1903, he ...
having regularly played
Captain Hook
Captain James Hook is a fictional character and the main antagonist of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' and its various adaptations, in which he is Peter Pan's archenemy. The character is a pirate capta ...
on stage since before Daphne was born, and she held that the novel can be read as “Peter Pan meets the Marines, with Emma playing Wendy to Mad’s Peter Pan”. Mad's boys are the six
Lost Boys adopted by the Darlings. But she considered that du Maurier had put more of her own character into Mad than she had realised.
Westland suggested that du Maurier's motive in writing the book was to explore her own feelings about the Britain that her grandchildren would inherit. She hated the superior attitude of London, and the crass interventions from up-country. In the novel she tried to give Cornwall back to the
Cornish and let them defend their own land.
See also
*
References
{{Daphne du Maurier
1972 British novels
Brexit in fiction
British alternative history novels
Novels about the United States Marine Corps
Invasion literature
Novels by Daphne du Maurier
Novels set in Cornwall
Victor Gollancz Ltd books