Castle Dor

by Daphne Du Maurier and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch

Nina Bawden (Introduction)

Both a spellbinding love story and a superb evocation of Cornwall's mythic past, Castle Dor is a book with unique and fascinating origins.
It began life as the unfinished last novel of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, the celebrated 'Q', and was passed by his daughter to Daphne du Maurier whose storytelling skills were perfectly suited to the task of completing the old master's tale.
The result is this magical, compelling recreation of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, transplanted in time to the Cornwall of the last century. A chance encounter between the Breton onion-seller, Amyot Trestane, and the newly-wed Linnet Lewarne launches their tragic story, taking them in the fateful footsteps of the doomed lovers of Cornish legend . . .

• ISBN10: 1844080676
• ISBN13: 9781844080670
• Publish Date: 3 June 2004 (first published 25 June 1973)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Virago Press Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

With the exception of some hints of Du Maurier's writing here and there, the rest felt absent of her storytelling overall. Maybe that's why I didn't care for this book so much, or she did such a wonderful job changing her usual style to fit that of the first author who began the tale.
I want to believe that I was unbiased about this book despite my desire to read a Du Maurier story at the time. Maybe I'll try to read this again one day with a different frame of mind. For now, I rate it upon my initial opinions of it being dry, boring and lacking any real development of an interesting story to keep me engaged.