I discovered Daphne du Maurier when I first read Rebecca in my mid teens. I gobbled the whole of her backlist from the library and, for the next ten years or so, pounced eagerly on each new novel as it was published. Rule Britannia, which arrived in 1972, turned out to be her last. She died in 1989.
I agree with du Maurier’s biographer, Margaret Forster, that this is probably her weakest novel. Nonetheless, although until now I had read it only once, over fifty years ago, its premise is something I have often thought about. It posits an invasion of Britain by the Americans, invited by a bankrupt British government to form USUK. I need not spell out why it has sprung to mind forcibly now and why I have just reread it in horrified fascination.
Cornish residents – strong characters, all of them – are the focus. Britain has just withdrawn from the Common Market which has led to devastating economic problems. Yes, with astonishing perception, du Maurier anticipated Brexit. She was writing a few months before January 1973 when Britain joined the group which later became European Economic Union and finally the EU. America, of course, sees Britain as a strategic toehold in Europe. So marines arrive on the beaches of Cornwall and there’s a warship in the bay.
Mad is a feisty, determined retired actress who has brought up her granddaughter Emma, 20, from whose point of view the story is largely presented. She has also adopted six boys, unrelated to each other, and each with his own clearly drawn personality – and issues. Shades of JM Barrie’s “lost boys” and I’ve now learned that the Llewellyn boys were cousins to Daphne du Maurier. The characterisation is the strongest part of this novel whose plot is pretty creaky as the Cornish people rebel. It is worth noting, that du Maurier, set eight of her novels in Cornwall and became a Cornish nationalist.
Also in the mix is an American marine who takes a shine to Emma – because initially everyone tries to keep relations cordial. The local doctor, also a family friend, gradually comes on side and he’s very plausible. On the other hand Joe, the eldest boy who does the gardening is surprisingly articulate for someone who’s not meant to be able to read and write. And Mr Willis, the Welsh beachcomber squatting in a hut on the cliffs, is underdeveloped. He seems mysteriously helpful but Emma finds him sinister so reader desperately wants to know his back story but never gets it.
There are deaths, explosions, cover-ups, curfews and it all gets pretty implausible, although it seems a lot closer to reality in 2025 than it did 1972 when Rule Britannia was written. This situation with modern communications would be a thousand times worse. As it is, the Americans simply block the radio waves and cut off the phones when the locals start being troublesome. I suppose the novel is, in a sense, parody although I enjoyed the idea of building an impenetrable, pungent wall of manure to scupper Thanksgiving celebrations.
It may not be in the Rebecca league but do read, or reread, Rule Britannia for its Orwellian prescience.
Next week on Susan’s Bookshelves: It All Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
