Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier, reviewed by Eva Leung
An image of a UK first edition hardback copy of Mary Anne dated 1954
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fictional Biography
Tagline: She set men's hearts on fire and scandalised a country.
Original Publication: 1954
Mary Anne Thompson grows up impoverished, living with her mother, her stepfather, and her (half) brothers in a cramped house in Regency London. She falls in love with and soon marries Joseph Clarke, a lodger they take in, who is an alcoholic unable to provide for her and their children. To support her family, Mary Anne leaves Joseph and becomes a courtesan. Beautiful, witty, and capable, Mary Anne soon catches the fancy of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.
Mary Anne is the fictionalised life story of a real-life person, Mary Anne Clarke, the notorious royal mistress and the great-great-grandmother of the author herself. While many biographies condemn her for her taste for luxury and power, Daphne du Maurier's account resurrects her as a struggling young mother desperate to provide for her family and wronged by the important men in her life.
It is said that du Maurier found it a difficult novel to write, but what particularly impresses me is the very condensed language and the subtlety appropriate for the era the novel is set in, especially when it concerns such a controversial subject and a potentially socially unpopular figure. Through the dramatisations or even fabrications of the events, readers catch a glimpse of an untold and unofficial facet of the life of Mary Anne Clarke as a historical figure in her marginalised role of a courtesan.
© Eva Leung August 2024.