- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy "The Diamond Jubilee - A Classical Celebration Album" for just £2.50. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Mary Anne (Virago Modern Classics)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
With unfailing du Maurier skill, the author has coupled family interest with dramatic sense (Elizabeth Bowen, Tatler )
An exceptionally outstanding novel (Edinburgh Evening News )
An exceptionally outstanding novel (Edinburgh Evening News )
Book Description
A vivid portrait of overweening ambition set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on du Maurier's own great-great-grandmother.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Years later, when she had gone and was no longer part of their lives, the thing they remembered about her was her smile. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Years later, when she had gone and was no longer part of their lives, the thing they remembered about her was her smile. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Opened in a flashback style, beautiful and tempting, the biography of Mary Anne Clarke, the notorious heroine, unfolded. Based on her great-great-grandmother, Ms. Du Maurier weaved a story of a woman's power struggle and web of intrique played in society dominated by men. Set in London at the time when Paris was being ruled in Terror regime, London was in parliamentary turmoil and both countries are in war at the end of 18th century.
Mary Anne, with her cunning wit and unbeatable Irish blood, was born in London slum neighbourhood. With her resourceful mind, she determined to be a success in men's world by playing the same game, with the same rules. She first tried to find a wealthy husband but got a big-mouthed, good-for-nothing one instead. Not to be beaten by circumstances, she left her husband and started to use her unique beauty to make connection, to be a 'social climber', in order to provide food and shelter for her 3 children, a mother, a half-sister and a brother. As time would have it, she was introduced to The Duke of York, became his mistress and the scandalous dealings began.
Being a mistress to a prince didn't mean she would have unlimited income. On the contrary, to maintain the house, lifestyle and servants, she must do 'side job' by promoting soldiers to the Duke with some amount of fee. This would lead to the most scandalous trial(s) in England concerning royal family.
The dialogs and the statements were beautifully written (but no ramblings) while the characters each had their own strength and weakness. It was said that there are some resemblances between the author's life with the main character which added to the substance of the story. All I can say is I admire her wit and I see the reasons behind her every move.
Feel the spirit, see the dreams and understand the love of life which came from a woman named Mary Anne.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have recently started to read Daphne Du Maurier novels, having read a very long time ago, Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek and The King's General. Recently I read and enjoyed immensly, My Cousin Rachel.
I thought that I would enjoy Mary Anne as I am passionate about historical fiction / non fiction and biographies.
The book started off interesting in describing Mary Anne's humble beginnings and early life, her marriage to Joseph Clarke and subsequent meeting of the Duke of York, whose mistress she became. However, I found I lost the plot slightly with her many male friends, some of whom were faithful to her and some not. At this point I lost interest but read to the end, if only for my own satisfaction.
For me, this book was slightly disappointing and lacked that 'can't wait for the next chapter' feel, but others may see it differently.
I thought that I would enjoy Mary Anne as I am passionate about historical fiction / non fiction and biographies.
The book started off interesting in describing Mary Anne's humble beginnings and early life, her marriage to Joseph Clarke and subsequent meeting of the Duke of York, whose mistress she became. However, I found I lost the plot slightly with her many male friends, some of whom were faithful to her and some not. At this point I lost interest but read to the end, if only for my own satisfaction.
For me, this book was slightly disappointing and lacked that 'can't wait for the next chapter' feel, but others may see it differently.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A bit different from your usual Du Maurier novel, in this one she tells the story of her great-great-grandmother Mary Anne Clarke. Borne into a poor London family, Mary Anne marries Joseph Clarke who ends up drinking and gambling away any money he gets from his family. Disgusted with the marriage and desperate to support her children, Mary Anne finds herself tempted by a *cough* broker for the wealthy nobility and becomes mistress to Frederick Duke of York. Although being a mistress of a prince with no head for money brings on its own dilemma - how to run a household and a lavish lifestyle on the meager allowance the Duke gives her. With a war looming, men eager for commissions seek preferable treatment through Mary Anne, as the Duke is also the Commander-in-Chief and an offer of money gets a word in the right ear.
Eventually the Duke tires of Mary Anne and she finds herself out in the cold with massive household debts and no pension from the Duke, her brother unjustly cashiered out of the army and her finger is very much in the pie when the scandal of selling commissions hits Parliament with a full blown investigation including the testimony of one very disgruntled ex-mistress. I won't be a spoiler, but further actions taken by Mary Anne in revenge against those who "done her wrong" don't work out as planned and sets her on a nine-month path of harrowing consequences.
Du Maurier is superb as always, she had me hooked from the very unusual opening reflecting back on Mary Anne's life (do go back and reread it after you've finished) to the very end as she makes a very final and fitting farewell to the man who had such an impact on her life. The kind of woman you either love or hate, Mary Anne was most definitely a woman who did what she had to do in order to survive in a man's world and make a better life for her children. Du Maurier doesn't sugar coat her image either - she's presented as is, warts and all. I loved the relationship between her and the Duke, particularly their first meeting in the *cough* broker's parlor where not knowing who she's set to meet she natters on about the latest court gossip (priceless!), to their first dinner and the popping buttons (you'll know when you get there) although tops was the way the author worked in Mary Anne getting those officer's names out there in between seducing the Duke. Its so refreshing to see that an author can write a sex scene so subtly that it isn't staring you in the face with blow-by-blow details but you know what's going on at the same time. The only parts that did drag were the court scenes, with endless pages of testimony and dialogue, and for that I'm knocking off 1/2 star - 4.5/5 stars.
Eventually the Duke tires of Mary Anne and she finds herself out in the cold with massive household debts and no pension from the Duke, her brother unjustly cashiered out of the army and her finger is very much in the pie when the scandal of selling commissions hits Parliament with a full blown investigation including the testimony of one very disgruntled ex-mistress. I won't be a spoiler, but further actions taken by Mary Anne in revenge against those who "done her wrong" don't work out as planned and sets her on a nine-month path of harrowing consequences.
Du Maurier is superb as always, she had me hooked from the very unusual opening reflecting back on Mary Anne's life (do go back and reread it after you've finished) to the very end as she makes a very final and fitting farewell to the man who had such an impact on her life. The kind of woman you either love or hate, Mary Anne was most definitely a woman who did what she had to do in order to survive in a man's world and make a better life for her children. Du Maurier doesn't sugar coat her image either - she's presented as is, warts and all. I loved the relationship between her and the Duke, particularly their first meeting in the *cough* broker's parlor where not knowing who she's set to meet she natters on about the latest court gossip (priceless!), to their first dinner and the popping buttons (you'll know when you get there) although tops was the way the author worked in Mary Anne getting those officer's names out there in between seducing the Duke. Its so refreshing to see that an author can write a sex scene so subtly that it isn't staring you in the face with blow-by-blow details but you know what's going on at the same time. The only parts that did drag were the court scenes, with endless pages of testimony and dialogue, and for that I'm knocking off 1/2 star - 4.5/5 stars.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Its ok
An historical offering from Du Maurier as her novel Mary Anne is an account of her real life Great-Great Grandmother who lead a slightly turbulent life as the mistress of Frederick... Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. Willis
Du Maurier Does Historical Fiction Wonderfully
`Mary Anne' is a historical novel set in the Regency period. I was not familiar with this period, which is a period in British history from 1811 - 1820, before I started the book... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
Great central character but problematic story
If you approach this book expecting another 'Rebecca' then you will be disappointed; however, if you're looking for a well-researched piece of historical fiction then this is quite... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Katie Stevens
A Love Story
I really enjoyed the first half of the book but didn't enjoy the detail of the trial in the second half of the book. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Piliki
Mary Anne
This is sadly not one of her best works. It all feels very two-dimensional, you don't get under the skin of any of these characters. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2010 by Rich
exciting read
Daphne du maurier novel's - for me - are either wow superb or pretty rotten, and this is a wow superb one. Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2009 by blondie08
Not Daphne DuMaurier's best
I read most of Daphne DuMaurier's works, and when I bought this book last week, I was expecting something similar to her other books. And I must admit I was a bit disappointed. Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2003 by "sadhp"
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
