The story is a retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, and is actually written by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and only finished by Daphne du Maurier after his death. It has none of her flair or style and is positively boring in places. I found the end both expected and unmoving. In fact, none of the characters interested me in the least. By three-quarters through I was fighting the urge to just lay it aside. ( )

As a child I remember my maternal grandfather had a reasonably well stocked library and in it included most of the works of Arthur Quiller-Couch (Q). So it was with some interest that I discovered that this book had been started by Q and finished by du Maurier at the behest of Q's daughter so was intrigued as to how this collaboration would work.

Firstly let me say that it appears seamless and it is hard to see which author wrote what (good or bad depending on your taste) although there did seem a noticeable quickening in the pace towards the end.

A chance meeting between Linnette LeWarne,a pretty but haughty young woman recently married to a much older man but still with dreams of romance, and a Bretton onion seller Amyot leads to an unlikely romance when Amyot rescues Linnette and her husband from a run-away coach accident with predictably disastrous results. This is interspersed with some good old Arthurian legends of a similar love affair between Tristan and Iseult.

The prose was generally excellent,the Cornish scenery was wonderfully portrayed particularly as the mist descends for the final curtain call as was the evocative easy going way of life therein. Although being Cornish myself may have some reflection on my opinion here. But that said at times it was fairly pedestrian almost scholarly in pace at times. Also there did seem an over reliance of an interest and knowledge of the Tristan Iseult affair which held back the overall feel of the novel IMHO.

On the whole I found this was an interesting collaboration if nor overly gripping one. ( )

Castle Dor was the last unfinished work of the critic Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and finished (at his daughter’s request) by Daphne Du Maurier after his death. The novel is a modern retelling of the Tristan and Isolde myth, re-set to Cornwall of the 1840s. Linnet Lewarne is a young woman married to an innkeeper; she strikes up a relationship with a Briton onion seller named Amyot Trestane. Although not written from the first person point of view, the center viewpoint is that of the village doctor, who recognizes how history is repeating itself, literally.

Du Maurier did a fairly good job of finishing the novel—you can’t tell where Quiller-Couch’s writing leaves off and Du Maurier’s begins. She later wrote that she could never hope to imitate Quiller-Couch’s style of writing, but that she tried to adopt his “modd;” still, this wasn’t one of the best books that she’s put her pen to. Because the story is told from an “outside” point of view, we don’t really get that of the main two characters, so it’s hard to assess their motives.

In fact, the main character of the book is Doctor Carfax, who, as Du Maurier put it, serves as a kind of Prospero, helping move the events of the novel along while not really being a part of them. One gets the sense that all of these characters are involved in something much larger than themselves, something much beyond their control, and there’s a fairly wonderful kind of atmosphere to that effect. Although I had some reservations about this novel, it’s interesting to see how two writers—one a critic of literature, the other considered a “romance” novelist—coincide, and how they were able to create one cohesive novel. ( )

"Not in your world.....but in some borderland of buried kings and lovers". Linnette Lewarne, married to a much older man, meets Breton Amyot by pure chance and their fates are forever sealed as they begin to relive a past that has happened time and time again through the centuries - that of Tristan and Iseult. Doctor Carfax watches from the sidelines as he puts the pieces of the puzzle together with that of the legends and ends with a race against time to stop the legend from repeating itself into tragedy once again - all culminating in a on a very foggy Cornwall All Hallows E'en. Is the good Doctor in time or not?

Well you know me, I don't tell. Castle Dor, unfinished at the death of author Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch ("Q"), was completed by Du Maurier at the request of his daughter. A bit slow and dry at the start (I've not read anything from "Q" before, nor am I all that familiar with the legends of Tristan and Iseult), but a good finish, albeit not the strongest. If you're big into the legends of T&I I'd go for it, but Du Maurier fans will probably be disappointed - the parts she contributed at the end are minimal and not her usual style. ( )

An interesting book, mainly because of its joint authorship and its retelling of the legend of the tragic lovers Tristan and Isolde. It was Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s last unfinished novel and Daphne Du Maurier took it over at the request of his daughter after his death. It came at a low point in her life and I think she struggled to complete the book. The first part (by Quiller-Couch) has a more mysterious, mystical and dreamlike atmosphere than the latter part which is written in a more straight forward and somewhat chatty style.

Place and time are fluid as events from the past are repeated in the present and the characters are held by something stronger than themselves, linking them inexorably to the past. The land itself, its history and above all the ancient earthworks at Castle Dor are central to the story. Castle Dor, an “ancient cirque, deserted, bramble-grown”, once a bastion “filled with men commanding this whole wilderness now grass mounds, sleeping under a quiet sky.”

There are different versions of the Tristan and Isolde legend and these are explored in the story by Dr Carfax and his patient Mr Tregentil. Set in Cornwall in the 1860s, Dr Carfax recognises the signs that Linnet and Amyot Trestane are unknowingly re-enacting the tragic events that befell Tristan and Isolde. He tries unsuccessfully to keep them apart.

See also my review on my blog. ( )