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Zennor in Darkness
In her prize-winning first novel, Zennor in Darkness, Helen Dunmore reimagines the plight of D.H. Lawrence and his German wife hiding out in Cornwall during the First World War.
Spring, 1917, and war haunts the Cornish coastal village of Zennor: ships are being sunk by U-boats, strangers are treated with suspicion, and newspapers are full of spy stories.
Into this turmoil come D. H Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda hoping to escape the war-fever that grips London. They befriend Clare Coyne, a young artist struggling to console her beloved cousin, John William, who is on leave from the trenches and suffering from shell-shock.
Yet the dark tide of gossip and innuendo means that Zennor is neither a place of recovery nor of escape . . .
'Helen Dunmore mesmerizes you with her magical pen' Daily Mail
'A beautiful and inspired novel' John le Carré
'Secrets, unspoken words, lies that have the truth wrapped up in them somewhere make Dunmore's stories ripple with menace and suspense' Sunday Times
Helen Dunmore has published eleven novels with Penguin: Zennor in Darkness, which won the McKitterick Prize; Burning Bright; A Spell of Winter, which won the Orange Prize; Talking to the Dead; Your Blue-Eyed Boy; With Your Crooked Heart; The Siege, which was shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2002; Mourning Ruby; House of Orphans; Counting the Stars and The Betrayal , which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010. She is also a poet, children's novelist and short-story writer.
Spring, 1917, and war haunts the Cornish coastal village of Zennor: ships are being sunk by U-boats, strangers are treated with suspicion, and newspapers are full of spy stories.
Into this turmoil come D. H Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda hoping to escape the war-fever that grips London. They befriend Clare Coyne, a young artist struggling to console her beloved cousin, John William, who is on leave from the trenches and suffering from shell-shock.
Yet the dark tide of gossip and innuendo means that Zennor is neither a place of recovery nor of escape . . .
'Helen Dunmore mesmerizes you with her magical pen' Daily Mail
'A beautiful and inspired novel' John le Carré
'Secrets, unspoken words, lies that have the truth wrapped up in them somewhere make Dunmore's stories ripple with menace and suspense' Sunday Times
Helen Dunmore has published eleven novels with Penguin: Zennor in Darkness, which won the McKitterick Prize; Burning Bright; A Spell of Winter, which won the Orange Prize; Talking to the Dead; Your Blue-Eyed Boy; With Your Crooked Heart; The Siege, which was shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2002; Mourning Ruby; House of Orphans; Counting the Stars and The Betrayal , which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010. She is also a poet, children's novelist and short-story writer.
315 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 1994
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766 people want to read
About the author
Helen Dunmore
118 books961 followersI was born in December 1952, in Yorkshire, the second of four children. My father was the eldest of twelve, and this extended family has no doubt had a strong influence on my life, as have my own children. In a large family you hear a great many stories. You also come to understand very early that stories hold quite different meanings for different listeners, and can be recast from many viewpoints.
Poetry was very important to me from childhood. I began by listening to and learning by heart all kinds of rhymes and hymns and ballads, and then went on to make up my own poems, using the forms I’d heard. Writing these down came a little later.
I studied English at the University of York, and after graduation taught English as a foreign language in Finland.
At around this time I began to write the poems which formed my first poetry collection, The Apple Fall, and to publish these in magazines. I also completed two novels; fortunately neither survives, and it was more than ten years before I wrote another novel.
During this time I published several collections of poems, and wrote some of the short stories which were later collected in Love of Fat Men. I began to travel a great deal within the UK and around the world, for poetry tours and writing residences. This experience of working in many different countries and cultures has been very important to my work. I reviewed poetry for Stand and Poetry Review and later for The Observer, and subsequently reviewed fiction for The Observer, The Times and The Guardian. My critical work includes introductions to the poems of Emily Brontë, the short stories of D H Lawrence and F Scott Fitzgerald, a study of Virginia Woolf’s relationships with women and Introductions to the Folio Society's edition of Anna Karenina and to the new Penguin Classics edition of Tolstoy's My Confession.
During the 1980s and early 1990s I taught poetry and creative writing, tutored residential writing courses for the Arvon Foundation and took part in the Poetry Society's Writer in Schools scheme, as well as giving readings and workshops in schools, hospitals, prisons and every other kind of place where a poem could conceivably be welcome. I also taught at the University of Glamorgan, the University of Bristol's Continuing Education Department and for the Open College of the Arts.
In the late 1980s I began to publish short stories, and these were the beginning of a breakthrough into fiction. What I had learned of prose technique through the short story gave me the impetus to start writing novels. My first novel for children was Going to Egypt, published in 1992, and my first novel for adults was Zennor in Darkness, published in 1993, which won the McKitterick Prize. This was also my first researched novel, set in the First World War and dealing with the period when D H Lawrence and his wife Frieda lived in Zennor in Cornwall, and came under suspicion as German spies.
My third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996, and since then I have published a number of novels, short story collections and books for children. Full details of all these books are available on this website. The last of The Ingo Quartet, The Crossing of Ingo, was published in paperback in Spring 2009.
My seventh novel, The Siege (2001) was shortlisted both for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. This was another researched novel, which grew from a lifelong love of Russian history, culture and literature. It is is set in Leningrad during the first year of the siege of the city by German forces, which lasted for 880 days from the fall of Mga on 30th August 1941. The Siege has been translated into Russian by Tatyana Averchina, and extracts have been broadcast on radio in St Petersburg. House of Orphans was published in 2006, and in 2008 Counting the Stars. Its central characters are the Roman poet Catullus, who lived during the last years of the Republic,
Poetry was very important to me from childhood. I began by listening to and learning by heart all kinds of rhymes and hymns and ballads, and then went on to make up my own poems, using the forms I’d heard. Writing these down came a little later.
I studied English at the University of York, and after graduation taught English as a foreign language in Finland.
At around this time I began to write the poems which formed my first poetry collection, The Apple Fall, and to publish these in magazines. I also completed two novels; fortunately neither survives, and it was more than ten years before I wrote another novel.
During this time I published several collections of poems, and wrote some of the short stories which were later collected in Love of Fat Men. I began to travel a great deal within the UK and around the world, for poetry tours and writing residences. This experience of working in many different countries and cultures has been very important to my work. I reviewed poetry for Stand and Poetry Review and later for The Observer, and subsequently reviewed fiction for The Observer, The Times and The Guardian. My critical work includes introductions to the poems of Emily Brontë, the short stories of D H Lawrence and F Scott Fitzgerald, a study of Virginia Woolf’s relationships with women and Introductions to the Folio Society's edition of Anna Karenina and to the new Penguin Classics edition of Tolstoy's My Confession.
During the 1980s and early 1990s I taught poetry and creative writing, tutored residential writing courses for the Arvon Foundation and took part in the Poetry Society's Writer in Schools scheme, as well as giving readings and workshops in schools, hospitals, prisons and every other kind of place where a poem could conceivably be welcome. I also taught at the University of Glamorgan, the University of Bristol's Continuing Education Department and for the Open College of the Arts.
In the late 1980s I began to publish short stories, and these were the beginning of a breakthrough into fiction. What I had learned of prose technique through the short story gave me the impetus to start writing novels. My first novel for children was Going to Egypt, published in 1992, and my first novel for adults was Zennor in Darkness, published in 1993, which won the McKitterick Prize. This was also my first researched novel, set in the First World War and dealing with the period when D H Lawrence and his wife Frieda lived in Zennor in Cornwall, and came under suspicion as German spies.
My third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996, and since then I have published a number of novels, short story collections and books for children. Full details of all these books are available on this website. The last of The Ingo Quartet, The Crossing of Ingo, was published in paperback in Spring 2009.
My seventh novel, The Siege (2001) was shortlisted both for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. This was another researched novel, which grew from a lifelong love of Russian history, culture and literature. It is is set in Leningrad during the first year of the siege of the city by German forces, which lasted for 880 days from the fall of Mga on 30th August 1941. The Siege has been translated into Russian by Tatyana Averchina, and extracts have been broadcast on radio in St Petersburg. House of Orphans was published in 2006, and in 2008 Counting the Stars. Its central characters are the Roman poet Catullus, who lived during the last years of the Republic,
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
July 8, 2021
I love Helen Dunmore's writing, and as illustrated here in her first novel, it is lyrical and poetic. Set in Cornwall and the small coastal village of Zennor during WW1. It depicts at second hand the impact and repercussions of war, the loss and trauma of the young men, the paranoia, rumours and gossip run rife over the presence of the outsiders. DH Lawrence, now a pariah with his anti-war stance, his latest book rejected, and his German wife, Frieda, have escaped here because its cheap, but the small minded locals are never going to accept them, viewing them with suspicion, spying on them, with a plethora of wildly ridiculous allegations until the couple are hounded out. The relationship that develops between Lawrence and budding local young artist and illustrator, Clare Coyne, living with her widower father is received with hostility. A Clare that is in love with her cousin John William, a traumatised soldier. A beautiful and atmospheric read that I recommend highly.
June 7, 2018
Zennor in Darkness is about the effect WW1 has on a small rural community on the Cornish coast. At the heart of the novel is the relationship between two cousins, Clare and the shell-shocked John William. It deploys a lot of flashback to recreate their relationship as children.
I found it a rather uneven novel, brilliant and thoroughly engaging in parts but a little overly ambitious and even pretentious in others (it was Helen Dunmore's first novel).
DH Lawrence and his wife Frieda are characters in the story and though it was enjoyable reading about them their presence seemed rather gratuitous. We're told local residents are suspicious of them because Frieda is German but all the novel's characters , except one token nasty clergyman, are shown to be essentially good people so this hostility towards the Lawrences never has any dramatic representation in the novel. It's a bit of real history tacked on to a fictional story without much purpose. I thought Dunmore could have been less generous with some of her characters. If there's ignorant bigotry afoot show it, make it a force in the narrative. Instead she seemed intent on creating a romantically nostalgic vision of early 20th century pastoral life. What was most impressive was the writing itself which has made me eager to read her later work.
I found it a rather uneven novel, brilliant and thoroughly engaging in parts but a little overly ambitious and even pretentious in others (it was Helen Dunmore's first novel).
DH Lawrence and his wife Frieda are characters in the story and though it was enjoyable reading about them their presence seemed rather gratuitous. We're told local residents are suspicious of them because Frieda is German but all the novel's characters , except one token nasty clergyman, are shown to be essentially good people so this hostility towards the Lawrences never has any dramatic representation in the novel. It's a bit of real history tacked on to a fictional story without much purpose. I thought Dunmore could have been less generous with some of her characters. If there's ignorant bigotry afoot show it, make it a force in the narrative. Instead she seemed intent on creating a romantically nostalgic vision of early 20th century pastoral life. What was most impressive was the writing itself which has made me eager to read her later work.
June 4, 2023
2.5 stars
Zennor In Darkness is Helen Dunmore's first novel. I won't go into details about the story. There are plenty of other reviews which do that. But I will share my experience reading this debut effort. Dunmore's beautiful, poetic writing is already present but it is somehow untethered. I found reading the book to be painfully slow and unengaging and was relieved when I reached the end. If this had been my introduction to Dunmore I don't think I would have read The Siege and that would have been a shame.
I look forward to reading more of Dunmore's later novels.
Zennor In Darkness is Helen Dunmore's first novel. I won't go into details about the story. There are plenty of other reviews which do that. But I will share my experience reading this debut effort. Dunmore's beautiful, poetic writing is already present but it is somehow untethered. I found reading the book to be painfully slow and unengaging and was relieved when I reached the end. If this had been my introduction to Dunmore I don't think I would have read The Siege and that would have been a shame.
I look forward to reading more of Dunmore's later novels.
February 2, 2020
In December 1915, DH Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda, moved to Zennor, Cornwall. His novel, The Rainbow had recently been banned in the UK for obscenity. This novel isn’t just about Lawrence though. It’s a beautifully imagined portrait of community life in south Cornwall during World War I.
The main character is Clare Coyne. She lives in St Ives with her father who married a Cornish woman well below his status but they had made St Ives their home. She died when Clare was very young and so she was brought up partly by her father and partly by her mother’s family. She was schooled differently and spoke differently although she could lapse into the local dialect at will. Her cousins were her closest friends and she fell in love with one of them, John William, as she grew older. Clare meets Lawrence on the cliffs one day and draws his portrait. They develop a friendship and she visits him and Frieda in their cottage in Zennor, a 6 mile walk from St Ives. Sadly, Lawrence and Frieda were the objects of much suspicion. He for his anti war stance and she for being German. It was rumoured that they hung their washing out in a particular sequence to send messages to U boats! Within two years, they were evicted from Cornwall under the Defence of the Realm Act.
The title refers to the small-mindedness of those in the the local community who hold the Lawrences in deep suspicion and to the Rector’s low opinion of himself and his flock. ‘Their eyes are clouded by sin’, he writes. ‘Our minds are dark and wretched, but even in our darkness we struggle to turn towards the glorious light of our Redeemer.’ He, together with many locals, suspected Clare of having an affair with Lawrence simply by reading too much into what they were seeing. It also refers to the darkness of World War I, seen from the perspective of those at home who can only imagine the horrors of the Western Front, of families losing sons, brothers, fathers, of soldiers on leave, of those waiting - fearing - to be conscripted, and from Lawrence’s pacifist stance.
I’ve spent time in Cornwall in the past and Dunmore’s masterful descriptions of the land and seascape sent me straight back there. Every time I put the book down, I couldn’t wait to lose myself back in it. I loved the way we moved seamlessly from the thoughts of one person to another. It’s a thoughtful book, interesting from a historical perspective, and a very good story. 4.5 stars. So nearly 5.
PS Michael Morpurgo owned the cottage that the Lawrences lived in for a number of years, only selling it last year. I read that Frieda always suspected Lawrence of homosexuality and there were rumours that he had an affair with a farmer in Zennor. Clare is a fictional character but the farmer, William Henry, appears in this novel.
The main character is Clare Coyne. She lives in St Ives with her father who married a Cornish woman well below his status but they had made St Ives their home. She died when Clare was very young and so she was brought up partly by her father and partly by her mother’s family. She was schooled differently and spoke differently although she could lapse into the local dialect at will. Her cousins were her closest friends and she fell in love with one of them, John William, as she grew older. Clare meets Lawrence on the cliffs one day and draws his portrait. They develop a friendship and she visits him and Frieda in their cottage in Zennor, a 6 mile walk from St Ives. Sadly, Lawrence and Frieda were the objects of much suspicion. He for his anti war stance and she for being German. It was rumoured that they hung their washing out in a particular sequence to send messages to U boats! Within two years, they were evicted from Cornwall under the Defence of the Realm Act.
The title refers to the small-mindedness of those in the the local community who hold the Lawrences in deep suspicion and to the Rector’s low opinion of himself and his flock. ‘Their eyes are clouded by sin’, he writes. ‘Our minds are dark and wretched, but even in our darkness we struggle to turn towards the glorious light of our Redeemer.’ He, together with many locals, suspected Clare of having an affair with Lawrence simply by reading too much into what they were seeing. It also refers to the darkness of World War I, seen from the perspective of those at home who can only imagine the horrors of the Western Front, of families losing sons, brothers, fathers, of soldiers on leave, of those waiting - fearing - to be conscripted, and from Lawrence’s pacifist stance.
I’ve spent time in Cornwall in the past and Dunmore’s masterful descriptions of the land and seascape sent me straight back there. Every time I put the book down, I couldn’t wait to lose myself back in it. I loved the way we moved seamlessly from the thoughts of one person to another. It’s a thoughtful book, interesting from a historical perspective, and a very good story. 4.5 stars. So nearly 5.
PS Michael Morpurgo owned the cottage that the Lawrences lived in for a number of years, only selling it last year. I read that Frieda always suspected Lawrence of homosexuality and there were rumours that he had an affair with a farmer in Zennor. Clare is a fictional character but the farmer, William Henry, appears in this novel.
July 12, 2018
This was one of those books that I was dying to read because it takes place in Cornwall (St Ives and Zennor). I have been to Cornwall and am back there for a second time (staying in St Ives!) It is a magical place- this book captures its allure beautifully. The descriptions are evocative of the place and probably the people living here in 1917.
But...........
The start was slow for me- for the first almost half of the book, I actually would rate it a 3 ! But for just over the second half of the book, I would rate it a 5!
What I loved about the book: the place , of course; the way small town gossip ignites like a fire; the descriptions of the effects of the war on the returning soldiers and on the people left behind; the love and bond of family; and the fact that D.H. Lawrence and his German wife are incorporated into the story.
The beginning is slow- too many family members to keep track of; too descriptive at times and too much circling around the same storyline- but then this book explodes ! I read the second half in less than a day.
I do highly recommend this book, but be patient at the start !
But...........
The start was slow for me- for the first almost half of the book, I actually would rate it a 3 ! But for just over the second half of the book, I would rate it a 5!
What I loved about the book: the place , of course; the way small town gossip ignites like a fire; the descriptions of the effects of the war on the returning soldiers and on the people left behind; the love and bond of family; and the fact that D.H. Lawrence and his German wife are incorporated into the story.
The beginning is slow- too many family members to keep track of; too descriptive at times and too much circling around the same storyline- but then this book explodes ! I read the second half in less than a day.
I do highly recommend this book, but be patient at the start !
May 11, 2018
Helen Dunmore's Zennor in Darkness proved the perfect tome to pick up over a relaxed and warm bank holiday weekend. I first read the novel some years ago, but did not remember much about it, save for D.H. Lawrence featuring as one of the protagonists, and the sweeping Cornish setting. First published in 1993, John le Carre calls this 'a beautiful and inspired novel', and the Sunday Telegraph deems it 'highly original and beautifully written'.
Zennor in Darkness opens in May 1917, when war has come to haunt 'the coastal village of Zennor; ships are being sunk by U-boats, strangers are treated with suspicion, and newspapers are full of spy stories.' It is into this environment that D.H. Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda, move, seeking a cheaper existence away from the controversy which his writing has caused in London. Also resident in the village, and living with her widowed father, is a young woman named Clare Coyne. She is a young artist, whom Lawrence and Frieda soon befriend.
When Lawrence arrives in Cornwall, it is almost directly after the publication and scandal of his novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. In Zennor, he is 'growing vegetables to eke out his tiny income. He earns his living by his writing, and it has shrunk close to nothing since his novel was seized by the police in November 1915 and prosecuted for obscenity. The book is shameful, say reviewers and prosecution. It is a thing which creeps and crawls... He does not know when he will be able to publish another novel. But with a remote cottage rented at five pounds a year, and cheap rural living, he hopes that he and his wife may get through the war.' Controversy follows the Lawrences wherever they go, however; local residents are highly suspicious of Frieda's German accent, and the couples' penchant for singing Hibernian lullabies to one another. 'This brazen couple,' writes Dunmore, 'ignores the crossed, tight webs, the drystone walls, the small signals of kinship, the spider-fine apprehensions of those who've lived there for ever once they feel a fly strumming somewhere on their web.'
Dunmore's descriptions throughout are highly sensual. At the outset of the novel, when Clare decides to swim with her cousins with nothing on, she writes: 'Second in, she must be second out. And she wants the sea to herself for a minute, the noise and swell of it, her bare flesh rocking in salt water.' The rural scenery, as well as the current crisis and its effects, are set with such grace. Dunmore is very understanding of the location against which the action of the novel plays out, as well as the wider political climate, and the links between the two. When Clare and Lawrence survey the sea, for instance, she writes: 'It is wonderful to have your back to the land, to the whole of England: to have your back to the darkness of it, its frenzy of bureaucratic bloodshed, its cries in the night... To have your back to this madness which finds a reason for everything: a madness of telegrams, medical examinations and popular songs; a madness of girls making shells and ferocious sentimentality.'
Dunmore's depictions of people, too, are vivid and memorable. When Clare meets Lawrence for the first time, for instance, she finds that 'his beard is astonishing. It juts from his face, wiry and bright red, and then the sunlight catches it and it's all the colours she'd never have thought human hair could be: threads of orange and purple like slim flames lapping at coals.'
Whilst the majority of the novel is told using the third person omniscient perspective, the use of diary entries written in Clare's voice are effective. Using this technique, Dunmore shows a more tender side of her, and it is also, of course, far more revealing than she is able to be in her public life. Snippets of first person perspective, and thoughts of individual characters, have been woven throughout. Sometimes asides are given, or reflections between snatches of dialogue. Separate characters are focused upon in individual chapters, and we are thus able to see the rich tapestry of those who live within Zennor, some of whom are real historical figures, and others of which have been imagined by Dunmore.
Everything within Zennor in Darkness has been beautifully placed into what is a taut and tightly executed novel. Throughout, Dunmore's writing is measured and careful; she is understanding of her characters, and never resorts to melodrama. Zennor in Darkness is a novel to really admire; it is slow, sensuous, incredibly human, and highly beautiful.
Zennor in Darkness opens in May 1917, when war has come to haunt 'the coastal village of Zennor; ships are being sunk by U-boats, strangers are treated with suspicion, and newspapers are full of spy stories.' It is into this environment that D.H. Lawrence and his German wife, Frieda, move, seeking a cheaper existence away from the controversy which his writing has caused in London. Also resident in the village, and living with her widowed father, is a young woman named Clare Coyne. She is a young artist, whom Lawrence and Frieda soon befriend.
When Lawrence arrives in Cornwall, it is almost directly after the publication and scandal of his novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. In Zennor, he is 'growing vegetables to eke out his tiny income. He earns his living by his writing, and it has shrunk close to nothing since his novel was seized by the police in November 1915 and prosecuted for obscenity. The book is shameful, say reviewers and prosecution. It is a thing which creeps and crawls... He does not know when he will be able to publish another novel. But with a remote cottage rented at five pounds a year, and cheap rural living, he hopes that he and his wife may get through the war.' Controversy follows the Lawrences wherever they go, however; local residents are highly suspicious of Frieda's German accent, and the couples' penchant for singing Hibernian lullabies to one another. 'This brazen couple,' writes Dunmore, 'ignores the crossed, tight webs, the drystone walls, the small signals of kinship, the spider-fine apprehensions of those who've lived there for ever once they feel a fly strumming somewhere on their web.'
Dunmore's descriptions throughout are highly sensual. At the outset of the novel, when Clare decides to swim with her cousins with nothing on, she writes: 'Second in, she must be second out. And she wants the sea to herself for a minute, the noise and swell of it, her bare flesh rocking in salt water.' The rural scenery, as well as the current crisis and its effects, are set with such grace. Dunmore is very understanding of the location against which the action of the novel plays out, as well as the wider political climate, and the links between the two. When Clare and Lawrence survey the sea, for instance, she writes: 'It is wonderful to have your back to the land, to the whole of England: to have your back to the darkness of it, its frenzy of bureaucratic bloodshed, its cries in the night... To have your back to this madness which finds a reason for everything: a madness of telegrams, medical examinations and popular songs; a madness of girls making shells and ferocious sentimentality.'
Dunmore's depictions of people, too, are vivid and memorable. When Clare meets Lawrence for the first time, for instance, she finds that 'his beard is astonishing. It juts from his face, wiry and bright red, and then the sunlight catches it and it's all the colours she'd never have thought human hair could be: threads of orange and purple like slim flames lapping at coals.'
Whilst the majority of the novel is told using the third person omniscient perspective, the use of diary entries written in Clare's voice are effective. Using this technique, Dunmore shows a more tender side of her, and it is also, of course, far more revealing than she is able to be in her public life. Snippets of first person perspective, and thoughts of individual characters, have been woven throughout. Sometimes asides are given, or reflections between snatches of dialogue. Separate characters are focused upon in individual chapters, and we are thus able to see the rich tapestry of those who live within Zennor, some of whom are real historical figures, and others of which have been imagined by Dunmore.
Everything within Zennor in Darkness has been beautifully placed into what is a taut and tightly executed novel. Throughout, Dunmore's writing is measured and careful; she is understanding of her characters, and never resorts to melodrama. Zennor in Darkness is a novel to really admire; it is slow, sensuous, incredibly human, and highly beautiful.
April 4, 2021
It was the the time period that drew me to this novel in the first place. I want to read as much as possible about every facet as I can of the First World War. Here we have a small community away from London and the bombs. While D.H. Lawrence isn't *the* central character, he and his German wife Frieda are central to the story and they do have several scenes. In one of them Lawrence notes he has his back to England and is facing America across the sea. My knowledge of the UK is very cursory and that had me running to Google and a map. Zennor is in the extreme southwest of England near the southernmost tip of the Cornwall peninsula. Lawrence's description was perfect.
Clare Coyne and her extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins live in St. Ives, about a 6 mile walk from Lawrence and his wife. It is a small community where everybody knows everybody and where the gossip is rife. They don't like at all that there is a German amongst them when their young men are dying in such huge numbers fighting the Germans.
This was my first Helen Dunmore. I have seen others of her titles being pitched in my Kindle deals emails when I thought she wrote fluff because of the covers. I know better now and will be looking at titles carefully. This was her debut novel. It isn't perfect - I thought it dragged a bit in the middle chapters. Before I was finished however, I remarked "I'm 75 and still finding authors and books I want - no need! - to read." Only because of that middle part dragging is this 4-stars.
Clare Coyne and her extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins live in St. Ives, about a 6 mile walk from Lawrence and his wife. It is a small community where everybody knows everybody and where the gossip is rife. They don't like at all that there is a German amongst them when their young men are dying in such huge numbers fighting the Germans.
Frieda does not yet realize how much she is hated. They would be glad to knock her over the cliff, and him too, if they could get away with it. But they do not quite dare; not yet.I thought Helen Dunmore was able to convey the tension that existed in the community, rather than that she was building tension in the novel. Despite this, don't expect too much plot here. It is more good writing and characterization than plot. The excellent characterization of the time period and setting should not be ignored. I note there were two somewhat explicit sex scenes, one of which as I read it I thought unnecessary. I'm not sure the explicitness was necessary, but it did provide insight into one of the characters, and that insight that *was* necessary in understanding the last 40 or so pages.
This was my first Helen Dunmore. I have seen others of her titles being pitched in my Kindle deals emails when I thought she wrote fluff because of the covers. I know better now and will be looking at titles carefully. This was her debut novel. It isn't perfect - I thought it dragged a bit in the middle chapters. Before I was finished however, I remarked "I'm 75 and still finding authors and books I want - no need! - to read." Only because of that middle part dragging is this 4-stars.
October 4, 2017
The British poet, novelist and children's writer, Helen Dunmore died of cancer at the age of 64 on 5th June 2017. Sad to say, I have only now come to her work with this, her very first novel, published in 1993.
Winner of the McKitterick Prize, Zennor in Darkness could best be described as a rich, intricate, intensely lyrical historical novel. Set in the spring of 1917, at a time when the controversial author, D.H. Lawrence, and his German wife, Frieda (pejoratively referred to as "Hunwife" by wary locals who suspect the unconventional couple of being enemy spies) sought refuge from war-obsessed Britain in a tiny Cornish coastal village close to St Ives. Their story is interwoven with those of finely drawn fictional characters, in particular, Clare Coyne, a young artist they befriend.
This mesmerizing, poignant novel, which explores what it means to belong and how it feels to be an outsider in a tight, ultra-traditional community, seeks to define courage amid a miasma of gossip, scandal and innuendo.
All told, Dunmore published twelve novels. I intend to read each one of them, probably in sequence. Sheer indulgence? Maybe, but I'm thoroughly hooked and have much catching-up to do!
Winner of the McKitterick Prize, Zennor in Darkness could best be described as a rich, intricate, intensely lyrical historical novel. Set in the spring of 1917, at a time when the controversial author, D.H. Lawrence, and his German wife, Frieda (pejoratively referred to as "Hunwife" by wary locals who suspect the unconventional couple of being enemy spies) sought refuge from war-obsessed Britain in a tiny Cornish coastal village close to St Ives. Their story is interwoven with those of finely drawn fictional characters, in particular, Clare Coyne, a young artist they befriend.
This mesmerizing, poignant novel, which explores what it means to belong and how it feels to be an outsider in a tight, ultra-traditional community, seeks to define courage amid a miasma of gossip, scandal and innuendo.
All told, Dunmore published twelve novels. I intend to read each one of them, probably in sequence. Sheer indulgence? Maybe, but I'm thoroughly hooked and have much catching-up to do!
January 4, 2018
View from the Sidelines
The title is less mysterious than it might seem. Zennor is a tiny town near St. Ives in Cornwall where D. H. Lawrence leased a secluded cottage in 1916 and 1917. The Darkness is of course the First World War, which claimed the young men of the county, brought German U-Boats to their shores, and set the suspicious villagers against Lawrence, his strange pacifist ways, and his German wife Frieda von Richthofen (a distant cousin of the celebrated Red Baron). Also straddling the gap between two worlds is the fictional Clare Coyne and her widowed father Francis, an impoverished younger son of minor Catholic aristocracy. Francis' wife, a former lady's maid, died of TB while Clare was still an infant, leaving her to be brought up mainly by her extended family in this Cornish town, people of good heart but a different class and religion from her father. But while Francis Coyne lives in isolation on dwindling investments, writing a book on local botany, Clare leads a full life among her relatives and friends, developing her talents as an artist, and eventually striking up a friendship with Lawrence himself.
Zennor is a lovely place, with bracing cliff landscapes and sea air, beautifully evoked by Helen Dunmore. But the darkness is never far from their doors. Telegrams arrive with sickening frequency announcing yet another death. Men return wounded in invisible ways. Passions flare in brief encounters that only reinforce awareness of the destruction taking place just the other side of the Channel. Zennor in Darkness ranks with Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy as a view of war from the sidelines, helpless but by no means unaffected.
This is a remarkable achievement by any standard, but as a first [adult] novel it is simply astounding. I can certainly see similarities with two more recent Dunmore books that I have read: she will use the WW1 period again in A Spell of Winter, and Clare's Cornish childhood is very similar to that of the heroine in Talking to the Dead ; indeed the power of childhood memories and close familial connections is a powerful theme in all three books. But as opposed to the rather melodramatic plot constructs in those later novels, this one deals with a period that needs no additional drama; its story unfolds naturally, almost inevitably; and its combination of fact and fiction seems effortless. Clare is a beautiful character, and Dunmore's Lawrence shares that edgy charisma that made his thinly-veiled appearance in Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point the highlight of that book also. I am eager to see what Dunmore makes of another real-life wartime setting, that of the siege of Leningrad, in her 2002 novel, The Siege (which I eventually reviewed).
The title is less mysterious than it might seem. Zennor is a tiny town near St. Ives in Cornwall where D. H. Lawrence leased a secluded cottage in 1916 and 1917. The Darkness is of course the First World War, which claimed the young men of the county, brought German U-Boats to their shores, and set the suspicious villagers against Lawrence, his strange pacifist ways, and his German wife Frieda von Richthofen (a distant cousin of the celebrated Red Baron). Also straddling the gap between two worlds is the fictional Clare Coyne and her widowed father Francis, an impoverished younger son of minor Catholic aristocracy. Francis' wife, a former lady's maid, died of TB while Clare was still an infant, leaving her to be brought up mainly by her extended family in this Cornish town, people of good heart but a different class and religion from her father. But while Francis Coyne lives in isolation on dwindling investments, writing a book on local botany, Clare leads a full life among her relatives and friends, developing her talents as an artist, and eventually striking up a friendship with Lawrence himself.
Zennor is a lovely place, with bracing cliff landscapes and sea air, beautifully evoked by Helen Dunmore. But the darkness is never far from their doors. Telegrams arrive with sickening frequency announcing yet another death. Men return wounded in invisible ways. Passions flare in brief encounters that only reinforce awareness of the destruction taking place just the other side of the Channel. Zennor in Darkness ranks with Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy as a view of war from the sidelines, helpless but by no means unaffected.
This is a remarkable achievement by any standard, but as a first [adult] novel it is simply astounding. I can certainly see similarities with two more recent Dunmore books that I have read: she will use the WW1 period again in A Spell of Winter, and Clare's Cornish childhood is very similar to that of the heroine in Talking to the Dead ; indeed the power of childhood memories and close familial connections is a powerful theme in all three books. But as opposed to the rather melodramatic plot constructs in those later novels, this one deals with a period that needs no additional drama; its story unfolds naturally, almost inevitably; and its combination of fact and fiction seems effortless. Clare is a beautiful character, and Dunmore's Lawrence shares that edgy charisma that made his thinly-veiled appearance in Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point the highlight of that book also. I am eager to see what Dunmore makes of another real-life wartime setting, that of the siege of Leningrad, in her 2002 novel, The Siege (which I eventually reviewed).
August 4, 2018
One of the earlier books by the much missed Helen Dunmore.
October 10, 2010
Zennor in Darkness is Helen Dunmore's first novel for adults, however she is also very prolific with children's novels. All of Dunmore's books are shockingly descriptive, and even this adjective lacks justice -- obviously she has had the gift to write so well since day one because Zennor in Darkness is truly incredible from an intimacy standpoint and is beautifully written.
The novel is set in England during WWI along the coast of Cornwall. Those infamous U-boats are prevalent and us readers are faced with the impending doom of this region's war days to come.
We are introduced to Clare Coyne, a beautiful young woman who lives alone with her father and is close with nearby family, including her beloved cousin John William, whom just happens to be visiting home while on leave from the violent trenches. Adding spice to this ensemble is the character of author D.H. Lawrence and his bold German wife Frida, both of whom have settled in the village.
Basically, Zennor in Darkness is about Clare's interaction with her family, D.H. Lawrence, and all the other drama that goes hand in hand with war -- and coming of age.
As often expected with these types of novels, we read about Clare's coming-of-age as a young woman as she is introduced to love, violence, sex, friendships, humanity, and various bohemian arts. You may shrug and roll your eyes at this because after all, aren't all coming-of-age novels practically the same?! But...Dunmore is always magnificent because her characters are so vulnerable and just HUMAN. We read the inner monologues of many characters but mainly Clare, and it's these private thoughts that really hold heavy on our hearts. Awwwww....you may say, but it's entirely true. For those of us who have never felt the impacts of war during our lifetime, Zennor in Darkness is jarring, scary, and really makes you put the book down to run and kiss your loved ones. The novel really makes you appreciate life.
Another admirable trait of Helen Dunmore is that she makes her literature into art. I bet she doesn't consciously do this because you can tell by the way she writes -- I just love how she throws in new vocabulary words in the least intimidating way possible. It's simply beautiful and leaves me awestruck.
My only gripe about Zennor in Darkness is the cliche at the end. Of course I'm not going to provide spoilers but think about it...what befalls beautiful and naive young girls new to love and sex? Hmmmmm...
Helen Dunmore is underrated and NOT to be missed! I knew there was a reason I added her entire bibliography to my wish list months ago.
I highly recommend Talking to the Dead (1996) in addition to Zennor in Darkness. I've yet to read all her other novels, so stay tuned! Newer titles include The Betrayal (2010), Counting the Stars (2008), and House of Orphans (2006).
Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.
The novel is set in England during WWI along the coast of Cornwall. Those infamous U-boats are prevalent and us readers are faced with the impending doom of this region's war days to come.
We are introduced to Clare Coyne, a beautiful young woman who lives alone with her father and is close with nearby family, including her beloved cousin John William, whom just happens to be visiting home while on leave from the violent trenches. Adding spice to this ensemble is the character of author D.H. Lawrence and his bold German wife Frida, both of whom have settled in the village.
Basically, Zennor in Darkness is about Clare's interaction with her family, D.H. Lawrence, and all the other drama that goes hand in hand with war -- and coming of age.
As often expected with these types of novels, we read about Clare's coming-of-age as a young woman as she is introduced to love, violence, sex, friendships, humanity, and various bohemian arts. You may shrug and roll your eyes at this because after all, aren't all coming-of-age novels practically the same?! But...Dunmore is always magnificent because her characters are so vulnerable and just HUMAN. We read the inner monologues of many characters but mainly Clare, and it's these private thoughts that really hold heavy on our hearts. Awwwww....you may say, but it's entirely true. For those of us who have never felt the impacts of war during our lifetime, Zennor in Darkness is jarring, scary, and really makes you put the book down to run and kiss your loved ones. The novel really makes you appreciate life.
Another admirable trait of Helen Dunmore is that she makes her literature into art. I bet she doesn't consciously do this because you can tell by the way she writes -- I just love how she throws in new vocabulary words in the least intimidating way possible. It's simply beautiful and leaves me awestruck.
My only gripe about Zennor in Darkness is the cliche at the end. Of course I'm not going to provide spoilers but think about it...what befalls beautiful and naive young girls new to love and sex? Hmmmmm...
Helen Dunmore is underrated and NOT to be missed! I knew there was a reason I added her entire bibliography to my wish list months ago.
I highly recommend Talking to the Dead (1996) in addition to Zennor in Darkness. I've yet to read all her other novels, so stay tuned! Newer titles include The Betrayal (2010), Counting the Stars (2008), and House of Orphans (2006).
Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.
August 14, 2021
This is a beautifully written book, which I enjoyed very much.
August 4, 2018
So enjoyed this book - I read it in 3 days and couldn't put it down. I am also intrigued by the fact that it meant so much to me in the post-referendum Brexit world that we are in (and how differently I might have thought about it if I'd read it 2 years ago).
It was beautifully crafted - the mix of current story and past information on each character - was very well handled, slowly revealing more about each person's motivation. Although it is about DH Lawrence (and is mostly true I think), he is presented mostly in his anti-war capacity and married to a German woman, rather than as a controversial novelist that we might know him better as. The relationship between him and Clarey is beautifully explored, along with the serious insecurities of both; the understated crisis in John William is so delicately handled that it's even more shocking when he kills himself.
And the marvellous descriptions of the pointless waste of life and the horror of WW1, with the lies told by the powerful to enable them to keep feeding cannon fodder to this useless nightmare that is out of control and that nobody can stop, as too many have already died for anyone to be able to admit it was a huge mistake. And the way that people's perceptions are manoeuvred (through 'fake news') to allow continuous support for the war, is heartbreaking and terrifying in equal measures.
Brilliant writer and the characters will stay with me for a long time.
It was beautifully crafted - the mix of current story and past information on each character - was very well handled, slowly revealing more about each person's motivation. Although it is about DH Lawrence (and is mostly true I think), he is presented mostly in his anti-war capacity and married to a German woman, rather than as a controversial novelist that we might know him better as. The relationship between him and Clarey is beautifully explored, along with the serious insecurities of both; the understated crisis in John William is so delicately handled that it's even more shocking when he kills himself.
And the marvellous descriptions of the pointless waste of life and the horror of WW1, with the lies told by the powerful to enable them to keep feeding cannon fodder to this useless nightmare that is out of control and that nobody can stop, as too many have already died for anyone to be able to admit it was a huge mistake. And the way that people's perceptions are manoeuvred (through 'fake news') to allow continuous support for the war, is heartbreaking and terrifying in equal measures.
Brilliant writer and the characters will stay with me for a long time.
August 28, 2009
We randomly pulled off the road into the little village of Zennor. It's a tiny Cornish village set just in from the sea that happens to have a tea room, a museum and a wonderful Cornish bookshop. I was even more surprised when I realized that I already had this book about Zennor at home, waiting to be read.
Zennor in Darkness was immensely richer than the World War I story I thought would be within the covers. The book was a blend of what might be Cornish traits--poetry, practicality, strong passions and personalities. It wasn't at all what I expected, both earthier and more ethereal.
Zennor in Darkness was immensely richer than the World War I story I thought would be within the covers. The book was a blend of what might be Cornish traits--poetry, practicality, strong passions and personalities. It wasn't at all what I expected, both earthier and more ethereal.
May 27, 2015
This book is beautifully written, lyrical and descriptive. I think it owes a good deal to D.H.Lawrence's work and a few sentences seemed to be straight out of "Sons and Lovers". I enjoyed the historical detail and the character portrayals as well as the exploration of gossip, rumour and misapprehension. The descriptions of the Cornish Coast are very evocative.
I did find it a little ponderous and repetitive in places but look forward to reading more by this author.
I did find it a little ponderous and repetitive in places but look forward to reading more by this author.
August 17, 2022
2.5. I found this to be pretty dull. Some interesting concepts and language and an interesting fictionalisation of the writer D.H Lawrence, but ultimately it was incredibly slow. Also it is basically about wanting to f*ck your cousin.
February 16, 2021
One of the most moving books I've ever read. Beautifully written, so poetic. I cried when John William died. 5/5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2018
Having been fortunate enough to hear Helen Dunmore speak when she gave one of the Suffolk Book League's monthly talks some years ago, I was intrigued to read her first novel - hadn't read any others of hers. I had recently read a couple of other books around the First and Second World Wars (in 2014 Testament of Youth, and this year In Love and War by Liz Trenow - enjoyed that more than Zennor - and The Childbury Ladies Choir which I absolutely loved) and have visited Cornwall this year, which were also draws to this book. I would say I enjoyed Zennor, but I didn't love it. At first I found it rather heavy on the sensuous descriptions of colours and physical feelings - it reminded me of actually reading Lawrence, which I did in my first year BA course in English Literature - Twentieth Century Literature, which included Sons and Lovers, Women in Love and The Rainbow. It made me think that Dunmore was rather self-consciously imitating this aspect of Lawrence's style, along with the descriptions of sexual play here and there during the book. However, from reading other reviews I think perhaps this is just Dunmore's own style rather than a reference to Lawrence's style. I thought there was a nice symmetry to the beginning and end, with the three girls going for a walk but wondered why the three of them had been set up in the first chapter when Peggy barely figures throughout the book. I felt the sense of isolation and awkwardness of both Frieda (what a lot she gave up for Lorezo - her marriage, children, home - and yet he was always out with his new friends and acquaintances, so how much did she actually see of him? I guess he was partly making himself fit in with neighbours in order to protect them and get them accepted), and Clare's father - I felt sad for him. I was interested to realise, after I had finished the book that the Katherine and Jack Murry were actually Katherine Mansfield and her husband - would have been interested to have know this before. Would I read another Helen Dunmore? Possibly, but not yet - I was glad to finish it and get on to something else.
SPOILER ALERT
Interesting question mark introduced in the closing chapters about the paternity of Clare's baby - was it really her cousin's or Lawrence's as her father suspected? From Clare's view there is no doubt it was her cousin's.
SPOILER ALERT
Interesting question mark introduced in the closing chapters about the paternity of Clare's baby - was it really her cousin's or Lawrence's as her father suspected? From Clare's view there is no doubt it was her cousin's.
September 15, 2022
We were in Cornwall as I read. This helped a lot!
December 14, 2024
Read for a WEA course on historical fiction which included Dr Zhivago, a month in the country and this. It was the author’s debut novel and I’ve also read her last. Helen Dunmore’s poetry background is obvious in her prose and style - I think it works well as does the fact v fiction trope using real people. Lawrence and Frieda come over realistically as does the portrayal of PTSD. HD is obviously writing a pastiche of DL so it helps if you’ve recently read his work as one person had. Recurring themes from the other two books include religion and unrequited love
October 3, 2020
A wonderful writer. I've given this book 5 stars despite struggling to get into it and actually disliking many aspects of the first chapter because the writing throughout is so exquisite and Helen Dunmore just seems to be on a different plane to a lot of other writers. She really is a poet (well, literally I know) and somewhere around the middle of the novel I found myself wondering if she's even capable of writing a mediocre sentence. A few niggly things e.g. not my favourite ever beginning as mentioned... and I started realising somewhere toward the end of the book that I didn't actually like the main character much... but these are just subjective quibbles.
The two things that impressed me the most were
1) The amazingly detailed evocation of 1917 St. Ives/Zennor - was Helen Dunmore there? I'd love to know how much came from research and how much from educated imagining
2) The vivid reminder of just how tough life was on the Home Front. We all know how terrible WW1 was for everyone affected but every so often you come across something that really makes you feel it, and there were such moments during Zennor in Darkness. One moment that comes to mind is in the first chapter funnily enough - it's mentioned that a peripheral character, the mother of a soldier, had happend to be sitting outside her house catching some sun when she was 'forced to watch the telegraph boy on his bicycle as he rode down the street' - obviously we know what news he was delivering. There are brilliant quotes from later on in the book that so successfully capture a feeling of helplessness when faced with the omnipotent, runaway-train nature of the war as it gathered its (increasingly aimless seeming) momentum sweeping the country devouring young men.
As mentioned in below reviews, this is Dunmore's first novel, so if flawed (and to me there are no significant flaws) it's perhaps understandable. This is also the first novel of hers that I've read, so I'm excited to read her later works. If she ended up improving on her first attempt then all the better, but I'll personally be more than happy if the others are the same standard as this one.
The two things that impressed me the most were
1) The amazingly detailed evocation of 1917 St. Ives/Zennor - was Helen Dunmore there? I'd love to know how much came from research and how much from educated imagining
2) The vivid reminder of just how tough life was on the Home Front. We all know how terrible WW1 was for everyone affected but every so often you come across something that really makes you feel it, and there were such moments during Zennor in Darkness. One moment that comes to mind is in the first chapter funnily enough - it's mentioned that a peripheral character, the mother of a soldier, had happend to be sitting outside her house catching some sun when she was 'forced to watch the telegraph boy on his bicycle as he rode down the street' - obviously we know what news he was delivering. There are brilliant quotes from later on in the book that so successfully capture a feeling of helplessness when faced with the omnipotent, runaway-train nature of the war as it gathered its (increasingly aimless seeming) momentum sweeping the country devouring young men.
As mentioned in below reviews, this is Dunmore's first novel, so if flawed (and to me there are no significant flaws) it's perhaps understandable. This is also the first novel of hers that I've read, so I'm excited to read her later works. If she ended up improving on her first attempt then all the better, but I'll personally be more than happy if the others are the same standard as this one.
November 19, 2018
I'm not at all sure what to make of this book.
On the one hand, there is a heart string tugging love story at the centre of it, in which all the horrors, futility and despair of the first World War on both sides of the English Channel are invoked. This central thread is beautifully written, and the story is rounded in as much as such a story can be rounded - but the questions it asks in themselves are thought provoking and evocative. If this were the only story written about in this book, it would have been a far, far better read.
Unfortunately, another half story is shoe horned into the whole, like an ugly attempted graft onto a tree that was never meant to be, and ultimately withers and dies like a rather poorly thought out experiment. This is the story of DH Lawrence and his German wife Frieda, who were living near Zennor in "real life" at the time at which this story was set. It almost seems as if the author felt honour bound to work this historically accurate fact into the story, but it just doesn't work unfortunately - and as a result, adds a completely unnecessary layer of obfuscation and irrelevance into what is otherwise a perfectly enjoyable WW1 love story, set in a gorgeous part of the world, and full of believable characters and situations.
On the one hand, there is a heart string tugging love story at the centre of it, in which all the horrors, futility and despair of the first World War on both sides of the English Channel are invoked. This central thread is beautifully written, and the story is rounded in as much as such a story can be rounded - but the questions it asks in themselves are thought provoking and evocative. If this were the only story written about in this book, it would have been a far, far better read.
Unfortunately, another half story is shoe horned into the whole, like an ugly attempted graft onto a tree that was never meant to be, and ultimately withers and dies like a rather poorly thought out experiment. This is the story of DH Lawrence and his German wife Frieda, who were living near Zennor in "real life" at the time at which this story was set. It almost seems as if the author felt honour bound to work this historically accurate fact into the story, but it just doesn't work unfortunately - and as a result, adds a completely unnecessary layer of obfuscation and irrelevance into what is otherwise a perfectly enjoyable WW1 love story, set in a gorgeous part of the world, and full of believable characters and situations.
January 9, 2018
I wanted to love this book. Set in Cornwall (a place I recently visited) during the Great War and including real life author, DH Lawrence as a character and a young Irish Catholic protagonist it should have been a book I inhaled. But I didn't. I waited for the pace to hasten and the characters to reveal their souls to me but it didn't happen.
And yet, I loved reading about a place where I recently hiked and the descriptions of the coast and the sea were familiar.
I liked it enough to read more of this author.
And yet, I loved reading about a place where I recently hiked and the descriptions of the coast and the sea were familiar.
I liked it enough to read more of this author.
October 11, 2023
I have never read a Helen Dunmore novel, and never been to Cornwall. I was attracted to this book mainly because of the presence of DH Lawrence. And the book title sounds very pretty.
Overall, I found it very generic. Aside from the design of the details, the story could take place anywhere and anytime. Also, I suspect that Ms Dunmore is one of those writers who cater mainly to a conservative female audience. My mother would probably very much enjoy this kind of writing.
During WWI, the locals are wary of strangers. DH Lawrence, a Yorkshireman and writer of dubious reputation, stays in a cottage with his German wife. (How dare he!) However, we don’t find out much about them, except that his beard is red and Frieda seems a bit hectic.
Clare, a young localwoman artist, nevertheless strikes up a friendship with the couple. Later on, she has sex on the beach with her cousin. Then he dies in WWI. She has his baby. People say that DH Lawrence seduced her, which provides the smokescreen to oust the two outsiders.
In other words: people can be mean and clannish. Even in beautiful Cornwall.
Overall, I found it very generic. Aside from the design of the details, the story could take place anywhere and anytime. Also, I suspect that Ms Dunmore is one of those writers who cater mainly to a conservative female audience. My mother would probably very much enjoy this kind of writing.
During WWI, the locals are wary of strangers. DH Lawrence, a Yorkshireman and writer of dubious reputation, stays in a cottage with his German wife. (How dare he!) However, we don’t find out much about them, except that his beard is red and Frieda seems a bit hectic.
Clare, a young local
In other words: people can be mean and clannish. Even in beautiful Cornwall.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
May 9, 2011I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A thoughtful and beautifully written novel about the effects of war upon people, places and society. In the Cornish coastal village of Zennor many of the local landowners and farmers have sons who are exempt from fighting, but for one proud local family the Treveal's, their John William has been in France for two years. As John William arrives home briefly on leave - before embarking on officer trianing, U boats stalk the coast, and gossip is rife at the arrival of writer DH Lawrence and his German wife Frieda. The Lawerences befriend young artist Clare Coyne the cousin of John William. However, even in a place like Zennor the war casts long shadows and creates fear, and suspicion.
It it some time since I read anything by Helen Dunmore, she is a very good writer, and I must look out for more by her.
It it some time since I read anything by Helen Dunmore, she is a very good writer, and I must look out for more by her.
January 3, 2018
This seems to be under the radar as a great novel, but it is. It captures perfectly a place in a particular time. The place is Zennor and the time is the First World War. The novel captures many things and Dunmore often writes as the poet she was albeit in the novel format. One thing she particular captures is the power of public mood and consciousness in times of national events like wars. This novel captures the dark side of this through the eyes of D H Lawrence, living in Zennor at the time the novel is set in. Hugely recommended.
February 4, 2015
I found this a compelling story although it is quite dark and depressing in parts. It really reminds you how awful WW1 really was for everyone involved and shows the effect that it had on the soldiers, their families and society in general.
October 3, 2019
I read another of her books and absolutely loved it, so I thought I would go back to her first and work my way through all of her books but I really didn't like this one. There was no subtlety at all, it felt very contrived. I still intend to keep reading her books though as Exposure was fabulous!
Read
July 26, 2018I lie... well just a little one but.... was not able to finish this book. I am sorry to say it just didn’t hold my attention the plot is insipid and lacklustre, the characters are just awfully written it’s just shambolic. Sorry but I am staying clear of this author.
July 8, 2023
In 1915, D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, moved to the Cornish coast and spent two years living in a cottage in Zennor. (You can read a little bit more about that here and see pictures of the cottage where they stayed here.)
In her debut novel, Zennor in Darkness, Helen Dunmore imagines a friendship between the Lawrences and a local girl, Clare Coyne. It is the nearing the end of World War 1, 1917, when the story takes place and suspicion and paranoia are rampant, so the fact that Lawrence’s wife is German and Lawrence himself is vehemently opposed to the war is the cause of much consternation and rumour mongering among the locals.
This is also a novel about Clare, who lives with her widowed father, and spends time with her extended family, particularly her cousins Hannah and John William. When John William returns from France, it is easy to see that the war has changed him, and the easy relationship between the cousins is forever altered.
He is lost to her. He is a thousand miles away, hearing the guns, seeing the ring of faces round him and knowing their chances.
Nothing much happens in this novel, yet it does capture a real sense of a specific time and place. I have been to St. Ives and so it was easy to imagine the windswept cliffs and natural beauty of the places Dunmore describes.
It is a landscape of irregular small fields shaped by Celtic farmers two thousand years ago. Lichened granite boulders are lodged into the hedges. They stand upright in the fields, a crop of stone. Lanes run tunnel-like between the furze down to the farms. Here, by the cottage, the lane dips and dampens and is lines with foxglove and hart’s tongue fern and slow drops of oozing water. It is so quiet here.
Like with her other works of fiction, Zennor in Darkness has a thread of the gothic and the forbidden running though it and this book is particularly melancholy because of the setting. Modern readers will have had no experience with the horrors of WW1 and what it did to communities and individuals, and although this book doesn’t take place in the trenches the book captures so much of that horrible period in history.
I am a long-time fan of Dunmore and have read several of her novels including The Greatcoat, A Spell of Winter, Talking to the Dead, Your Blue-Eyed Boy, and With Your Crooked Heart and one collection of short stories, Ice Cream. All her work has something in common: the writing is beautiful. Dunmore began her career as a poet and it shows, but not at the expense of plot. Her work is not a case of style over substance.
A beautiful read.
In her debut novel, Zennor in Darkness, Helen Dunmore imagines a friendship between the Lawrences and a local girl, Clare Coyne. It is the nearing the end of World War 1, 1917, when the story takes place and suspicion and paranoia are rampant, so the fact that Lawrence’s wife is German and Lawrence himself is vehemently opposed to the war is the cause of much consternation and rumour mongering among the locals.
This is also a novel about Clare, who lives with her widowed father, and spends time with her extended family, particularly her cousins Hannah and John William. When John William returns from France, it is easy to see that the war has changed him, and the easy relationship between the cousins is forever altered.
He is lost to her. He is a thousand miles away, hearing the guns, seeing the ring of faces round him and knowing their chances.
Nothing much happens in this novel, yet it does capture a real sense of a specific time and place. I have been to St. Ives and so it was easy to imagine the windswept cliffs and natural beauty of the places Dunmore describes.
It is a landscape of irregular small fields shaped by Celtic farmers two thousand years ago. Lichened granite boulders are lodged into the hedges. They stand upright in the fields, a crop of stone. Lanes run tunnel-like between the furze down to the farms. Here, by the cottage, the lane dips and dampens and is lines with foxglove and hart’s tongue fern and slow drops of oozing water. It is so quiet here.
Like with her other works of fiction, Zennor in Darkness has a thread of the gothic and the forbidden running though it and this book is particularly melancholy because of the setting. Modern readers will have had no experience with the horrors of WW1 and what it did to communities and individuals, and although this book doesn’t take place in the trenches the book captures so much of that horrible period in history.
I am a long-time fan of Dunmore and have read several of her novels including The Greatcoat, A Spell of Winter, Talking to the Dead, Your Blue-Eyed Boy, and With Your Crooked Heart and one collection of short stories, Ice Cream. All her work has something in common: the writing is beautiful. Dunmore began her career as a poet and it shows, but not at the expense of plot. Her work is not a case of style over substance.
A beautiful read.
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