The King's General - Couverture souple

The novel is set at the time of the English Civil War. A middle-aged Honor Harris narrates the story of her youth, from the age of ten, when living with her brother Robin. The narrative begins when Kit, Honor's oldest brother, brings home his new bride, Gartred. After only three years, Kit dies of smallpox and Gartred moves away. At age eighteen, Honor meets Richard Grenvile, Gartred's brother. They fall in love and, despite a former arrangement for Honor to marry another, they decide to be married. Honor is injured and loses the use of her legs in a riding accident, when out with Richard and Gartred. Subsequently, Honor refuses to marry – or even see – Richard. By the time the Civil War breaks out, fifteen years have passed; Honor has grown in independence, and Richard has had three children, Joe, born illegitimately from an affair with a dairymaid; Dick, from a failed marriage; and Dick's sister, who lives in Holland and is not really part of the story. Following some nearby violence, Honor moves to Menabilly, the home of her sister and brother-in-law, where she again meets Richard, who is posted in Plymouth as a leader of the King's army in the west of England. During the war, Richard is wounded, and Honor tends to him in his weakness. The Parliamentarians take Cornwall, and Richard flees the country. He is part of a Royalist rebellion, though, some years later. He is betrayed: it is suggested that the betrayer is his son Dick. An escape plan is made to remove Richard and Dick safely from the Parliamentarians to Holland to be with Richard's daughter and Dick's sister, after the revolt fails. Rumours of their escape which are told to Honor suggest that only Richard is able to escape, which brings the reader back to the prompt for Du Maurier's tale – the skeleton discovered in the excavations of Menabilly.