I came across an interesting comment about Daphne du Maurier’s writing, which applies very well to this book. It was written by Kate Kellaway and I think appeared in The Guardian.
Quote:
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Du Maurier was mistress of calculated irresolution. She did not want to put her readers’ minds at rest. She wanted the novels to continue to haunt us beyond their endings.
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Without talking about the ending, in case some haven’t got there yet, I thought it very powerful. I read this book when it was first published back in about 1970, and that ending has always stayed with me, even though I had forgotten some of the details of the story.
The other general comment I wanted to make now was how vivid I thought all the medieval passages were, and I loved the way the book started by throwing us straight into Dick’s experience without any prior explanation.