The King's General

Product Information

At age eighteen, Honor meets Richard Grenville, 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. The King's General is well-paced, beautifully atmospheric, wonderfully mysterious, and capable of taking your breath away at times. I can think of only a handful of writers who evoke a setting as well as Daphne du Maurier―the Bronte sisters among them, who come to mind because there are many comparisons one could make between Richard Grenvile, Rochester, and Heathcliff. For the most part, du Maurier opts for using language contemporary to the time of writing. However, this contrast with the extensive and careful historical research, coupled with relatively modern attitudes and manners which are to be found in all her historical novels, can be uncomfortable: as one critic in The Times Literary Supplement claimed, "Though we readily accept that the public events [of The King's General] took place during the Civil War, it is impossible ever to believe the people lived in this period." [2] Critics like Horner and Zlosnik claim that rather than creating a conflict, this is actually an interplay, another way in which Du Maurier undermines the tropes of the gothic novel through its combination with the historical romance genre. [2] What I especially like about The King's General is that it's a tale richly told by an unlikely heroine, not only for the times but even for today: Honor Harris, in her own words, is a "cripple", bound to a "wheeled chair" her brother has made for her. But Honor is not a figure of pity. She is the smartest person in the book, and does not try to hide her light under a bushel. The other smartest person in the book is also a woman: Honor's nemesis, Gartred Grenvile-Harris-Denys, who is a good match for Honor in brilliance, but who could be the lost twin of Maleficent. Honor is not only smart, she is compassionate and wise, but in no way insipid or prone to easy sentiment. Neither is Daphne du Maurier insipid or prone to easy sentiment, so the book does not allow us an easy or tidy ending, in which everyone waltzes off into the sunset. It was a tough time, the 17th century, and even people who were comparatively wealthy and well-bred had to cope with plagues and wars, illnesses and accidents for which there were no cures, and extremely high levels of mother and child mortality. As for Honor, though, she lives up to her name very well indeed.

The King's General has been classed as a gothic novel because of the prominence of archetypal gothic tropes. Included in these tropes is the motif of the 'distorted body', a trope the author deflects by attributing it to the protagonist and forcing the reader to experience the body through the view of the narrator. [2] The King's General is told by a character named Honor Harris, who is in love with Sir Richard Grenville, a Royalist general in the Civil War. In any given chapter, Honor Harris describes waiting for news of the war, worrying about her lover, the brief bursts of happiness when the war permits them to spend time together, and the deprivation and Spartan provisions of life during war time. These are undoubtedly topics Daphne Du Maurier was experiencing and thinking of in war-time Britain. Young Honor Harris is full of life and quite forward with her words. Being the youngest in the family, she is very spoiled by her brothers and sisters. Her parents wish to marry her off to a wealthy gentleman to secure her place in life, yet all is thrown to the wind when she meets a soldier named, Richard Greenville.

Project Pages and Info

When the skeleton of a young cavalier was found by William Rashleigh at Daphne du Maurier's beloved mansion, Menabilly, she once again found inspiration in her surroundings. Putting pen to paper, Daphne created The King's General, a historical tale which takes place during the English Civil War and introduces one of du Maurier's greatest heroines: Honor Harris. The King's General is a book which has it all. A haunting castle which reminded me of Manderley quite dearly, a strong and unusual heroine, and a most-of-the-time hated hero. History, love and mystery mix together creating a unique setting for this novel. If you just want to maximize your Ranged Troop buffs then there are a few combinations that you can consider. Below is a small list of some of these. Main This is the more complicated part of the Assistant General feature. Whether or not a buff from the Assistant will work, depends on the skills of the Main General. However, there are certain things from the Assistant that will never contribute to the march buffs. These include:

A General’s special skill can be seen by navigating to their menu and selecting the gold square box below their stats. Flexible Specialty Fragments are required to upgrade the quality of your Flexible Specialties. To get these you must disassemble Flexible Specialities you already own. Flexible Specialties can be gained by taking part in the Hanging Gardens Event or as a reward in the Server War for Battle-Tested Flexible Specialty Fragments. Flexible Specialty Skill Honor Harris grew up the youngest daughter of the Harris family at Lanrest, when she was ten her older brother Kit married the beautiful Gartred Grenvile. The Grenviles being one of the principle families in Cornwall. The marriage is a short one, Kit leaving Gartred a young widow a few years later. Honor has no love for her sister-in-law from the first, but as the years pass the two women will find themselves thrown together more than once in difficult circumstances. Menabilly held a fascination for Daphne du Maurier. She never actually owned it, but became besotted with it, when she lived in a nearby house, “Ferryside”. Menabilly was almost inaccessible, lying as it does in a valley surrounded by extensive lands reaching down to the sea. It was empty and neglected, yet she still felt drawn to it, and explored the area for seventeen years, even though it was private land. Eventually, in 1943, the owner Dr. Rashleigh agreed to lease the house to her for twenty years. However the shortfalls are redeemed by the strength of the central portrait of Grenvile and his relationship to Honor (in both senses). Both ruthless and charming, cold and passionate, bitter and vengeful while unremittingly loyal to the king and the monarchy, Grenvile towers over this book as a huge creation. We might not like him (and `like' is far too weak a word to use for him) but then neither does Honor, although she does love him to the end. And it is this ambiguity and complexity which gives the novel its strength.This book starts as a very interesting historical romance, then takes a swerve using some of the most oft use tropes in Gothic dramas (Gothic mansion, a bad boy romance, secret room, distorted physicality) and then takes this constructed historical reality, to tell an absorbing story of the English Civil War, aristocratic masculinity and familial love that had me exclaiming aloud as I ate up chapters towards the end, which probably had my neighbours worried." The aftermath of war was not a pleasant sight to the beholder. The country was laid waste, for one thing, and that the fault of the enemy. The corn ruined, the orchards devastated, the houses smoking. And in return for this the Cornish people had taken toll upon the rebel prisoners. There were many of them still lying in the ditches, with the dust and flies upon them.'

Under our Royal Charter, the General Council no longer has a governance role but is an advisory body to The King’s Fund and meets once a year under the chairmanship of The King’s Fund President or an individual nominated by him. The idea for one of the themes in this story came from the discovery of a skeleton.....thought to be that of a cavalier.....whilst renovations were being carried out at her Cornish home, Menabilly. She takes full advantage of the historical ambiguity of the time: there is no obvious moral high ground for either of the combatants, they are equally dismissive of the welfare of the people. They want to win for their own reasons. And that provides ample opportunity for schemers, rogues and profiteers to spice up the story. Politics – increases sub-city construction and gold production speed, resource gathering speed, and troop death to wounded rate There are so many serious questions one encounters during the course of this novel. There are questions of love, what it should or can overlook in the beloved, what causes it to bloom and what keeps it alive, and if it is true, can it ever die? And what of bonds between fathers and sons? What does one owe the other? What is honor and can any act of contrition clear a dishonored man? What is strength? Physical prowess, mental sharpness, the willingness to die for something you believe in, the willingness to put everything you love at risk?The troops again search for Richard at Menabilly, and Honor and Matty are removed to the Rashleigh house at Fowey, where Jonathan Rashleigh is waiting for them. Jonathan tells her that her brother Robin is now at Plymouth and says that when peace restored once more, he would like to offer them a house which he owns in Tywardreath. He also tells her that he has received a message from the fisherman. His ship has sailed, but only Richard got on board at Pridmouth.