It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month we are each starting with either the book with which we finished last month’s chain or the last book we read. My January chain finished with The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier, so I’m going to use that as my starting point. The novel was published in 1931 and was du Maurier’s first. Here’s what I said in my review:
The Loving Spirit is a family saga spanning four generations of the Coombe family. It begins in 1830 with the story of Janet Coombe, a passionate young woman who is forced to abandon her dreams of going to sea when she marries and settles down to start a family with her husband, a boat builder. We then move forward through the decades, ending one hundred years later in the 1930s. Along the way we meet Janet’s son, Joseph, her grandson, Christopher, and finally her great-granddaughter, Jennifer. The book is divided into four parts, one devoted to each of the main characters, but I won’t go into any plot details here as each story has its own set of dramas and surprises which I’ll leave you to discover for yourself.
The Loving Spirit takes its title from an Emily Brontë poem, Self-Interrogation:
“Alas! The countless links are strong,
That bind us to our clay;
The loving spirit lingers long,
And would not pass away!”.
Another book with a title taken from a poem (in this case Rudyard Kipling’s A Smuggler’s Song) is Watch the Wall, My Darling by Jane Aiken Hodge (1), a Gothic suspense novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. I described it in my review as a tale of “smugglers, soldiers and spies, a crumbling abbey believed to be haunted, family secrets and an inheritance to be decided”.
The plot of Alex Preston’s Winchelsea (2) also features smuggling. Our heroine’s adoptive father is murdered by a gang of smugglers in the East Sussex town of Winchelsea and she and her brother set out to take revenge. The book is set in the 1740s and includes a subplot involving the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer (3) also takes place just after the Jacobite Rising of 1745. This was one of the first Heyer novels I read and although I’ve read better ones since, it still holds a special place in my heart. I loved the Georgian setting, the characters and the entertaining plot.
The idea of ‘masqueraders’ leads logically to The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas (4). This is the final volume in Dumas’ d’Artagnan series, which began with The Three Musketeers, and revolves around a plot involving a man imprisoned in the Bastille who bears a striking resemblance to the King of France. I always enjoy Dumas and this is one of the stronger novels in the series.
A book which shares a word in the title is The Iron King by Maurice Druon (5), the first book in Druon’s series Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings). The series tells the story of Philip IV of France and his descendants, a line of kings “cursed to the thirteenth generation” by the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, whom Philip sent to burn at the stake. I still have the last two books in the series to read – hopefully this year!
Another book which features a curse as part of the plot is Agatha Christie’s Endless Night (6). And the title of the book is also taken from a poem, bringing the chain full circle! The poem this time is William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence:
“Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are born to Sweet Delight.
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.”
~
And that’s my chain for this month! My links have included: titles taken from poems, smugglers, Jacobites, masked men, the word ‘iron’ and curses.
In March we’ll be starting with Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.
She Reads Novels 
I read so little historical fiction, but I do remember trying the Druon and not getting on with it! Love your links.
Thank you! I enjoyed the first few Druon books, but I know they’re not for everyone.
Nice you could bring it full circle!
It’s always nice when that happens! I don’t manage it very often.
I used to work at making a full circle, but now I just let the chips fall where they may! If it happens, that’s a plus!
Ingenious – and convincing! – links in your chain, Helen! I’m still rather drawn to Winchelsea following your review but I can’t say I’ve read any of these.
As you know I don’t really take part in #6degrees but occasionally amuse myself with a list if a prompt appeals. I began from my last read of 2023 – you can guess what theme links them! – all read last year. I also started and finished with the same author…
‘The Birthday of the World’ (U K Le Guin)
‘The World in Winter’ (John Christopher)
‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius’ (Jorge Luis Borges)
‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ (Jules Verne)
‘The Distance of the Moon’ (Italo Calvino)
‘Planet of Exile’ (U K Le Guin)
Thank you, Chris! That’s an interesting list, although I haven’t read any of those books. I did enjoy Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days so I’m sure I’ll be trying more of his books at some point.
‘From The Loving Spirit to Endless Night’ sounds like a novel title in its own right! Great chain
Yes, it does! I hadn’t thought of that.
Very neatly done! I rarely manage to bring my chain full circle.
I don’t often manage it either. It’s always nice when it happens!
This month has been ideal for you to showcase historical fiction. With your encouragement, I’ll read more this year, I hope.
I didn’t realise they were nearly all historical fiction until I finished the chain!
Excellent chain. Haven’t read any of these.
Thank you!
Awesome chain!
I have actually read nd loved your last 3 books.
BUT I hadn’t even heard this one by Du Maurier. I have read 3 by her, and so enjoy her style, so will be checking this one, thanks for featuring it
The Loving Spirit isn’t as good as du Maurier’s more famous books, but I still really enjoyed it.
Very good–especially the curse!
Glad you liked that one!
Very clever chain! Particularly liked the poetry inspired connections!
Thank you! I did think of making a whole chain of books with poetry titles, but it was harder than I thought.