Daphne du Maurier
Description
Daphne du Maurier was born on 13 May 1907 in London, England, United Kingdom, the second of three daughters of Muriel Beaumont, an actress and maternal niece of William Comyns Beaumont, and Sir Gerald du Maurier, the prominent actor-manager, son of the author and Punch cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the novel Trilby. She was also the cousin of the Llewelyn Davies boys, who served as J.M. Barrie's inspiration for the characters in the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. As a young child, she met many of the brightest stars of the theatre, thanks to the celebrity of her father. These connections helped her in establishing her literary career, and she published some of her early stories in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931, and she continued writing successfull gothic novels in addition to biographies and other non-fiction books. Alfred Hitchcock was a fan of her novels and short stories, and adapted some of these to films: Jamaica Inn (1939), Rebecca (1940), and The Birds (1963). Other of her works adapted were Frenchman's Creek (1942), Hungry Hill (1943), My Cousin Rachel (1951), and "Don't Look Now" (1973). She was named a Dame of the British Empire. In 1932, she married Frederick "Boy" Browning, with whom she had three children, Tessa, Flavia and Christian. Her husband died in 1965, and she passed away on 19 April 1989 in Fowey, Cornwall. After her death, it was revealed that she was bisexual.
Books
Rebecca
With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
Enchanted Cornwall
This is Daphne du Maurier's personal memoir, the story of how enchanted Cornwall formed her as a writer -- how the spirit of Cornwall awakened in her a response so imaginative that it transformed ordinary perception into the inspired perception of a master story-teller. Enchanted, mysterious, unexplored, this is Cornwall as seen through the eyes of the best-selling author of Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn -- tales which have passed into Cornish folk-lore. In Frenchman's Creek, it is the Helford river and the primaeval enchantment of the creek itself which inspires her; in Jamaica Inn, the hard, diabolic "beauty" of Bodmin Moor. In Castle Dor, landscape speaks to her of ancient Cornish myths and legends -- an extraordinary perception, source of that sinister otherworldliness that held spellbound millions who read The Birds and Don't Look Now. Completed shortly before Dame du Maurier's death in 1989, Enchanted Cornwall is the story of a magical relationship between a person and the spirit of a place. It will have special significance for millions who have enjoyed her books and want to know more about this very private writer. But it is a book for everyone to enjoy: her readers, those who have enjoyed her films, and travellers to Cornwall -- whether making their journey in person or just in mind. - Jacket flap.
The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories
A complete insight into one of Britain's most celebrated novelists of our time. Rebecca was one of the great bestsellers. It has been read all around the world, and in many languages. It has been highly successful as a play, a film, a television serial. Now Daphne Du Maurier reveals, very fascinatingly, how it came to be written: its origins, its development, the directions it might have taken, The original outline of the novel is here, and so is the original Epilogue. Daphne Du Maurier also reveals how she first came upon the secret house hidden away in Cornish woodland, that was to become the romantic setting of Rebecca: a house which stood derelict, and which she lovingly restored to make it her own home.
Don't look now
Echoes from the macabre
Echoes From The Macabre is a collection of short stories written by Daphne Du Maurier. The nine fantastical tales concerning the supernatural and mythical include Don't Look Now, The Apple Tree, The Pool, The Blue Lenses, Kiss Me Again, Stranger, The Chamois, Not After Midnight, The Old Man and The Birds.
My Cousin Rachel
Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet ...might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?
The King's General
As civil war rages across England, the weak prove their courage and the privileged become traitors In this sweeping, bittersweet saga, spellbinding author Daphne du Maurier recreates a most memorable and true love story. Honor Harris was glorious and vivacious. Sir Richard Grenville was a dashing colonel and a knight. They meet on the evening of her eighteenth birthday at the Duke of Buckingham's great ball and fall deeply in love. Soon afterward tragedy strikes and they are separated by betrayal and war. Decades later, an undaunted Sir Richard, now a general serving King Charles I, finds her. Finally they can share their passion in the ruins of a great estate on the storm-tossed Cornish coast one last time before being torn apart, never to embrace again.
The Winding Stair
One of 150 copies, bound in dark green cloth over boards, gilt title on spine, decorated gilt title on front board; no dust jacket.
Vanishing Cornwall
Daphne du Maurier was accompanied in her search by her son, Christian, who has taken the photographs. He was brought up in Cornwall and shares his mother’s intuitive sense of the dramatic. Together they visited all the scenes described in the book, and page by page the superb photographs follow and illuminate the text. Drawn on by Daphne du Maurier's vivid, highly individual prose, by the magic which lights up all her books, and by the lovely illustrations, the traveller to Cornwall, and the reader who does not stir from his chair, may wander in truth or fancy from the Tamar to Land's End - along the coasts, across the moors, avoiding the tourist centers in the tourist season (for then disillusion breaks in, the atmosphere is lost, the vision shatters). before the hot dog stand and the cheap motel destroy the romantic heritage of Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier would leave us this exquisite portrait of a wild and beautiful land.
The infernal world of Branwell Brontë
Pursued by the twin demons of drink and madness, Branwell Bronte created a private world that was indeed infernal. This is the biography of the shadowy figure of the "unknown" Bronte.
The breaking point
The scapegoat
A comedy on a public relations man in a department store in Paris whose job is to mollify angry customers. Benjamin Malaussene is doing splendid work until the store is bombed and people die, whereupon he becomes a suspect.
The parasites
When people play the game: Name three or four persons whom you would choose to have with you on a desert island -- they never choose the Delaneys. They don't even choose us one by one as individuals. We have earned, not always fairly we consider, the reputation of being difficult guests ...' Maria, Niall and Celia have grown up in the shadow of their famous parents - their father, a flamboyant singer and their mother, a talented dancer. Now pursuing their own creative dreams, all three siblings feel an undeniable bond, but it is Maria and Niall who share the secret of their parents' pasts. Alternately comic and poignant, The Parasites is based on the artistic milieu its author knew best, and draws the reader effortlessly into that magical world.
Hungry Hill
The story of a deadly curse that afflicted an Irish family for a hundred years. "I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten... but this hill will be standing still to confound you." So curses Morty Donovan when Copper John Brodrick builds his mine at Hungry Hill. The Brodricks of Clonmere gain great wealth by harnessing the power of Hungry Hill and extracting the treasure it holds. The Donovans, the original owners of Clonmere Castle, resent the Brodricks' success, and consider the great house and its surrounding land theirs by rights. For generations the feud between the families has simmered, always threatening to break into violence....
Come wind, come weather
Short book with true stories of England during the early days of World War II.
Baker's Dozen
Twelve short crime novels: Leslie Charteris - The Lawless Lady Mignon Eberhart - Introducing Susan Dare Cornell Woolrich - Nightmare John D. MacDonald - Death's Eye View Hugh Pentecost - The Murder Machine Erle Stanley Gardner - Death Rides a Boxcar Ross Macdonald - The Bearded Lady Fredric Brown - Murder Set to Music Rex Stout - The Zero Clue Ed McBain - Storm Daphne du Maurier - Don't Look Now Bill Pronzini - Booktaker