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Daphne du Maurier (1907 - 89) was born in London, the daughter of the famous actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of George du Maurier, the author and artist. She began writing short stories and articles in 1928 and in 1931 her first novel, THE LOVING SPIRIT, was published. It was the novel REBECCA that launched her into the literary stratosphere and made her one of the most popular authors of all time.
When her mother dies, Mary Yellan makes the grim journey across bleak Cornish moorland to Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience and her husband, Joss Merlyn. On arriving at the gloomy, threatening inn, with the coachman's warning echoing in her mind, she finds her aunt a cowering shadow, and her uncle a hulking, vicious brute. Even more alarming, Jamaica Inn has no guests and is never open to the public. Mary finds herself powerless to help her aunt, and is drawn unwillingly into the misdeeds of Joss and his accomplices. Even more disturbing are her feelings for Jem, a man she dare not trust ..
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…” is probably one of the most famous first lines from a novel and captures the readers interest immediately. What is Manderley? Why is our narrator dreaming about it? The story is relayed to us by the second Mrs de Winter who is not even given a name throughout the novel, as if to emphasise how insignificant she is compared to her predecessor, Rebecca. This book is haunting, chilling and packed full of intrigue. Who was Rebecca, why did people love her so much, was she good or evil? The narrator is constantly searching for answers to questions that no-one seems to want to answer but the truth that has been hidden for years is about to be revealed. A true classic. This collector’s edition has been produced to celebrate the centenary of Daphne du Maurier's birth.
Many people don’t realise that Daphne du Maurier wrote non fiction and here with Golden Lads she has written a fascinating account of, brothers, Anthony and Francis Bacon’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth I, through their friendship with the Earl of Essex. Told with her magical storytelling style, a fascinating insight.
This is du Maurier’s tenth novel and only the second where she had a male narrator. Philip Ashley is young and inexperienced in the ways of the world and this is the perspective taken on the story as it unfolds. Due to his naivety, and jealousy, he possibly misjusdges Rachel but the great thing about this book is that questions are left open on the tragic events that take place. The reader must decide for themselves quite who to believe. Set in one of Daphne’s favourite places in Cornwall, Manabilly, her descriptions of landscape are enthralling as is her powerful story telling.
Daphne du Maurier herself describes this as the only “romantic” novel she wrote. It does have a lighter story line perhaps than some of her other work but it is still a terrific swashbuckling story and does cover important themes such as the freedom and independence men had while women were constrained by responsibilities and how society felt they should behave. Dona St Columb is a feisty heroine who grabs some excitement and independence while she can, knowing only too well that this can only be shortlived. September 2009 Guest Editor Emily Barr on Frenchman's Creek by DAPHNE DU MAURIER Women escaping from their day to day lives is a theme to which I find myself returning again and again. This novel is the ultimate such story, a wildly exciting and utterly engrossing adventure. Since I moved to Cornwall I have been reading Du Maurier again, and concluding that she is not sufficiently appreciated as a fabulous, literary, exciting writer.
After the death of her mother, Mary Yellan goes to live with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss Merlyn at Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor. The isolation and wildness of the moor are so intertwined with the plotlines of fear, murder, theft, wrecking and intrigue you can feel the wind whipping around you as you read. When published this novel sold more copies in the first three months than her first three novels altogether and it is easy to see why this is such an enduring book. Dark, mysterious and thoroughly absorbing. March 2010 Guest Editor Susan Fletcher on Jamaica Inn... For all its melodrama, cliches and romance, I will always have a secret love of this book. I was in my early teens when I found it, and felt utterly transported from my bedroom in the Midlands to the rainy wilderness of Bodmin Moor. No other book had done that before, and I was deeply impressed that words could provide such a complete and tangible other world. I devoured the romance. I wanted to be Mary Yellan, trapped in her room, with Jem the handsome horse thief breaking the glass to be with her... Too wonderful for words! For all its overblown language and predictability, I remain a fan - and I know that it spurred on my own writing. I owe it a lot, I think.
A 2012 World Book Night selection.“ Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…” is probably one of the most famous first lines from a novel and captures the readers interest immediately. What is Manderley? Why is our narrator dreaming about it? The story is relayed to us by the second Mrs de Winter who is not even given a name throughout the novel, as if to emphasise how insignificant she is compared to her predecessor, Rebecca. This book is haunting, chilling and packed full of intrigue. Who was Rebecca, why did people love her so much, was she good or evil? The narrator is constantly searching for answers to questions that no-one seems to want to answer but the truth that has been hidden for years is about to be revealed. A true classic. Visit our '50 Classics Everyone Should Read' collection to discover more classic titles.
Both a spellbinding love story and a superb evocation of Cornwall's mythic past, Castle Dor is a book with unique and fascinating origins. It began life as the unfinished last novel of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, the celebrated 'Q', and was passed by his daughter to Daphne du Maurier whose storytelling skills were perfectly suited to the task of completing the old master's tale. The result is this magical, compelling recreation of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, transplanted in time to the Cornwall of the last century. A chance encounter between the Breton onion-seller, Amyot Trestane, and the newly-wed Linnet Lewarne launches their tragic story, taking them in the fateful footsteps of the doomed lovers of Cornish legend . . .
Her mother's dying request obliges Mary Yellan to make a grim journey across bleak Cornish moorland to Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience and her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn. With the coachman's warning echoing in her mind and affected by the inn's brooding power, Mary is thwarted in her intention to help her aunt. She finds herself drawn unwillingly into the misdeeds of Joss and his accomplices, and even more disturbing are her feelings for a man she dare not trust . . . Jamaica Inn is a dark and gripping gothic tale that will remind readers of two other great classics, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
I threw the piece of paper on the fire. She saw it burn . . . 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 greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY * 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century' SARAH WATERS * 'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX MOVIE STARRING LILY JAMES, ARMIE HAMMER AND KRISTEN SCOTT THOMAS On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband's Cornish estate, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.
A COMING-OF-AGE TALE OF ADVENTURE AND LOVE, FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA 'The iron of the bridge felt hot under my hand. The sun had been upon it all day. Gripping hard with my hands I lifted myself on to the bar and gazed down steadily on the water passing under . . . I thought of places I would never see, and women I should never love' As far as Richard's father, a famous poet, is concerned, his son has no talent as a writer and will never amount to anything. In a moment of crisis, Richard decides to end his life, but is saved by Jake, a passing stranger. The two men, both at turning points in their lives, set out for adventure, jumping aboard a ship to Norway. Their travels take them through Europe and they form a passionate friendship. But in bohemian Paris Richard meets Hesta, a music student who inspires him to follow his artistic dreams. No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of real literature , something very few novelists ever do - Margaret Forster
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 ...
Dona, bezrassudnaya ledi Sent-Kolam, v poryve otvrashcheniya k svetskoj zhizni, kotoruyu ona vedet v Londone, otpravlyaetsya v Nehvron, uedinennoe pomest'e na poberezh'e Kornuolla, prinadlezhavshee ee muzhu. Tam ona obnaruzhivaet, chto ih dom stal tajnym ubezhishchem francuzskogo pirata, navodyashchego uzhas na vsyu okrugu. Odnako vstrecha s nim menyaet predstavleniya ledi Sent-Kolam o morskih razbojnikah. Vmesto krovozhadnogo golovoreza s komandoj otpetyh negodyaev pered nej okazyvaetsya ironichnyj, smelyj, obrazovannyj i ochen' obayatel'nyj chelovek - tot, kotorogo ona zhdala vsyu zhizn'... Romanticheskaya istoriya lyubvi soedinyaetsya s zahvatyvayushchim avantyurnym syuzhetom na fone tainstvennyh pejzazhej Kornuolla minuvshih vremen. Roman "e;Francuzov ruchej"e; vyshel v svet v 1941 godu i cherez tri goda byl ehkranizirovan. V glavnoj roli snyalas' Dzhoan Fontejn, znamenitaya ispolnitel'nica roli Rebekki, drugoj geroini Dafny Dyumor'e, v odnoimennom fil'me Al'freda Hichkoka.
"e;Dom na beregu"e; (1969) - odno iz poslednih proizvedenij anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e, imya kotoroj izvestno vo vsem mire. Dejstvie romana, kak i mnogih drugih proslavlennyh sochinenij Dyumor'e, vklyuchaya "e;Rebekku"e;, "e;"e;Traktir YAmajka"e;"e;, "e;Kuzinu Rejchel"e;, razvorachivaetsya na fone zavorazhivayushchih pejzazhej Kornuolla, gde proshla bol'shaya chast' zhizn' pisatel'nicy. V starinnyj dom na beregu zaliva priezzhaet Dik YAng, nadeyas' otdohnut' tam ot suety londonskoj zhizni. Dom Osobnyak prinadlezhit ego davnishnemu priyatelyu Magnusu Lejnu, professoru biofiziki. V obmen na gostepriimstvo Magnus prosit Dika ispytat' na sebe dejstvie sozdannogo im "e;ehliksira"e;, kotoryj, kak uveryaet professor, obladaet ves'ma neobychnym svojstvom soedinyat' proshloe i budushchee. Inoj mir, v kotoryj pogruzhaetsya Dik, okazyvaetsya namnogo real'nee toj zhizni, kotoruyu on vel do sih por...
"e;Rebekka"e;, "e;Moya kuzina Rejchel"e;, "e;Pticy"e;... Proizvedeniya anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) pol'zuyutsya uspekhom u chitatelej vo vsem mire. Neobychnye, a poroj i fantasticheskie syuzhety Dyumor'e vsegda otlichaet svoego roda "e;dostovernost' neveroyatnogo"e;. V romane "e;Prav', Britaniya!"e; (1972), kotoryj inogda nazyvayut "e;providcheskim"e;, syuzhet takzhe ves'ma neobychen. Dejstvie razvorachivaetsya v nebol'shom kornuoll'skom pomest'e i otneseno v nedalekoe budushchee, v te vremena, kogda Velikobritaniya, rassorivshis' s Evropoj, vstupaet v soyuz s SSHA. O neozhidannyh posledstviyah ehtoj druzhby Dafna Dyumor'e pishet so vsem bleskom svoego pisatel'skogo dara i siloj "e;goticheskogo voobrazheniya"e;.
* 'The greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY * 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century' SARAH WATERS * 'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX MOVIE STARRING LILY JAMES, ARMIE HAMMER AND KRISTEN SCOTT THOMAS WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SARAH PERRY Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . . Working as a lady's companion, the orphaned heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. Whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to his brooding estate, Manderley, on the Cornish Coast, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers . . . Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never been out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young woman consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.
Dispatch the maimed, the old, the weak, destroy the very world itself, for what is the point of life if the promise of fulfilment lies elsewhere? On the windswept coast of rural Suffolk, a deranged scientist attempts to extract the essence of life itself. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.
"e;Zamok Dor"e; (1961) - ehto kniga o lyubvi i smerti, volshebnaya skazka, v kotoroj nashla otrazhenie drevnyaya legenda o Tristane i Izol'de. V osnovu proizvedeniya legla nezakonchennaya povest' (napisannaya "e;gde-to do serediny"e;) sehra Artura Kviller-Kaucha, rukopis' kotoroj byla obnaruzhena ego docher'yu spustya gody posle smerti pisatelya i peredana Dafne Dyumor'e s pros'boj ee zavershit'. Dyumor'e vypolnila ehtu pros'bu stol' masterski, chto nevozmozhno dogadat'sya, s kakogo mesta ona nachala. Dejstvie v romane razvorachivaetsya v nachale 1840-h godov, no skvoz' sobytiya nastoyashchego prostupaet proshloe, i zagadochnaya sila napravlyaet geroev po tomu zhe tragicheskomu puti, kotorym proshla vlyublennaya para, chto zhila i umerla mnogo vekov nazad... "e;Proshchaj, molodost'"e; (1932) - odin iz pervyh romanov Dyumor'e. V ehtoj grustnoj istorii rasskazyvaetsya o rasstavanii s prekrasnymi mechtami i zabluzhdeniyami yunosti. CHitatel' shag za shagom, vsled za avtorom, sleduet po puti "e;vzrosleniya"e; geroya, kotoryj na zare svoej molodosti grezil o slave, o lyubvi, "e;o priklyucheniyah, o more, o zove chuzhih stran"e;...
"e;Duh lyubvi"e; (1931) - pervyj roman zamechatel'noj anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989). Ego syuzhet razvorachivaetsya na fone zahvatyvayushchih pejzazhej Kornuolla, stavshego dlya Dyumor'e vtoroj rodinoj, a takzhe mestom dejstviya i drugih ee znamenityh romanov: "e;Traktir "e;YAmajka"e;"e;, "e;Rebekka"e;, "e;Korolevskij general"e;, "e;Moya kuzina Rejchel"e;... "e;Duh lyub vi"e; - ehto semejnaya saga o chetyrekh pokoleniyah kornuollskoj sem'i Kum be, vladeyushchej korabel'noj verf'yu. Istoriya ehtoj sem'i, pol naya pechalej i radostej, vzaimnoj lyubvi i nenavisti, ohvatyvaet sto let, s tridcatyh godov XIX veka do tridcatyh godov XX veka. Vposledstvii Dyumor'e priznavalas', chto verit v duhovnuyu svyaz' pokolenij, i imenno ob ehtom ee pervyj roman - o strannoj svyazi, nepodvlastnoj vremeni i smerti, soedinyayushchej rodstvennye dushi, kotorye nesut bremya bespokojstva i stra daniya, tomleniya po krasote i svobode, no obretayut pokoj lish' drug v druge.
Imya anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) izvestno vo vsem mire, ee knigi stali klassikoj literatury HKH veka. Master intrigi i tonkij psiholog, Dyumor'e kak nikto drugoj umeet derzhat' chitatelya v napryazhenii do poslednej stranicy. Nedarom ee tvorchestvo privlekalo vnimanie mnogih izvestnyh kinorezhisserov, v tom chisle i Al'freda Hichkoka, snyavshego po ee proizvedeniyam znamenitye kinotrillery: "e;Rebekka"e;, "e;Pticy"e;, "e;Traktir YAmajka"e;... V romane "e;Polet Sokola"e; (1965) Dyumor'e obrashchaetsya k vechnoj teme bor'by dobra i zla v chelovecheskoj dushe, teme pamyati i samopoznaniya. Dejstvie proiskhodit v Italii. Odnazhdy v Rime Armino Fabbio, ehkskursovod iz turagentstva, vidit na cerkovnoj paperti pozhiluyu krest'yanku i neozhidanno ponimaet, chto kogda-to, v dalekom proshlom, on uzhe vstrechal ee. Na sleduyushchij den' stanovitsya izvestno, chto noch'yu zhenshchina byla zakolota nozhom. EHta istoriya yavilas' lish' pervym zvenom v celoj cepi tragicheskih sobytij i zastavila Armino, brosiv dela, otpravit'sya v Ruffano, gorod ego detstva ...
Angliya, Kornuoll, XVII vek. Onor Harris moloda, obayatel'na i pomolvlena s vozlyublennym ? bogatym i znatnym Richardom Grenvilom. No iskalechennaya v rezul'tate neschastnogo sluchaya na ohote, Onor razryvaet pomolvku i reshaet nikogda bol'she ne videt'sya s goryacho lyubimym zhenihom? Kazalos' by ? vot i razvyazka, no dlya Dafny Dyumor'e ? priznannogo mastera tonkogo psihologicheskogo portreta i virtuoza intrigi tragicheskoe stechenie obstoyatel'stv, v odnochas'e razrushivshee plany geroini na bezoblachnoe schast'e ? lish' povod dlya dal'nejshih udivitel'nyh i zahvatyvayushchih sobytij. Sud'ba Anglii, ohvachennoj plamenem grazhdanskoj vojny, okazyvaetsya v rukah reshitel'nyh, besstrashnyh i tverdyh voinov ? takih, kak korolevskij general Richard Grenvil, kotoromu spustya gody suzhdena sud'bonosnaya vstrecha s byvshej nevestoj.
Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in making Philip his heir, knowing he will treasure his beautiful Cornish estate. But Philip's world is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and then dies suddenly in suspicious circumstances. Before long, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - arrives in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, mysterious woman. But could she have caused Ambrose's death?
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