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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.
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;.
'His first instinct was to stretch out his hands to the sky. The white clouds seemed so near to him, surely they were easy to hold and to caress, strange-moving things belonging to the wide blue space of heaven . . . ' Julius Levy grows up in a peasant family in a village on the banks of the Seine. A quick-witted urchin caught up in the Franco-Prussian War, he is soon forced by tragedy to escape to Algeria. Once there, he learns the ease of swindling, the rewards of love affairs and the value of secrecy. Before he's twenty, he is in London, where his empire-building begins in earnest, and he becomes a rich and very ruthless man. Throughout his life, Julius is driven by a hunger for power, his one weakness his daughter, Gabriel . . . A chilling story of ambition, Daphne du Maurier's third novel has lost none of its ability to unsettle and disturb.
As a young guide for Sunshine Tours, Armino Fabbio leads a pleasant, if humdrum life - until he becomes circumstantially involved in the death of an old peasant woman in Rome. The woman, he gradually comes to realise, was his family's beloved servant many years ago, in his native town of Ruffano. He returns to his birthplace, and once there, finds it is haunted by the phantom of his brother, Aldo, shot down in flames during the war. Over five hundred years before, the sinister Duke Claudio, known as The Falcon, lived his twisted, brutal life, preying on the people of Ruffano. But now it is the twentieth century, and the town seems to have forgotten its violent history. But have things really changed? The parallels between the past and present become ever more evident.
A beautiful hardback edition to mark the 80th anniversary of one of the best-loved novels ever written. A gothic tale of love, secrets and jealousy. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SARAH PERRY 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century, Rebecca has woven its way into the fabric of our culture with all the troubling power of myth or dream. A stunning book' SARAH WATERS 'Her masterpiece . . . Seldom has a dead woman exercised such power beyond the grave. Rebecca will live for ever because du Maurier touches a fearful nerve, buried deep in the unconscious' Kate Saunders, The Times 'A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each reading' Helen Dunmore 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?
Knigi anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) stali klassikoj literatury XX veka. Master tonkogo psihologicheskogo portreta i virtuoz intrigi, Dyumor'e kak nikto drugoj umeet derzhat' chitatelya v napryazhenii. Nedarom odnim iz pochitatelej ee talanta byl kinorezhisser Al'fred Hichkok, snyavshij po ee proizvedeniyam znamenitye kinotrillery, sredi kotoryh "e;Rebekka "e;Pticy "e;Traktir YAmajka V romane "e;Bogema (1949; ranee na russkom yazyke roman vyhodil pod nazvaniem "e;Parazity) ona rasskazyvaet o zhizni artisticheskoj bogemy Anglii mezhdu dvumya mirovymi vojnami. Geroi Dafny Dyumor'e - dve svodnye sestry i brat. Oni vyrosli v sem'e znamenityh artistov - opernogo pevca i tancovshchicy. Ot svoih roditelej molodye Delejni unasleduyut iskru talanta i posvyatyat sebya iskusstvu, no dlya kazhdogo iz nih tvorchestvo stanet sposobom ukryt'sya ot problem i strastej nastoyashchej zhizni.
Zahvatyvayushchaya semejnaya saga anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989), knigi kotoroj stali klassikoj goticheskoj tradicii v literature XX veka. Master tonkogo psihologicheskogo portreta i virtuoz intrigi, Dyumor'e, kak nikto drugoj, umeet derzhat' chitatelya v napryazhenii. Nedarom odnim iz pochitatelej ee talanta byl kinorezhisser Al'fred Hichkok, snyavshij po ee proizvedeniyam znamenitye kinotrillery, sredi kotoryh "e;Rebekka "e;Pticy "e;Traktir "e;YAmajka"e; Roman "e;Golodnaya gora napisan v 1943 godu; kniga imela uspekh u chitatelej i, kak mnogie proizvedeniya Dyumor'e, vskore byla ehkranizirovana. V osnovu "e;Golodnoj gory legla podlinnaya istoriya irlandskih predkov odnogo iz druzej Dafny Dyumor'e, Kristofera Paksli. EHto letopis' zhizni pyati pokolenij sem'i Brodrik, hozyaev zamka Klonmir, vladevshih mednymi shahtami Golodnoj gory. Istoriya ih vzletov i padeniya. Istoriya bezrazdel'noj vlasti, bogatstva i odinochestva, sily i bessiliya; istoriya nenavisti i lyubvi dlinoyu v sto let.
"e;Rebekka "e;Francuzova buhta "e;Korolevskij general "e;Moya kuzina Rejchel "e;Kozel otpushcheniya Knigi anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e pol'zuyutsya ogromnym uspekhom vo vsem mire. Dyumor'e ne tol'ko master psihologicheskogo portreta, no i virtuoz intrigi. Ej kak nikomu udaetsya sozdat' "e;atmosferu i derzhat' chitatelya v postoyannom napryazhenii. Nedarom odnim iz pochitatelej ee talanta byl Al'fred Hichkok, snyavshij po proizvedeniyam Dyumor'e fil'my "e;Pticy i "e;Rebekka. V romane "e;Kozel otpushcheniya povestvuetsya o sobytiyah, perevernuvshih zhizn' obitatelej starinnogo francuzskogo zamka. A nachalos' vse s togo, chto geroj romana reshil sbezhat' ot obydennosti i problem sobstvennoj zhizni. No na puti k svobode on vstrechaet... sebya, vernee, svoego dvojnika. CHem obernetsya ehta vstrecha i kto stanet "e;kozlom otpushcheniya predostavlyaem chitatelyam uznat' samim.
V sbornik "e;Ne pozzhe polunochi anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e, vpervye opublikovannyj v 1971 godu, voshli pyat' novell, pyat' udivitel'nyh, sovershenno nepohozhih odna na druguyu istorij. Samaya znamenitaya iz nih, "e;Ne oglyadyvajsya, legla v osnovu misticheskogo trillera anglijskogo rezhissera Nikolasa Rouga ("e;A teper' ne smotri, 1973). Drugaya, napolovinu nauchno-fantasticheskij rasskaz, napolovinu filosofskaya pritcha "e;Proryv, vpervye izdaetsya po-russki. Vse oni napisany uverennoj rukoj mastera, original'no i uvlekatel'no. Veroyatno, tochnee vsego harakter sbornika opredelyaet nazvanie rasskaza "e;Na grani: v kazhdoj istorii avtor podvodit geroev k intuitivnomu ili osoznannomu vyboru, neredko opasnomu.
"e;Traktir "e;YAmajka"e; - odin iz samyh izvestnyh romanov anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989), ee pervyj bestseller i pervaya iz ee ehkranizirovannyh knig. Segodnya roman schitayut klassikoj goticheskoj tradicii v literature XX veka, a geroinyu Mehri Jellan sravnivayut s Dzhejn EHjr. Opisannye v romane sobytiya proiskhodyat v nachale XIX stoletiya, kogda u parusnogo korablya, zastignutogo shtormom vblizi opasnyh rifov, byla odna nadezhda na spasenie - slabyj svet mayaka v tumane... V polnom sootvetstvii s zakonami zhanra osirotevshaya Mehri pokidaet rodnye kraya i edet k rodne - bezdetnoj tetushke i ee muzhu, Dzhossu Merlinu, grubomu i nelyudimomu hozyainu pridorozhnogo traktira "e;YAmajka"e;. Zavedenie pol'zuetsya durnoj slavoj, dobroporyadochnye lyudi obhodyat ego storonoj, a mezhdu tem ono zhivet kakoj-to svoej, strannoj i strashnoj zhizn'yu. Postepenno Mehri nachinaet o chem-to dogadyvat'sya, v golove royatsya uzhasnye podozreniya, no komu o nih rasskazat', komu doverit'sya? Oshibka mozhet stoit' ej zhizni.
Romanizirovannuyu istoriyu svoej sem'i Dafna Dyumor'e opublikovala v 1937 godu, v vozraste tridcati let. Do togo ona uspela napisat' biografiyu otca, anglijskogo aktera i antreprenera Dzheral'da Dyumor'e, i chetyre romana. Pisatel'nica stoyala na poroge slavy: uzhe vyshel roman "e;Traktir "e;YAmajka"e; a vsego cherez god budet izdana "e;Rebekka ee glavnyj mirovoj bestseller. Pogruzhayas' v atmosferu Evropy devyatnadcatogo stoletiya, pisatel'nica vossozdaet zhizn' svoih anglo-francuzskih predkov - ot praprababki, lyubovnicy gercoga Jorkskogo, do deda, znamenitogo romanista i hudozhnika Dzhordzha Dyumor'e. "e;V istorii polno burnyh sobytij i groznyh udarov sud'by - tut propavshij muzh, tam skandal i sudebnoe razbiratel'stvo, - no vse oni podany v forme romanticheskoj komedii i neveroyatno zanimatel'ny kak skazano v predislovii k anglijskomu izdaniyu. Dafna Dyumor'e vsegda s azartom issledovala haraktery i sud'by lyudej, tainstvennye niti, kotorymi nastoyashchee svyazano s proshlym, neizmenno obnaruzhivaya "e;prizraki povsyudu - ne blednye fantomy, gremyashchie cepyami cherez vechnost' skripyashchie polovicami v pustyh domah, a veselye teni bylogo
'Now, ill-lit, almost in darkness, the windows of the houses shuttered, the water dank, the scene appeared altogether different, neglected, poor, and the long narrow boots moored to the slippery steps of cellar entrances looked like coffins.' A slow-burning masterpiece of horror recounting a grieving couple's fateful visit to Venice, Don't Look Now is accompanied here by further short tales of desire and dread. Ten new titles in the colourful, small-format, portable new Pocket Penguins series
V sbornik "e;Randevu anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) voshli rasskazy, napisannye v konce 1920-h - nachale 1930-h godov i v desyatiletie mezhdu 1937 i 1947 godom. Kak i vsya novellistika Dyumor'e, ehti chetyrnadcat' istorij porazhayut raznoobraziem syuzhetov i zhanrov. Vyderzhannyj v goticheskoj tradicii "e;EHskort sosedstvuet s teatral'nymi, v duhe CHekhova, "e;Primoj i "e;Prirozhdennym artistom; psihologicheskij ehtyud "e;Za zakrytoj dver'yu - s pouchitel'nym anekdotom "e;Oploshnost'; svoeobrazno obygryvayushchie formu skazki ili pritchi "e;Presvyataya Deva, "e;Adieu Sagesse i "e;Skazka - s ostrosatiricheskimi "e;Lyubovnik, "e;Randevu, "e;Angely i arhangely. Est' zdes' i harakternye dlya Dyumor'e po-hichkokovski napryazhennye istorii: "e;Panika i "e;Dolya sekundy. Iz vsekh perechislennyh tol'ko dva poslednih rasskaza ran'she uzhe izdavalis' po-russki, ostal'nye publikuyutsya vpervye.
Roman Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) "e;Moya kuzina Rejchel po mneniyu mnogih kritikov, ne ustupaet proslavlennoj "e;Rebekke a v chem-to i prevoskhodit ee. EHto prekrasnyj obrazec razvitiya tradicii "e;goticheskogo i "e;sensacionnogo romana, osnovopolozhnikom kotorogo schitaetsya Uilki Kollinz: detektivnaya intriga sochetaetsya s neobychnoj lyubovnoj dramoj, razvorachivayushchayasya na fone liricheskih pejzazhej Kornuolla i zhivopisnyh kartin Italii v sorokovye gody XIX veka. S kazhdym povorotom syuzheta chitatel' vse bol'she teryaetsya v dogadkah, kto pered nim - zhertva nespravedlivyh podozrenij ili raschetlivaya intriganka i ubijca; no k kakoj by versii on ni sklonyalsya, final ego oshelomit. Izdannyj v 1951 godu roman mgnovenno stal bestsellerom i vsego cherez god na ehkrany vyshel odnoimennyj fil'm s Oliviej de Hehvilend i molodym Richardom Bartonom; v 1983 godu po romanu byl snyat televizionnyj serial.
Imya anglijskoj pisatel'nicy Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) mir uznal v 1938 godu, posle vyhoda v svet romana "e;Rebekka i hotya s tekh por smenilos' ne odno pokolenie chitatelej, ee slava ne merknet. V sbornik rasskazov "e;Sinie linzy opublikovannyj v 1959 godu, voshli vosem' neobychnyh istorij. V nih avtor issleduet tonkuyu gran', razdelyayushchuyu mir real'nyj i mir voobrazhaemyj, normu i anomaliyu, igru fantazii i prestuplenie. Gde pravda, gde lozh', komu mozhno verit'? Kto sumeet uderzhat'sya u poslednej cherty? Kto perestupit ee i sdelaet shag, za kotorym posleduet sryv, krah, katastrofa, tragediya?.. Tri rasskaza sbornika - "e;Prud "e;EHrcgercoginya "e;Trofej - vpervye izdayutsya na russkom yazyke.
Imya Dafny Dyumor'e (1907-1989) mir uznal v 1938 godu, posle vyhoda v svet romana "e;Rebekka sed'moj po schetu knigi molodoj anglijskoj pisatel'nicy. Vsego zhe za dolguyu tvorcheskuyu zhizn' ona vypustila poltora desyatka romanov, neskol'ko sbornikov rasskazov (novell, povestej - v raznoe vremya Dyumor'e po-raznomu imenovala proizvedeniya svoej maloj prozy), a takzhe tri p'esy, biografii i knigu o Kornuolle. Sbornik rasskazov Dafny Dyumor'e, v 1977 godu ozaglavlennyj po znamenitoj novelle "e;Pticy vpervye byl opublikovan v 1952 godu pod nazvaniem "e;YAblonya a v 1953-m - "e;Poceluj menya eshche raz, neznakomec Pomimo shesti rasskazov, sostavlyayushchih avtorskij sbornik, v izdanie na russkom yazyke vklyuchen nikogda prezhde ne perevodivshijsya rasskaz "e;Schastlivogo Rozhdestva (1940).
Using the cover artwork of our much-loved Virago Modern Classics hardback range, these elegant notebooks celebrate three of our most popular titles: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. They are a must-have for all Virago fans, and are surely the most stylish way of collecting notes on your favourite books. Or maybe it will inspire you to write a novel of your own . . . Each notebook features a ribbon bookmark, high-quality paper and matching endpapers. Rebecca and Excellent Women feature artwork by award-winning textile designer Neisha Crosland: www.neishacrosland.com Valley of the Dolls features artwork by textile designer and founder of Biba, Barbara Hulanicki: www.barbarahulanickidesign.com
Using the cover artwork of our much-loved Virago Modern Classics hardback range, these elegant porcelain mugs celebrate three of our most popular titles: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. They are a must-have for all Virago fans, and are surely the most stylish way to enjoy your morning coffee! Each mug is presented in a beautiful gift-box with corresponding artwork. The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe. Rebecca and Excellent Women feature artwork by award-winning textile designer Neisha Crosland: www.neishacrosland.com Valley of the Dolls features artwork by textile designer and founder of Biba, Barbara Hulanicki: www.barbarahulanickidesign.com
'How long he fought with them in the darkness he could not tell, but at last the beating of the wings about him lessened and then withdrew . . . ' A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of 'Monte Verita' promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd . . .
John and Laura have come to Venice to try and escape the pain of their young daughter's death. But when they encounter two old women who claim to have second sight, they find that instead of laying their ghosts to rest they become caught up in a train of increasingly strange and violent events. The four other haunting, evocative stories in this volume also explore deep fears and longings, secrets and desires: a lonely teacher who investigates a mysterious American couple, a young woman confronting her father's past, a party of pilgrims who meet disaster in Jerusalem and a scientist who harnesses the power of the mind to chilling effect.
In the bitter November wind, Mary Yellan crosses Bodmin Moor to Jamaica Inn. Her mother's dying wish was that she take refuge there, with her Aunt Patience. But when Mary arrives, the warning of the coachman echoes in her mind: Jamaica Inn has a desolate power, and behind it's crumbling walls Patience is a changed woman, cowering before her brooding, violent husband. When Mary discovers the inn's dark secrets, the truth is more terrifying than anything she could possibly imagine, and she is forced to collude in her uncle's murderous schemes. Against her will, she finds herself powerfully attracted to her uncle's brother, a man she dares not trust.
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 home, 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.
The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe for any folly, any outrage that will alter the tedium of her days. But there is another, secret Dona who longs for freedom, honest love - and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger. To escape the shallowness of court life, Dona retreats to Navron, her husband's remote Cornish estate. There, she seeks peace in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. But she finds instead a daring pirate, hunted by all Cornwall, a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamble his life for a moment's joy. Together, they embark upon a quest rife with danger and glory, one which bestows upon Dona the ultimate choice: sacrifice her lover to certain death or risk her own life to save him.
A true classic of suspense in a beautiful new package for a whole new generation of readers.
Du Maurier is of course world famous for many of her novels. These two stories are perhaps even better known as films (The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock and Don't Look Now by Nic Roeg), but here we bring you the full terrifying texts, superbly read by Peter Capaldi, who brings the true dimension of these works to the imagination.
Includes Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier's best-known and bestselling novel, is the classic tale of a young woman who marries handsome widower Maxim de Winter and moves to his great house at Manderley in Cornwall, only to find that all is not as it first seems . . . In My Cousin Rachel, Philip Ashley, an orphan raised by his benevolent cousin Ambrose, is drawn into the orbit of Ambrose's beautiful, mysterious new wife Rachel.
Includes Jamaica Inn, The Flight of the Falcon, The King's General, The Glass Blowers, Mary Anne, and The Breaking Point & Other Stories.Jamaica Inn weaves a tale of mystery at the eponymous inn on Cornwall's bleak moorlands. The Flight of the Falcon is set in the Italian town of Ruffano: in the 20th century the town has nearly forgotten its violent history, but is it still stained by its dark past? Set in the 17th century at Menabilly in Cornwall, The King's General is the story of a country and a family riven by war. The French Revolution is the backdrop to The Glass Blowers, a tale of family tragedy. Mary Anne is a vivid portrait of one woman's ambition as she rises from ordinary beginnings to become an influential royal mistress to the Duke of York.
Includes The House on the Strand, Julius, The Loving Spirit and The Doll: Short Stories.Written in the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft, The House on the Strand is a gripping, time-travelling horror tale. The eponymous hero of Julius is a quick-witted urchin caught up in the Franco-Prussian war, who is soon on his way to seek a fortune in London. The Loving Spirit, Daphne du Maurier's first published novel, is the history of the lives, loves and hardships of a Cornish family at the turn of the twentieth century. This omnibus also includes The Doll, a collection of some of du Maurier's most thrilling short stories.
Includes the novels Frenchman's Creek and Hungry Hill, and the story collection The Birds & Other Stories.Frenchman's Creek tells the story of Lady Dona St Columb's escape from the Restoration Court in search of love and adventure at Navron in Cornwall. Hungry Hill is a powerful tale of the feud between two great families, the Donovans and the Brodricks. Daphne du Maurier's short story 'The Birds' was the basis for the classic Hitchcock film.
The Restoration Court knows Lady Dona St Columb to be ripe for any folly, any outrage that will relieve the tedium of her days. But there is another, secret Dona who longs for a life of honest love - and sweetness, even if it is spiced with danger. Dona flees London for remote Navron, looking for peace of mind in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds there the passion her spirit craves - in the love of a daring pirate hunted across Cornwall, a Frenchman who, like Dona, would gamble his life for a moment's joy.
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.
'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .' Working as a lady's companion, our heroine's outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the south of France, she meets a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is for ever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper Mrs Danvers . . . An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young woman consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.
'There was a smell in the air of tar and rope and rusted chain, a smell of tidal water. Down harbour, around the point, was the open sea. Here was the freedom I desired, long sought-for, not yet known. Freedom to write, to walk, to wander, freedom to climb hills, to pull a boat, to be alone . . . I for this, and this for me.' Daphne du Maurier lived in Cornwall for most of her life. Its rugged coastline, wild terrain and tumultuous weather inspired her imagination, and many of her works are set there, including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek. In Vanishing Cornwall she celebrates the land she loved, exploring its legends, its history and its people, eloquently making a powerful plea for Cornwall's preservation.
The lost stories of Daphne du Maurier, collected in one volume for the first time.Before she wrote Rebecca, the novel that would cement her reputation as a twentieth-century literary giant, a young Daphne du Maurier penned short fiction in which she explored the images, themes, and concerns that informed her later work. Originally published in periodicals during the early 1930s, many of these stories never found their way into print again . . . until now.Tales of human frailty and obsession, and of romance gone tragically awry, the thirteen stories in The Doll showcase an exciting budding talent before she went on to write one of the most beloved novels of all time. In these pages, a waterlogged notebook washes ashore revealing a dark story of jealousy and obsession, a vicar coaches a young couple divided by class issues, and an older man falls perilously in love with a much younger womanwith each tale demonstrating du Mauriers extraordinary storytelling gifts and her deep understanding of human nature.
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?
Classic / British English After the death of his beautiful wife Rebecca, Maxim de Winter goes to Monte Carlo to forget the past. There he meets and marries a quiet young woman and takes her back to Manderley, his family home in Cornwall. But will the memory of Rebecca destroy the new marriage? This Pack contains a Book and MP3
'I want to know if men realise when they are insane. Sometimes I think that my brain cannot hold together, it is filled with too much horror - too much despair . . . I cannot sleep, I cannot close my eyes without seeing his damned face. If only it had been a dream.' In 'The Doll', a waterlogged notebook is washed ashore. Its pages tell a dark story of obsession and jealousy. But the fate of its narrator is a mystery. Most of the stories in this haunting collection were written early in Daphne du Maurier's career - when she was still in her early twenties - yet they display her mastery of atmosphere, tension and intrigue and reveal a cynicism far beyond her years.
The apathy of Sunday lay upon the streets. Houses were closed, withdrawn. They don't know, he thought, those people inside, how one gesture of mine, now, at this minute, might alter their world. A knock on the door, and someone answers - a woman yawning, an old man in carpet slippers, a child sent by its parents in irritation; and according to what I will, what I decide, their whole future will be decided . . . Sudden murder. Theft. Fire. It was as simple as that.' In this collection of suspenseful tales in which fantasies, murderous dreams and half-forgotten worlds are exposed, Daphne du Maurier explores the boundaries of reality and imagination. Her characters are caught at those moments when the delicate link between reason and emotion has been stretched to the breaking point. Often chilling, sometimes poignant, these stories display the full range of Daphne du Maurier's considerable talent.
Classic / British English When her mother dies, Mary Yellan goes to live with her aunt and uncle at Jamaica Inn. Strange things happen there at night, and Mary slowly discovers that she and her aunt are in terrible danger. Can she save herself and her aunt before it is too late?
Classic / British English After the death of his beautiful wife Rebecca, Maxim de Winter goes to Monte Carlo to forget the past. There he meets and marries a quiet young woman and takes her back to Manderley, his family home in Cornwall. But will the memory of Rebecca destroy the new marriage?
Following the death of their young daughter, John and Laura visit Venice to try and escape their grief. But when the couple meet two aged sisters, one of them claims to have psychic visions of the dead girl. Tension mounts as John and Laura are led through a maze of canals and alleyways towards a dark and terrifying climax. Lucy Bailey, director of Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare's Globe , and award-winning playwright Nell Leyshon join forces again following the acclaimed Comfort me with Apples to bring a new adaptation of this cult supernatural thriller to the stage. A Sheffield Theatres production, Don't Look Now opens at the Lyric Hammersmith in March 2007.
This companion to the work of one of Britain's best-loved novelists celebrates the centenary of her 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.
Containing her best-loved work, including REBECCA, JAMAICA INN and FRENCHMAN'S CREEK, this is the definitive audio collection of Daphne du Maurier's novels. The wondeful evocations of the Westcountry landscape and the tense intrigue of the plots are as vivid now as they ever were. Read by John Nettles, Samantha Bond and Emilia Fox.
Collecting five stories of suspense, mystery and slow, creeping horror, Daphne Du Maurier's Don't Look Now and Other Stories includes an introduction by Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black, in Penguin Modern Classics. John and Laura have come to Venice to try and escape the pain of their young daughter's death. But when they encounter two old women who claim to have second sight, they find that instead of laying their ghosts to rest they become caught up in a train of increasingly strange and violent events. Adapted into a terrifying film starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, 'Don't Look Now' is The four other haunting, evocative stories in this volume also explore deep fears and longings, secrets and desires: 'Not After Midnight', in which a lonely teacher investigates a mysterious American couple; 'A Border Line Case', in which a young woman confronts her father's past and his associations with the IRA; 'The Way of the Cross', in which a party of pilgrims to Jerusalem encounter strange phenomena in the Garden of Gethsemane; and 'The Breakthrough', in which a scientist claims to be able to trap the soul at the point of death ... Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) - English novelist, biographer, and playwright, who published romantic suspense novels, mostly set on the coast of Cornwall. Du Maurier is best known for and Jamaica Inn (1936), filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939, Rebecca (1938), filmed by Hitchcock in 1940, and The Birds (1952), filmed by Hitchcock in 1963. If you enjoyed Don't Look Now and Other Stories, you might like Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' Sunday Telegraph 'Du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings' Stephen King
Exciting and tender, with magical descriptions of the Cornish coast and marvellously drawn portraits of Dora, her Frenchman and the Cornish gentry, FRENCHMAN'S CREEK is one of Daphne du Maurier's most popular novels.
Many accounts of the life of Francis Bacon have been written for scholars. But du Maurier's aim in this biography was to illuminate the many facets of Bacon's remarkable personality for the common reader. To her book she brought the same gifts of imagination and perception that made her earlier biography, Golden Lads, so immensely readable, siklfully threading into her narrative extracts from contemporary documents and from Bacon's own writings, and setting her account of his life within a vivid contemporary framework. This is truly history made alive.
As a bold and gifted child, Branwell Bronte's promise seemed boundless to the three adoring sisters over whom his rule was complete. But as an adult, the precocious flame of genius distorted and burned low. With neither the strength nor the resources to counter rejection, unable to sell his paintings or publish his books, Branwell became a spectre in the Bronte story, in pathetic contrast with the astonishing achievements of his sisters. Daphne du Maurier concentrates all her biographer's skill on the shadowy figure of Branwell Bronte, and no reader could fail to be intensely moved by Branwell's final retreat into laudanum, alcohol - and death
Mary Yellan, recently orphaned, goes to live with her aunt at Jamaica Inn - stark and forbidding and standing alone on Bodmin Moor, its very walls tainted with corruption. This is a classic and enthralling story of smuggling and Cornish secrets and Mary who must observe it all alone.
A true classic of suspense in a beautiful new package for a whole new generation of readers.
From the bestselling author of Rebecca, another classic set in beautiful and mysterious Cornwall.
Mary Farren went into the gun room one morning about half-past eleven, took her husband's revolver and loaded it, then shot herself. The butler heard the sound of the gun from the pantry... The fourteen haunting stories in this collection span the whole of Daphne du Maurier's writing career and explore every human emotion: an apparently happily married woman commits suicide; a steamer in wartime is rescued by a mysterious sailing-ship; a dull husband breaks loose in a surprising fashion; a con woman plays her game once too often; and a famous novelist looks for romance, only to meet with bitter disappointent. Each meticulously observed tale shows du Maurier's mastery of the genre.
'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.
This book of occasional pieces from Daphne du Maurier's workshop is good to have: it is something of a continuation of her autobiography MYSELF WHEN YOUNG. The title piece is the remarkable Notebook she kept when REBECCA was forming itself in her mind -- the book that made her a worldwide bestseller and conquered both stage and films and ... television. The other pieces are mainly autobiographical but have no less variety than charm. Her devoted readers will not be disappointed' SPECTATOR
'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.' These famous words open the most popular novel by Daphne du Maurier, the story of an intense romance set in a mysterious house in Cornwall. Its unforgettable atmosphere and tension has transformed it from a popular romance on the page and on film to become a modern classic. Here, it is presented in a new and absorbing recording by Emma Fielding.
When Daphne du Maurier wrote this book she was only thirty years old and had already established herself both as a biographer, with the acclaimed Gerald: A Portrait, and as a novelist. The Du Mauriers was written during a vintage period of her career, between two of her best-loved novels: Jamaica Inn and Rebecca. Her aim was to write her family biography 'so that it reads like a novel' and it was due to du Maurier's remarkable imaginative gifts that she was able to breathe life into the characters and depict with affection and wit the relatives she never knew, including her grandfather, the famous Victorian artist and Punch cartoonist - and creator of Trilby. 'Miss du Maurier creates on the grand scale; she runs through the generations, giving her family unity and reality . . . a rich vein of huour and satire . . . observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic, are here' Observer
'Perhaps we shall not see each other again. I will write to you, though, and tell you, as best I can, the story of your family. A glass-blower, remember, breathes life into a vessel, giving it shape and form and sometimes beauty; but he can with that same breath, shatter and destroy it' Faithful to her word, Sophie Duval reveals to her long-lost nephew the tragic story of a family of master craftsmen in eighteenth-century France. The world of the glass-blowers has its own traditions, it's own language - and its own rules. 'If you marry into glass' Pierre Labbe warns his daughter, 'you will say goodbye to everything familiar, and enter a closed world'. But crashing into this world comes the violence and terror of the French Revolution against which, the family struggles to survive. The Glass Blowers is a remarkable achievement - an imaginative and exciting reworking of du Maurier's own family history.
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 . . .
Rebecca is widely regarded as Daphne du Maurier's finest novel. It tells the story of Manderley - an exquisite house with gardens down to the sea, its owner Max de Winter and his new young wife...and of course Rebecca. Abridged.
Inspired by a grisly discovery in the nineteenth century, The King's General was the first of du Maurier's novels to be written at Menabilly, the model for Manderley in Rebecca. Set in the seventeenth century, it tells the story of a country and a family riven by civil war, and features one of fiction's most original heroines. Honor Harris is only eighteen when she first meets Richard Grenvile, proud, reckless - and utterly captivating. But following a riding accident, Honor must reconcile herself to a life alone. As Richard rises through the ranks of the army, marries and makes enemies, Honor remains true to him, and finally discovers the secret of Menabilly.
Sir Gerald du Maurier was the most celebrated actor-manager of his day, knighted for his services to the theatre in 1922. Published within six months of her father's death, this frank biography was considered shocking by many of his admirers - but it was a huge success, winning Daphne du Maurier critical acclaim and launching her career. In Gerald: A Portrait, Daphne du Maurier captures the spirit and charm of the charismatic actor who played the original Captain Hook, amusingly recalling his eccentricities and his sense of humour, and sensitively portraying the darker side of his nature and his bouts of depression.
Both her novels and her non-fiction reveal Daphne du Maurier's overwhelming desire to explore her family's history. In Myself When Young, based on diaries that she kept from 1920-1932, the most famous du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her subsequent marriage. Here, the writer is open and sometimes painfully honest about the difficult relationship with her father; her education in Paris; early love affairs; her antipathy towards London life and the theatre; her intense love for Cornwall and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting portrait is of a captivating and complex character.
'Someone jolted my elbow as I drank and said, Je vous demande pardon, and as I moved to give him space he turned and stared at me and I at him, and I realised, with a strange sense of shock and fear and nausea all combined, that his face and voice were known to me too well. I was looking at myself.' By chance, two men - one English, the other French - meet in a provincial railway station. Their resemblance is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking - until at last John, the Englishman, falls into a drunken stupor. It's to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, his French companion has stolen his identity and disappeared. So John steps into the Frenchman's shoes, and faces a variety of perplexing roles - as owner of a chateau, director of a failing business, head of a fractious family, and master of nothing.
'Like its heroine the book is possessed of such unforgettably vivid charm that one is seduced' L. S. Hilton, author of Maestra In Regency London, the only way for a woman to succeed is to beat men at their own game. So when Mary Anne Clarke seeks an escape from her squalid surroundings in Bowling Inn Alley, she ventures first into the scurrilous world of the pamphleteers. Her personal charms are such, however, that before long she comes to the notice of the Duke of York. With her taste for luxury and power, Mary Anne, now a royal mistress, must aim higher. Her lofty connections allow her to establish a thriving trade in military commissions, provoking a scandal that rocks the government - and brings personal disgrace. A vivid portrait of overweening ambition, Mary Anne is set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on the life of du Maurier's own great-great-grandmother.
How long he fought with them in the darkness he could not tell, but at last the beating of the wings about him lessened and then withdrew ...' A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of 'Monte Verita' promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd ...
Cornwall, 1900s. Plyn Boat Yard is a hive of activity, and Janet Coombe longs to share in the excitement of seafaring: to travel, to have adventures, to know freedom. But constrained by the times, instead she marries her cousin Thomas, a boat builder, and settles down to raise a family. Janet's loving spirit - the passionate yearning for adventure and for love - is passed down to her son, and through him to his children's children. As generations of the family struggle against hardship and loss, their intricately plotted history is set against the greater backdrop of war and social change in Britain. Her debut novel, The Loving Spirit established du Maurier's reputation and style with an inimitable blend of romance, history and adventure.
When Dick Young's friend, Professor Magnus Lane, offers him an escape from his troubles in the form of a new drug, Dick finds himself transported to fourteenth-century Cornwall. There, in the manor of Tywardreath, the domain of Sir Henry Champerhoune, he witnesses intrigue, adultery and murder. The more time Dick spends consumed in the past, the more he withdraws from the modern world. With each dose of the drug, his body and mind become addicted to this otherworld, and his attempts to change history bring terror to the present and put his own life in jeopardy.
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.
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.
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.
August 2011 Guest Editor Deborah Lawrenson on Margaret Forster... Margaret Forster’s biography of Daphne du Maurier is an absolute must for anyone who is fascinated by du Maurier’s enduring classic Rebecca. As you’d expect from a writer and biographer of Forster’s calibre, this is a riveting narrative in its own right, full of insight and understanding of the woman, which in turn illuminates her work. The Lovereading view... A biography of the novelist Daphne du Maurier which looks behind the relaxed and charming facade to expose the workings of a complex and emotional character. The book won the Macallan/Writers' Guild 1993 Non-fiction Award.
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 laguages. 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.
A collection of short stories from one of Britain's most celebrated novelists of our time. The short stories which Daphne du Maurier has written throughout her career have always had a haunting quality, and from two of them - The Birds and Don't Look Now - memorable films have been made. The fourteen tales included in the present volume were written over a period of many years some of them before her first novels were published, others in her thirties and forties; they reflect many human emotions: romance, disenchantment, fantasy, nostalgia, ambition, irony, the longing for adventure. Each story is based on something du Maurier observed or overheard and will provide pleasure for every mood.
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