She set men's hearts on fire and scandalized a country. An ambitious, stunning, and seductive young woman, Mary Anne finds the single most rewarding way to rise above her station: she will become the mistress to a royal duke. In doing so, she provokes a scandal that rocks Regency England. A vivd portrait of sex, ambition, and corruption, Mary Anne is set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on Daphne du Maurier's own great-great-grandmother. "This novel catches fire."-New York Times
The compelling companion to Daphne du Maurier’s celebrated classic, Rebecca, Sally Beauman’s Rebecca’s Tale begins more than 20 years after the death of Rebecca de Winter, and 20 years since Manderley, the de Winter family estate, was destroyed by fire. But Rebecca’s tale is just beginning...
The definitive biography of Daphne Du Maurier, one of history's greatest psychological thriller novelists Rebecca, published in 1938, brought its author instant international acclaim, capturing the popular imagination with its haunting atmosphere of suspense and mystery. Du Maurier was immediately established as the queen of the psychological thriller. But the more fame this and her other books encouraged, the more reclusive Daphne du Maurier became. Margaret Forster's award-winning biography could hardly be more worthy of its subject. Drawing on private letters and papers, and with the unflinching co-operation of Daphne du Maurier's family, Margaret Forster explores the secret drama of her life - the stifling relationship with her father, actor-manager Gerald du Maurier; her troubled marriage to war hero and royal aide, 'Boy' Browning; her wartime love affair; her passion for Cornwall and her deep friendships with the last of her father's actress loves, Gertrude Lawrence, and with an aristocratic American woman. Most significant of all, Margaret Forster ingeniously strips away the relaxed and charming facade to lay bare the true workings of a complex and emotional character whose passionate and often violent stories mirrored her own fantasy life more than anyone could ever have imagined.
From the author of Rebecca and The Birds: a classic thriller of shipwreck and murder, "rich in suspense and surprise" (New York Times Book Review). On a bitter November evening, young Mary Yellan journeys across the rainswept moors to Jamaica Inn in honor of her mother's dying request. When she arrives, the warning of the coachman begins to echo in her memory, for her aunt Patience cowers before hulking Uncle Joss Merlyn. Terrified of the inn's brooding power, Mary gradually finds herself ensnared in the dark schemes being enacted behind its crumbling walls -- and tempted to love a man she dares not trust. The inspiration for the 1939 Alfred Hitchcock film.
Contemporary / British English Nat and his family live near the sea. Nat watches the birds over the sea. Suddenly the weather is colder, and there is something strange about the birds. They are angry. They start to attack. They want to get into the house. They want to kill.
Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) is the author of Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, Don't Look Now and The Birds among many others which continue to thrill and fascinate readers worldwide. The daughter of Sir Gerald du Maurier, the leading actor manager of his day, she grew up in a wildly imaginative 'Peter Pan' world peopled by London's leading writers and actors, before arriving in Cornwall at the age of 19. The place and its people inspired her to write her first novel The Loving Spirit, a work which so affected a young major in the Grenadier Guards, later Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Browning, that he travelled to Fowey in his boat Ygdrasil to meet - and eventually to marry - the author. This bewitching evocation of place was to remain a feature of Daphne du Maurier's writing, and the source of much of her enduring popularity. Hilary Macaskill explores the homes and landscapes of Daphne du Maurier's life, and how these relate to her work in sometimes unexpected ways. Generously illustrated with little-seen material from the family archive as well as new colour photographs, this is a book which will enrich and transport anyone who has ever lost themselves between the covers of a Daphne du Maurier novel.
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA 'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Wickedly readable . . . every woman instinctively wants to read her' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ' Somehow more personal than Daphne du Maurier's other novels' KIRKUS REVIEWS '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 is a flamboyant singer and their mother is 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.
