The Du Mauriers

by du Maurier, Daphne

• ISBN13: 9781844080649
• ISBN10: 1844080641
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-03
• Publisher: Virago

Summary

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 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'. It is due to due Maurier's remarkable imaginative gifts that she is able to breathe life into the characters and depict with affection and wit the relatives she never knew, including her grandfather George du Maurier, the famous Victorian artist and Punch cartoonist - and creator of Trilby.

Author Biography

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. In 1931 her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published. A biography of her father and three other novels followed, but it was the novel Rebecca that launched her into the literary stratosphere and made her one of the most popular authors of her day. In 1932, du Maurier married Major Frederick Browning, with whom she had three children.
Many of du Maurier's bestselling novels and short stories were adapted into award-winning films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. In 1969 du Maurier was awarded a DBE. She lived most of her life in Cornwall, the setting for many of her books.