New Releases by Daphne Du Maurier

Now a Netflix film starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, and Kristin Scott Thomas "Last Night I Dreamt I went to Manderley Again..." 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. This special edition of Rebecca includes excerpts from Daphne du Maurier''s The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories, an essay on the real Manderley, du Maurier''s original epilogue to the book, and more. A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA ''An eloquent elegy on the past of a county she loved so much'' THE TIMES ''This classic evocation of du Maurier''s beloved home ranks as a work of art ... '' INDEPENDENT ''Du Maurier has no equal'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ''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.

Daphne du Maurier''s chilling short-story collection, the title story was famously made into a film by Hitchcock - perfect for the Halloween and Christmas markets.

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.

When Daphne du Maurier wrote The du Mauriers she was only thirty years old and had already established herself as both a biographer and a novelist. She wrote this epic biography during a vintage period in her career, between two of her best-loved novels: Jamaica Inn and Rebecca. Her aim was to write the story of her family "so that it reads like a novel." Spanning nearly three quarters of a century, The du Mauriers is a saga of artists and speculators, courtesans and military men. From England to Paris and back again, their fortunes varied as wildly as their ambitions. An extraordinary family of writers, artists and actors they are...The du Mauriers. "Daphne du Maurier creates on the grand scale; she runs through the generations, giving her family unity and reality . . . a rich vein of humor and satire . . . observation, sympathy, courage, a sense of the romantic, are here."-The Observer

As a young guide for Sunshine Tours, Armino Fabbio leads a pleasant, if humdrum life -- until he becomes circumstantially involved in the murder 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 in ''43. 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. "In du Maurier''s fiction, she unflinchingly exposed hard truths."-Times (UK)

By chance, John and Jean -- one English, the other French -- meet in a provincial railway station. Their resemblance to each other is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking - until at last John falls into a drunken stupor. It''s to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, Jean has stolen his identity and disappeared. So the Englishman 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. Gripping and complex, The Scapegoat is a masterful exploration of doubling and identity, and of the dark side of the self. "A dazzlingly clever and immensely entertaining novel."-New York Times

Born in turn of the century Cornwall, Janet Coombe longs to share in the excitement of seafaring: to travel, to have adventures, to know freedom. But constrained by the times, she marries her cousin Thomas, a boat builder, and settles down to raise a family. Janet''s loving spirit -- her passionate yearning for adventure and 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. "Daphne du Maurier has no equal."-Sunday Telegraph

Prior to the publication of Golden Lads, Anthony Bacon was viewed as a footnote in the history of his younger brother, Francis. A fascinating historical figure in his own right, Anthony Bacon was a contemporary of the brilliant band of gallants who gathered around the court of Elizabeth I, was closely connected to the Earl of Essex, and worked in France as a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham. While living in France he became acquainted with Henri IV and the essayist Michel de Montaigne, and it was there that Daphne du Maurier discovered a secret that, if disclosed during Bacon''s lifetime, could have put an end to his political career. Du Maurier did much to uncover the truth behind matters that had long puzzled Elizabethan historians, while telling a strange and fascinating tale. "Daphne du Maurier has no equal."-Sunday Telegraph

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. "The appeal of romance and the clash of highly-charged emotions."-New York Herald-Tribune

Both in her novels and her memoirs, Daphne du Maurier revealed an ardent desire to explore her family''s history. In Myself When Young, based on diaries she kept between 1920 and 1932, du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her marriage. Often painfully honest, she recounts her difficult relationship with her father, her education in Paris, her early love affairs, her antipathy towards London life, and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting self-portrait is of a complex, utterly captivating young woman. "An intimate view of a creative personality...as richly evocative as any of her novels."-Los Angeles Times

As far as his father, a famous writer, is concerned, Richard will never amount to anything, and so he decides to take his fate into his own hands. But at the last moment he is saved by Jake, who appeals to Richard not to waste his life. Together they set out for adventure, working their way through Europe, eventually arriving in bohemian Paris, where Richard meets Hesta, an entrancing music student. Daphne du Maurier''s second novel is a masterpiece of narration, showcasing for the first time in her career the male voice she would use to stunning effect in four subsequent novels, including My Cousin Rachel. "A magician, a virtuoso. She can conjure up tragedy, horror, tension, suspense, the ridiculous, the vain, the romantic."-Good Housekeeping

A man becomes addicted to a drug that allows him to time travel into the past in this gothic thriller that is “prime du Maurier” (New York Times). Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as a guinea pig for a new drug that Magnus has discovered in his scientific research. When Dick samples Magnus’s potion, he finds himself doing the impossible: traveling through time while staying in place, thrown all the way back into Medieval Cornwall. The concoction wears off after several hours, but its effects are intoxicating and Dick cannot resist his newfound powers. As his journeys increase, Dick begins to resent the days he must spend in the modern world, longing ever more fervently to get back into his world of centuries before, and the home of the beautiful Lady Isolda . . . Praise for Daphne Du Maurier: “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, author of Daphne Du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller “She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality” —The Guardian

This "highly personalized adventure, ultra-romantic" story from the author of Rebecca tells the tale of a woman looking for adventure, only to find it in the arms a rebellious criminal (New York Times). Bored and restless in London''s Restoration Court, Lady Dona escapes into the British countryside with her restlessness and thirst for adventure as her only guides. Eventually Dona lands in remote Navron, looking for peace of mind in its solitary woods and hidden creeks. She finds the passion her spirit craves in the love of a daring French pirate who is being hunted by all of Cornwall. 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.

Sir Gerald du Maurier was the preeminent actor-manager of his day, knighted in 1922 for his services to the theater. Published within six months of her father''s death, Daphne du Maurier''s frank portrait was considered shocking by many of his admirers-but it was a huge success, winning her critical acclaim and launching her career. Here, Daphne captures the spirit and charm of the charismatic actor who played the original Captain Hook, amusingly recounting his eccentricities, his humor, as well as his darker side. "A remarkable book...brilliant comic writing."-The Times (UK)

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 . . .

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, skillfully 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. "Unlike many authors of popular historical biographies, du Maurier resembled Antonia Fraser in being an indefatigable researcher."-Francis King

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

A "consistently entertaining" saga of beauty, war, and family set during the French Revolution, from the author of Rebecca and The Birds (New York Times). The world of the glass-blowers has its own traditions, its 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. Years later, Sophie Duval reveals to her long-lost nephew the tragic story of a family of master craftsmen in eighteenth-century France. Drawing on her own family''s tale of tradition and sorrow, Daphne du Maurier weaves an unforgettable saga of beauty, war, and family.

Pursued by the twin demons of drink and madness, Branwell Bronte created a private world that was indeed infernal. As a bold and gifted child, his 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 Charlotte, Emily and Anne. This is the biography of the shadowy figure of the "unknown" Bronte. "Miss du Maurier has brought to the art of the biography the narrative urgency which gives such animation to her storytelling."-New York Times Book Review

Emma wakes up one morning to an apocalyptic world. The cozy existence she shares with her grandmother, an eccentric retired actress known to all as Madam, has been shattered: there''s no post, no telephone, no radio - and an American warship sits in the harbor. As the two women piece together clues about the ''friendly'' military occupation on their doorstep, family, friends and neighbours gather round to protect their heritage. In this chilling novel of the future, Daphne du Maurier explores the implications of a political, economic and military alliance between Britain and the United States. "A diverse and engrossing cast of characters...provocative, diverting."-Chicago Tribune

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.

As a bold and gifted child, Branwell Brontë''s promise seemed boundless to the three adoring sisters over whom his rule was complete. But as an adult, the precocious flame of genius flickered 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 specter in the Brontë story, in pathetic contrast with the remarkable achievements of Charlotte, Anne, and Emily. Daphne du Maurier concentrates all her biographer''s skill on the shadowy figure of Branwell Brontë, and no reader could fail to be intensely moved by Branwell''s final retreat into laudanum, alcohol, and death. Dame Daphne du Maurier wrote more than 25 acclaimed novels, short stories, and plays, including Rebecca and The House on the Strand. She was also a passionate and skillful biographer.

It is a very cold winter. The birds are hungry and dangerous. There are thousands and thousands of birds and they want to kill and to eat. Then they attack.

Letters written to her friend, Malet, describe Du Maurier''s family, life in Cornwall, and views on writing

The last - unfinished - novel of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, which was completed by Daphne du Maurier. It is a re-creation of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, transplanted in time to 19th-century Cornwall.