Daphne du Maurier

by Margaret Forster

Daphne du Maurier

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, British Literature, Books About Books, 20th Century

480 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

Margaret Forster was educated at the Carlisle and County High School for Girls. From here she won an Open Scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where in 1960 she was awarded an honours degree in History.

From 1963 Margaret Forster worked as a novelist, biographer and freelance literary critic, contributing regularly to book programmes on television, to Radio 4 and various newpapers and magazines.

Forster was married to the writer, journalist and broadcaster Hunter Davies. They lived in London. and in the Lake District. They had three children, Caitlin, Jake and Flora.

Reviews

[Celeste Corrêa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obrigada, Luís Cruz! A tua generosidade é do tamanho deste livro.

[The highlighted quotes in this review are written in the original English.]

Uma pormenorizada biografia de Daphne du Maurier, vida e obra. Quatro páginas de agradecimentos a entidades e pessoas – incluindo SAR o Príncipe Philip, que respondeu por escrito.
Celebro a sobriedade da descrição do retrato humano da Daphne devidamente confirmado por centenas de notas; provavelmente, nas mãos de outro, não apenas a sexualidade da biografada mas também o seu relacionamento com o pai (ou da filha com o pai) seriam tratados de modo polémico.

Daphne foi uma escritora prolífica; escreveu romances, biografias, peças de teatro e até um guia turístico da Cornualha e esta leitura proporcionou -me uma nova perspetiva para futuras (re) leituras. Exorcizou os seus fantasmas na escrita pelo que a sua obra é de recorte autobiográfico.

«When one is writing a novel in the first person, one must be that person.»

«We are all ghosts of yesterday, and the phantom of tomorrow awaits us alike in sunshine or in shadow, dimly perceived at times, never entirely lost.»

«I have no talent for making new friends, but oh such genius for fidelity to old ones.»

Daphne du Maurier

Talentosa, trabalhadora e amante da escrita e da Cornualha geriu a sua carreira com empenho e determinação sempre preocupada com os ganhos para fazer frente às despesas domésticas. As reuniões com os editores são descritas minuciosamente e introduziram-me num mundo desconhecido.

Não foi fácil simpatizar com ela, mas durante a doença do marido e, depois, viúva, perdeu o seu egoísmo e conseguiu conciliar a família e a escrita, que sabemos ser uma actividade muito solitária. Foi uma avó carinhosa e uma mãe atenta de filhos adultos.

«The short stories Daphne wrote in Brittanny, and for the next three years, all have one striking thing in common: the male characters are thoroughly. unpleasant. They are bullies, seducers and cheats. The women, in contrast, are pitifully weak creatures, who are endlessly dominated and betrayed, never capable of saving themselves and having only the energy just to survive.» página 42

«She had wanted to write about the balance of power in mariage and not about love» página 138

«Once she did start to write [The House on the Strand] she had that feeling of exhilaration she had not experienced since The Scapegoat. Again, she had a male narrator, Dick, (...) married to an American, who has two sons by a previous marriage.(...) This gave Daphne the chance to write caustically about marriage and children.»página 363

«She was tired of it all, and especially of Rebecca. Never a month went by without someone informing her they were writing a sequel to Rebecca or asking her detailed questions about it which she could not answer. The most popular question was why the heroine had no name, which even Agatha Christie wished to know.» página 391.

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of five parts in its entirety:

Part I. - Daphne du Maurier's childhood.
Part II. - The Situation of a Married Mother and the Book that Made Her World-famous "Rebecca."
Part III. - The Second World War
Part IV. - One of his most significant periods of literary expression
Part V. - The death of the writer.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this biography a few years ago from the discard shelf of my local library. How sad! Published in 1993, it seems it should still be relevant. Even if all Du Maurier ever wrote was Rebecca, that's still impressive, isn't it? makes her worthy of today's library shelves? I didn't know much about her but her list of titles--novels, plays, short stories, family and historical biographies--is long. Still the biography sat on my stack of unread books for a couple years.

A few months ago I came across My Cousin Rachel on a swap rack (another fortuitous find). That novel, with its powerful exploration of love and jealousy, passion and infatuation, and the mystery at its end (was she or wasn't she planning to kill our narrator?) prompted me to finally give Du Maurier's biography a read.

What a fascinating person and life. One of three daughters, Daphne was determined to be a boy growing up and seems to have been seen as a son initially by her father who of course wanted one (and then as a very attractive companion-daughter). Du Maurier hated the word lesbian, did not see herself as one (she has "Venetian" tendencies instead) but would be seen as bisexual today. Some of her most passionate relationships were with women though her marriage endured (that would be the right word) until her husband died. Dedicated and prolific, Du Maurier supported her family with the earnings from her books--her husband, in the British army, did not earn much or at least not enough to support the life she wanted in Cornwall in a neglected mansion, etc. A mother of three children herself, two daughters and a beloved son (finally!), Du Maurier employed a live-in nanny for her children so that she could write and seems to have been able to enjoy them more when they were themselves adults.

The biography is well-written, overly detailed in places, as most biographies are. And I felt a little uncomfortable reading over and over again Du Maurier's code words--for intercourse, for foreplay--she has her own language to describe sex and much else. (Is there no privacy left to a writer once a biographer comes along? I guess not.) Forster had access to Du Maurier's letters and diaries, and so to much of her interior life, at least what was written down. She also conducted copious interviews, etc.

Forster believes at least three of Daphne Du Maurier's novels belong in the canon: Rebecca, The House on the Strand, The Scapegoat. I would add My Cousin Rachel and many of her short stories to the list. I'll be reading much more of her work now.

Popular in her lifetime (often best-selling), Du Maurier felt she never got the critical acclaim she deserved. It would seem she has not still. She is a consummate story teller and creates atmosphere, setting and character like no other.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett has his main character, Queen Elizabeth II, reflect that authors are "probably best met within the pages of their novels" and are "as much creatures of the reader's imagination as the characters in their books". There’s wisdom in that attitude. It’s quite possible that I’d be disappointed if I encountered one of my favourite novelists at a dinner party and that experience might colour how I react to their writing in the future. And yet, I still find myself drawn to literary biographies. When I really love a novelist’s writing, I can’t help wanting to know more about the novelist.

Forster has done an excellent job exploring du Maurier’s life, covering her privileged childhood as the second daughter of actor Gerald du Maurier, her first love affair with a teacher from her French finishing school, her troubled marriage to Boy Browning, her extra-marital affairs (including with actress Gertrude Lawrence), her relationship with her children, the development of her writing career and her long association with Cornwall. Forster’s prose is easy to read, her research is thorough and she engages in very little speculation.

What emerges about du Maurier is interesting, perplexing and ultimately very sad. Du Maurier’s sexual ambiguity – “the boy in the box” as she referred to that part of her which was attracted to women – was clearly an important feature of her psychological make-up. Another important feature was du Maurier’s relationship with her father. While Forster is careful not to draw conclusions - I suspect because she wished to avoid distressing du Maurier’s children - it is at least possible that du Maurier’s father sexually abused her. If so, this would explain a lot about du Maurier’s adult sexual relationships and her fraught relationship with her daughters.

I’m reasonably sure that I wouldn’t have liked du Maurier. She was painfully shy, reclusive, judgmental and very difficult to live with. However, Forster’s work has increased my admiration for du Maurier as a writer. She was passionate about her work, mining every experience for ideas. For du Maurier, writing was breathing. When, as an elderly woman, the ability to write evaporated, she lost the will to live. This was devastating to read about, but a testament to the strength of the creative impulse and evidence that writers are born and not made.

I enjoyed the experience of reading this biography with my friend Jemidar and I’m looking forward to reading more of du Maurier’s work. It will be interesting to see how my increased knowledge of her life affects my response to her writing.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Forster’s biography immediately after reading the more recently published book Manderley Forever. Author Tatiana de Rosnay did a rather bold thing by writing her novel in the present tense; not quite getting inside the skin of ‘Daphne’ by giving her protagonist the first-person voice, but still presenting the events of Daphne du Maurier’s life as if she (and the reader) were eyewitnesses. It’s an interesting and entertaining read, but in many ways I felt it did not manage to make the real person of Daphne du Maurier ‘real’ to me. The Daphne I encountered in that book seemed spoiled, selfish, standoffish, duplicitous, secretive and brittle; I couldn’t warm to her at all, despite the fact that Tatiana de Rosnay was so obviously enamoured of her subject. What I found in Margaret Forster’s biography (published 24 years before, in 1993) was insight and analysis into the admittedly complex character of Daphne du Maurier. Reading both books together enabled me to feel that I did gain some feeling and understanding for someone who was obviously a rather difficult, complicated, but in many ways, very admirable woman.

Forster excels at explaining Daphne’s lifelong belief that there was a boy - Eric Avon, or ‘the boy in the box’ - inside her. This alter ego was more in line with the idea of a second self - and importantly, the bold, creative (and often sexual) self of DdM. When the two selves of DdM were balanced, and this was chiefly when she was engaged in the act of creative engagement (ie, writing), she was a fulfilled woman, if not always a happy one. But when her creative self was stymied, or dormant, she seemed to experience both depression, malaise, anger and neurosis. (Interestingly, the boy inside her allowed her to deny any lesbian (or ‘Venetian’) tendencies in herself.)

Daphne was obviously a very complicated character, and Forster was told by DdM’s own children that she would discover a ‘chameleon’ when she tried to pin down the author, daughter, lover, mother and wife. Forster emphasises how her letters reveal just how much she could change her character and personality to suit her audience; also, there seems to be a great deal of evidence that the social personality was very different from the darker, more complicated internal personality - as was so evident in her work. One appealing aspect of DdM which was not so evident in de Rosnay’s book was Daphne’s sense of humour and fun, also her self-deprecating ways and her lack of arrogance about her own writing. With her family, Forster says that ‘there was always a lot of laughter, and the idea that Daphne had within her this demanding other self which was placated only be writing was impossible to guess at’. Another insight which Forster offers is Daphne’s own admission that she only felt truly herself when she was alone. Yes, she was selfish - yes, she preferred her home Menabilly, her writing and her own rigid routine (‘routes’), often to the expense of her children and her marriage - but she was not unaware of this. As Forster points out, through Daphne’s own correspondence, she was very much aware of both the mistakes and compromises she made to be the writer she not just wanted, but needed, to be. I ended up admiring, very much, the incredible physical and psychic energy she put into her writing. She needed to write for many reasons, but not least of all as a way of working out the incredibly complicated emotional feelings which otherwise threatened to swamp her.

I thought that Forster’s biography was very strong on DdM’s marriage to Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning, but somewhat less revealing about her relationship with her sisters and father. She does a good job of describing the various novels and historical and biographical works, whilst putting them into context in DdM’s emotional life. Although some people and events are dealt with too superficially, the truth is that the biographer obviously had to make choices. In a life as interesting as Daphne’s, the biography could have easily been twice as long. 4.5 stars - with much underlining and starring as I read.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable and thorough biography of Daphne du Maurier. See this review for more information.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think The Birds was the first story by Daphne du Maurier that I read during my schooldays (in one of those Hitchcock collections) - and I immediately became a fan. Then I encountered her here and there, in various anthologies. Her stories bordered on the weird without being outright horror - however, I had her pegged as a horror writer.

Then I read Rebecca in my twenties, followed by Jamaica Inn, The King's General etc. and realised that this author could not be pigeonholed. She wrote adventure, romance and gothic fiction with equal verve and competence. The only thing common to her stories was atmosphere: a brooding feeling of tragedy and menace. That, and an underlying current of dark sexuality, enticing and frightening at the same time.

This biography of the author by Margaret Forster captures the essence of the writer beautifully. Born into an upper class household in an England at the turn of the last century, Daphne enjoyed a pampered childhood exposed to the arts and literature. Her father, Gerald du Maurier was a famous actor, and her mother Muriel was also an actor before she gave it up on the birth of her third child. She was the apple of her father's eye (a bit of an Electra complex there), but she also suffered because of his fierce possessiveness. Daphne discovered at a very young age that she could write - or rather, she could not survive without writing. This unstoppable creativity coupled with her bisexual tendencies (she believed that there was a "boy-in-the-box" locked up in her psyche) were the main driving force behind her literary output.

Margaret Forster traces the character arc of both Daphne the novelist and Daphne the woman perfectly. She comes across as not very likeable: a bit pampered, patriarchal, snobbish, conservative to an extent, and unfaithful. (She cheats on her husband with the husband of one of her best friends, and she has affairs with two women, also without her husband's knowledge.) But Daphne is also scrupulously honest in analysing herself and her feelings, and that is how we come to know what made this complex woman tick. She put a bit of herself into her books, and that was her catharsis.

In letters to friends, relatives and her publishers, Daphne talked at length about herself and her writing. Ms. Forster has done extensive research on her letters, and reproduces them at length. It gives a fascinating insight into the mind of an iconic writer and her output. But beware - there are HUGE spoilers!

An engrossing read for any Daphne du Maurier fan!

[Jaksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clear, insightful biography of the author, with emphasis on her inner turmoil as she continually attempted to balance the needs of the outside world - society, family, husband's career needs, friends and confidantes - with the constant need to write. This is a dilemma felt by many writers, that in order to write, there's a need for long periods of solitude to think, reason, plan, research, write and re-write. I emphasize that this is not merely a desire, but a need, and one which most nonwriters do not comprehend. (Neither do they respect it.) Du Maurier would have been happy in a hovel with a pad and pen, or a typewriter, and did indeed write this way, in a 'writing hut' on the estate of Menabilly.

(Menabilly, in Cornwall, is as much a force and a personality as it is a house. Du Maurier lived in this grand estate, the model for Manderley in her most famous book, Rebecca, yet it wasn't 'hers.' She rented the vast estate for over twenty years and went through personal crises every time the lease came up or the family which owned it threatened to return. From reading this book one can come away with the fact that she had three great loves, and one of them was this house.)

Anyhow, her entire life was one huge, difficult balancing act, which she chronicled in meticulous detail through the hundreds of letters she wrote. There was no doubt she was never more at perfect peace - and more happy - than when writing. The fact she's almost always writing, if not on paper, then in her head, is revealed in these letters. She's very open and honest about it, and even when receiving the Queen and Prince Philip for tea, she's waiting for it to be over with so she can -guess what? Write! She was a recluse who wanted social contact on her own terms, and often she wanted no social contact at all.

(It was surprising to me that despite this, she did have a lot of friends and was very close to several family members. She, however, often writes how few friends she has. She's a dilemma!)

Anyhow, that's my greatest takeaway on her life, and this book. There is also the chronicling of life events, family history, births and deaths of those close to her; revelations on how she viewed love, desire and the 'fame' she didn't want but learned to enjoy; as well as issues with editors, fans, friends, lovers, and so on. There's great discussion on where her ideas came from - she had to 'wait' for them to come and most of her stories were prompted by events in her own life, which she freely admits - and some psychological insight into her personal and writing life. It's a very complete picture of a complex individual.

All in all, a meticulously-written biography with more than ample documentation. My one complaint: more pictures! More photographs! But that is often an editorial, not author's, decision.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very complete, no holds barred biography about an author whose novels I have long admired.

Forster had access to hundreds of family and friend letters, as well as being able to interview those close to Du Maurier. Her written portrait of Daphne paints a woman both brilliant and conflicted in her sexuality, her marriage, her role as a mother and her overriding need to express all these inner conflicts through her writing. Forster not only sketches the life history of Du Maurier (which is fascinating in and of itself), but she goes on to show how each of her novels came to be written, and why there's a whole lot more of Daphne in each of them then the casual reader might previously have known.

I came away from reading this feeling that Du Maurier wouldn't have been an easy person for me to be around (or even like). That being said, my appreciation for her creative genius increased after reading Forster's biography. It's an excellent piece of non-fiction on a one-of-a-kind author, and one I recommend to any reader interested in her life and work.

[Deodand · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might be wondering, what could be so great about a midcentury English author and housewife to warrant a full biography. Reader, you won't know what hit you. I kind of don't want to spoil this book by talking about du Maurier's life, it's better to just jump in. For someone who stayed home a lot, she sure had a lot of "adventures".

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first encountered Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) earlier this year when I read Rebecca, her most famous novel (see my review here). Rebecca was satisfyingly psychologically complex, especially with how the never-named narrator and Rebecca seemed like dual forces haunting Maxim de Winter. The homoerotic undertones between housekeeper Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca also stood out, a thread that this biography helps contextualize.

Margaret Forster’s 1993 biography of du Maurier is deeply researched and comprehensive at over 400 pages, drawing from interviews with the late author's family and access to private correspondence. Forster reveals that by today’s language du Maurier would likely be described as bisexual and perhaps gender non-conforming (though there wasn't really language like we think of these concepts now in the '90s, much less the early 20th century). From an early age du Maurier, who was born in a semi-famous performing arts family, expressed to her family that she wished she'd been born a boy, and throughout her life she was romantically drawn to both men and women. But, conforming to social expectations of the time, she married young (to a prominent British military officer, Sir Frederick Browning, who was 11 years her elder), had three children, and fulfilled the expected role of a military officer’s wife. However, surprisingly she was also the family’s primary breadwinner through her income and royalties from her writing, as her husband's military career was not as lucrative as one might expect. The family lived in an estate called Menabilly in Cornwall (perhaps the inspiration for Rebecca's fictional Manderley, as du Maurier seemed obsessed with both), though it was rented and a large financial drain. While Rebecca remains du Maurier's career-defining work, she produced many other works to mixed acclaim. The portrait Forster paints is of a woman divided - unable to fully live out her attractions to women, channeling her tensions instead into fiction. As she aged and her social circle narrowed, du Maurier grew increasingly restless and unhappy.

At over 400 pages, this biography felt exhaustively long to me. Entire sections lingered on minutiae - what du Maurier thought of every person her children dated, du Maurier's daily household routines, and excessive dipping into the du Maurier family's “code words” that required lots of footnote referencing. For me, these details diluted the stronger narrative threads and made the book feel heavy. I came away with a fuller understanding of du Maurier’s inner life, but not with a desire to explore more of her fiction.

My statistics:
Book 260 for 2025
Book 2186 cumulatively

[Doronike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sen jau mani grāmatplauktā gaidīja Dafnes biogrāfija, lai es varētu uzzināt kaut ko vairāk par "Rebekas" autori. Tas bija gana interesanti, lai arī gaidīju, ka būs vairāk par daiļdarbiem, bet autore koncentrējusies uz di Morjē privāto dzīvi. Man radās priekšstats, ka Fosterei ir savi noteikti priekšstati par sievieti-rakstnieci un sievieti-māti un sievu, un tad nu viņa diezgan sāpīgi reaģē, ja di Morjē neietilpst viņas iedomātajos rāmīšos. Un di Morjē arī pati centās ārēji atbilst angļu lēdijas tēlam, taču radošie velnēni viņas dzīvi dalīja divās daļās - pasaulei rādāmo un iekšējo, radošo. Fostere ir izvirzījusi tēzi, ka di Morjē nebija iespējams dzīvot bez rakstīšanas - tikko izsīka Dafnes radošais avots, viņa lēnām un apņēmīgi izdzisa arī pati. Varbūt tādam arī jābūt īstam rakstniekam?

[Kaethe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was content to look at the pictures; I'm afraid to learn stuff that will just annoy me

[Carla Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems sad in these more modern times (when no one would care) that, in her time (born in 1907) Daphne Du Maurier felt she couldn't just be gay. She was clearly a lesbian (though she hated the word) who repressed it, had three kids, and then had a lot of anger and confusion about it her whole life. She was a real writer and it was just lucky that she was beautiful and had a famous name (her grandpa George wrote Trilby etc). It was so interesting to read that when she wrote My Cousin Rachel (which I've been known to call my favorite book), Rachel was inspired by a woman she was in love with, Daphne identifying with the hero Philip. No wonder it's so good. And I guess I have to read The Scapegoat again (it's too layered, it would seem, to be taken literally). I was surprised to learn she didn't go to university. I was also surprised that it bothered her when Rebecca was compared to Jane Eyre; I always thought the similarity was intentional (especially since she later wrote a bio of Branwell Bronte).
I found this biography a bit slow, but I give it five stars because, like any good bio, it imparted knowledge I'll always have.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is overall a well done and exhaustive biography, pulling out a lot of interesting factors, events and people in Daphne du Maurier’s life and relating them to her work. If you’re interested in Daphne du Maurier it’s definitely worth a read — I’m not a super fan, personally, though I’ve read a couple of her books, and I found it pretty interesting and found myself really wanting to reread her books with some of this in mind (especially Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel).

I didn’t end up actually finishing the book, but that’s a pretty personal thing — Daphne du Maurier is described as being a pretty private person, and hating the very idea of being thought to be a lesbian, and yet this is so frank about her affairs with women. I found it felt too much like prying for me.

Reviewed for the Bibliophibian.

[Ghost of the Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have debated long and hard on what to write about this one....and find myself still conflicted.
I don't particularly like Du Maurier after reading this, and at times I found myself almost hating her....which makes me in retrospect grateful I am not a connoisseur/fan of her work, only ever read Rebecca and Cousin Rachel.
This is very well written, impeccably researched, and it's curious to see how even the author at times doesn't seem to know her own opinion about her subject.
Daphne, even in the libertarian 21st century, is a figure that can shock you, anger you and on occasion make you want to insult her...her life is one of not knowing exactly where she fits in from an interpersonal point of view, and yet making everyone around her at turns miserable because everything must be exactly her way.....and then she turns around and goes and marries someone even more OCD than her (for the lack of a better term of comparison).
I wouldn't recommend this to die hard fans of her work....it can be to some shocking to see just how flawed (i.e. human) their idol was.
However if you have an open mind and want to know the real Rebecca...or the woman she would have turned into had she lived...by all means sit down somewhere confy with a drink and take a dive....it will be memorable that's for sure!

Happy Readings!

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and thoroughly researched read. However I found it diminished rather than enhanced my view of Daphne Du Maurier and her oeuvre. Her was a woman who lived to write and wrote to live and everyone and everything apart from perhaps Menabilly took a second place to that. It is easier I suppose to accept as a modern day reader to accept her conflicted sexuality but not so easy to accept her self confessed disinterest in her children and laterally her grandchildren. She also appeared to have been lacking rather in gratitude at the priviledge. of her life and circumstances. Although it does not deter me from reading her novels it does cast them in a rather different light.

[Iza Brekilien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it a couple of years ago, it's not my favourite book about Daphne du Maurier, but still it was full of informations.

[Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant read – as good as any novel about a strange, elusive woman who happened to have written a lot of books, have a desire to be a recluse and whose inner life was often a struggle between different personalities.

I had recently seen a BBC production about Daphne du Maurier, and having read some of her books and being fascinated by the era she belonged to as well as the area she lived in, I was curious to explore her life further. And what capable hands her life is in in those of Margaret Forster.

Daphne du Maurier, to me, is an old world kind of author (two of her stories being made into movies by Alfred Hitchcock), and I mean that in the most positive sense. It’s also something that she apparently considered during her writing career: That from the publication of her first novel in 1931 to her last novel in 1972, the publishing business had changed dramatically, but so had the notion of literature and how writers were supposed to write. She was one of few writers who managed to write (melo-) dramatic bestsellers but who also explored the depths of the human psyche, sometimes drawing on the macabre.

The biography is candid. We get all the details, some of which must have been painful for her grown children to read about. I felt saddened at some of these details, especially reading how Daphne du Maurier, as a child, was never held by her mother and how, no doubt, this led to some aspects which I did not sympathize with at all, notably how she treated her own daughters when they were children: they weren’t allowed to eat with their parents until they were 12, and their nanny took more care of them than their mother did. And she treated their younger brother quite differently, being only really contented when she finally had a son.

I felt almost jealous of how du Maurier could just sit down and pour out her innermost thoughts and hey, presto, a book would emerge from that in a matter of months. She was very prolific, but then writing was her life. She felt miserable when she couldn’t write, and it was, Margaret Forster convincingly explains, the only way in which a crucial part of her could find an outlet.

I have been to Cornwall a few times (I keep on returning to the south of England) and would love to try to find the area around Menabilly where Daphne du Maurier lived for most of her adult life, and which was the house and grounds on which she modelled Manderly in Rebecca.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography explores the motivations behind Daphne du Maurier's numerous spellbinding works. In a prolific writing career that began in 1931 with The Loving Spirit and subsequently spanned fifty years, the portrait that emerges is that of a woman constantly at odds with herself. Her various literary achievements coupled with a drive to succeed often conflicted with her role as a wife and a mother.

Access to Daphne's personal correspondence has allowed the author to reveal such private details of her life as Daphne's bisexual extramarital attractions, which included a longtime infatuation with Gertrude Lawrence - an English singer and actress, famous for her appearances on the London stage and on Broadway.

Daphne's rich fantasy life and fertile imagination enabled her to write captivating novels epitomized by 1938's Rebecca - a story which continues to endure even to this day. This richly layered biography aptly unveils the passionate nature of a woman who spent her life portraying the secrets of the sexual tensions between men and women.

I absolutely loved this book. I learned much more about Daphne du Maurier's life than I was expecting. I will say that Margaret Forster's writing style stopped just short of providing too much detail, although I would still give this book an A+!

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography by a superb writer.

Margaret Forster explores Daphne du Maurier's background and details her sometimes difficult relationship with her famour father, Gerald, before examining Daphne's complex and intriguing character.

She has the co-operation of Daphne's family so every little aspect of her life is looked at in detail and nothing is ignored; her troubled marriage to 'Boy' Browning and how she battled to keep it going, her various love affairs and how she handled Daphne No1 and Daphne No 2. The last mentioned most interesting!

The production of her novels and short stories are also examined in detail, how and why she came to write them and her interesting relationship with publisher Victor Gollancz. Gollancz was magnificent in ensuring that there were plenty of copies of each of her books available, even those in wartime when paper was short but in the end the initially published number had to fall because Daphne's saleability had dropped a little. Daphne was none too pleased but accepted it eventually with good grace.

All-in-all it makes for compelling reading and puts Daphne into context with her various novels.

[Marguerite Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways, Daphne du Maurier is as unlikeable as the heroines of some of her greatest books, but in the same ways, she's also compelling. This was an excellent bio, candid without being lurid, enquiring without going too wildly astray into the author's own theories. As a writer, I'm always fascinated by where other writers get their ideas from and how they go about writing. Du Maurier was a major and detailed plotter, keeping immense amounts of notes and diaries, and only writing (save one book) once she had every bit of the characters and story sorted in her head - not for her, the idea that the characters might take over once she started putting them on the page. Only in her writing could she express what she called her Number 2 character - the inner boy which she thought of as her true self. The extent of her self-dullusion or repression of this true self is tragic, and makes many of the unattractive facets of her character understandable if not acceptable. I'm making her sound awful, but like Rebecca, as I said, I found her horribly compelling, and this a really great book.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is something faintly disconcerting about the stripping away of someone’s private life in non-fiction writing. Reading not even between the lines, the vision you get of Daphne du M is that she was rather a self-absorbed and even a rather selfish character. She lived a fairly sheltered and privileged life, and indeed seemed more preoccupied with remaining the inhabitant of the house of Menabilly than with her own children. She certainly wasn’t particularly maternal or sociable. She was sometimes cruel, and the revelations about her infatuations with both sexes over the years before and during her union with the rather stoic husband ‘Boy’ left me as a reader feeling rather voyeuristic. I clearly don’t read enough biographies… Fascinating, though, to hear her talk on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs back in 1977, highly recommend you have a listen while doing the ironing, or equivalent, each to his/her own… Read full review at literary ramblings etc

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent woman, writer and biography. At times totally heartbreaking as we see the writer whose full life is hollow when she cannot create.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into, with a hard character to sell, but a really well written and good biography, which flowed very well.

The trouble is Daphne seems to be a bit of a dick! Suffering from her own issues over her sexuality and worries about financial ruin, Daphne is selfish, and despite sometimes having good intentions, finds it hard to be an affectionate wife or mother. She spends half her life running away from her family through holidays abroad with friends of lovers, and the other half hiding out from them in her own house or writing shed.

She also appears to chase her books as a need to earn money and avoid the realities of her life. At times she was waiting desperately for an idea to come to be able to go an write, not writing through the joy of expression.

What did makes sense from this book was the variety of themes and styles that range through her fiction and non fiction. As a reader who started the journey from Rebecca I have enjoyed many of her books, but have always never known what to expect as each book is almost written by a different author. I may now reread some of my favourites, with the character inspirations in mind, and find it interesting knowing what part of herself Daphne was giving to the page. I don’t think I will ever attempt The House on the Strand again though, being one of the most awful books I’ve ever read, despite some rave reviews and a new insight into the subtext.

As a Devonian, I hold a certain pride in Daphne’s love of Cornwall, where I spent most of my childhood holidays. She has always written and added to the atmosphere of the area well, and creates novels that provide the essence of the beauty and harshness of the moors and rough seas.

The insight into Daphne’s sexuality and struggle between her ‘boy within’ and married self were interesting, but ultimately also displayed a women who showed no reluctance in her extra marital affairs and wilfully blind to the impact on others and even the fact that she was an adulterer multiple times only. It was only when the tables were turned that she recognised her own part her growing disconnect to her husband and that always loving him did not mean she was without blame.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the woman behind the books, but with caution that you will enjoy the book more than the lady herself! When Daphne wasn’t chasing the sun and inspiration she was a recluse, immersed to the end in her own way of doing things.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a charity shop and picked it up because Rebeccas has been one of my favorite books, and I was curious if this book would delve any deeper into the mystique of the author. To my pleasure, it did, and Forster did not hold back.

Her descriptions of du Maurier were based off of letters. Lots of letters. She was a prolific letter writer and her letters gave candid insight into her mentality and thought process. I appreciated that Forester didn't portray her in a favorable light - oh no. Her caustic words, her thoughtless actions were described in great detail, along with her kinder moments.

Du Maurier wasn't a particularly warm or loving individual, even with the people she loved. She enjoyed mocking others, had multiple affairs (with both men and women), yet maintained a strong attachment mostly to the people who were not near her. As her father, and her friends, and eventually her husband passed away, she began retelling their stories more favorably, and I think to a certain extent, she remembered only the good moments. Not only was she an author of some excellent books, she was the author of her own story and she edited the past ruthlessly.

My biggest question after all, would du Maurier have become such a fantastic author without her familial connections? I think she would. Rebecca is a brilliant classic and no matter the author, I think it was destined to be a bestseller.

4/5 stars.

[Kristine Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raamatu ostis mu reisikaaslane Anneli eelmisel suvel Inglismaalt, Daphne du Maurier’ muuseumist Jamaica Inn võõrastemajas, mida koos külastasime. Väga põhjalik ja hästi kirjutatud biograafia. Käsitlemist leiavad nii Daphne elulugu, peresuhted kui looming, tema iseloom ja tegelikud, varjatud tunded (suhted isaga, biseksuaalsus), millest enamikul tema kaasaegsetest aimugi polnud. Kirjutamine ei tulnud Daphne jaoks kergelt, ta pidi inspiratsiooni tihti pikalt ootama ning kirjutamiseks vajas ta kindlat päevakava ja rutiini. Kirjutamine pere ja kolme lapse kõrvalt, sõja-aastatel sõjaväelase naisena, kui raamatute edust sõltus ka harjunud mugava elustiili säilitamiseks vajalik sissetulek. Kuid looming ei olnud kirjaniku jaoks vaid sissetulekuallikas või lihtsalt mõnus ajaviide, eelkõige oli see ikkagi tema pärisosa, midagi, mis tegi ta tervikuks ning andis olemasolule môtte ja suuna. Ning kui siis lõpuks Daphne du Maurier enam kirjutada ei suutnud, ei näinud ta ka edasielamises mõtet, otsustas elule joone alla tõmmata ning lahkus elust oma raudse tahtejõuga, ilma et oleks enesetappu sooritanud. Kurb lõpp, samas nii aus ja kompromissitu.

Daphne du Maurier, Dame of the British, a world-wide and enduring bestselling author for nearly fifty years, had a loving family, devoted friends, and everything, it would seem, a woman could possibly have wanted, but if she could not write all this seemed worthless. Her novels and stories gave pleasure to millions, and among them were at least three worthy of a place in any literary canon - Rebecca, The Scapegoat and The House on the Strand - but what they gave her was more important. Through writing she lived more truly than she did in her daily life - it gave her satisfaction, release and a curious sense of elation.

Her whole life’s work was an attempt to defy reality and create for herself a world far more exciting and true than the one in which she lived. We have her own word for it that when her ability to do this left her, and reality at last confronted her, her life was not worth living; the death of the writer was indeed the death of the self.

[Dawn With-whippet · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has taken me a while to work out why I didn't like this book and have boiled it down to two main reasons .
1) Daphne is just not a very nice person . She leaves a trail of destruction , including other peoples marriages , she doesn't seem to care or have affection for her daughters growing up yet makes it blatantly clear she dotes on her son kit . She is unfaithful to her husband with both male and female lovers . She claims to love Ellen but then goes on to issue threats to her that if she won't leave her husband to be with Daphne then it is quite possible she may be driven to suicide . Emotional blackmail anyone .
2) Even though I didn't like the Daphne portrayed in this book she was a woman who clearly valued her privacy . She had code words for foreplay , sex , lesbians etc in her letters and so the fact that all her private letters and thoughts are exposed in this book seems wrong , voyeuristic even . She clearly had a public persona that presented as jolly , witty and effervescent but in private was often melancholic and reclusive
I don't think she would have liked this book

Will it add to my enjoyment when I reread Rebecca and My cousin Rachel ? probably not

[The Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually find biographies pretty hard going and tend to give up a chapter or so in (I think this is only the second one I've managed to finish) but this one was different: well written, not the least bit boring and full of genuine empathy for du Maurier who, as it turns out, was quite a piece of work. Very matter-of-fact about her various biases and prejudices; du Maurier is taken in context as a product of her time and class. So far the only biography which hasn't ruined the subject for me!

[Brian Gowthorpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A careful and insightful life

What a complicated and tortured person Daphne du Maurier turns out to have been but her lifelong habit of letter writing and the widespread retention of those letters have allowed another fine author to create a compelling life story.