Daphne du Maurier

Adept at using atmospheric descriptions of place and rich imagery to build dramatic narratives that often explore the darker side of human nature, Daphne du Maurier was a rare talent who managed to achieve both literary success and a broad popularity. ...

Born in 1907 to a well-connected family, Daphne enjoyed a privileged upbringing in Hampstead was surrounded by creative figures from an early age – her father was an actor-manager, her mother an actress, and her extended family included artists, novelists and playwrights. The family spent their summers at a home they bought in Cornwall in the 1920s and du Maurier credited the sense of freedom she felt at Ferryside in Bodinnick with giving her the inspiration and solitude to complete her first novel, The Loving Spirit, which was published in 1931.

A year later du Maurier married Frederick Browning and channelled the male alter ego she considered to be the driving force behind her work into developing her writing. It wasn’t long before her efforts were rewarded, and Rebecca in particular helped her gain the financial security – and associated independence – she craved. With her husband away fighting, Daphne and their three children moved in 1943 to Readymoney in Cornwall before securing the lease on Menabilly, a manor house near Par that had been the seat of the Rashleigh family since the 16th century. Daphne had fallen in love with the house years earlier and used it as the inspiration for Manderley, but its poor condition and the need for peace saw her turn to a garden hut as a place of work. Over the years she lovingly restored Menabilly, sharing the house with Frederick despite their marriage having long since broken down, and only moved out in 1969 when it was inherited by the landlord’s nephew.

Now a Dame of the British Empire, du Maurier settled into Kilmarth, a dower house on the Menabilly estate which appeared as the setting for The House on the Strand. From there she also wrote collections of short fiction and Growing Pains, a remarkably introspective account of her early life. She died in 1989, leaving a body of work that spans the gothic, mysterious, Romantic and historical and continues to resonate with readers around the world.