Remembering Daphne du Maurier, The British Writer

Daphne du Maurier was an English novelist, biographer, and playwright. Let us remember her and know more about her on the occasion of her birthday. 

Daphne du Maurier was born on 13 May 1907 in London into a family that had many talented writers and other artists. As a young child, du Maurier met many prominent theatre actors.  Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in her great uncle Comyns Beaumont’s Bystander magazine. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931.

Although she is classed as a romantic novelist, her stories have been described as “moody and resonant” with overtones of the paranormal. Her bestselling works were not at first taken seriously by critics, but have since earned an enduring reputation for the narrative craft. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don’t Look Now. Among these 3 were adapted into movies by the renowned director Alfred Hitchcock. Rebecca has been adapted for both stage and screen several times. The Hitchcock film The Birds (1963) is based on a treatment of the short story of that name, as is the film Don’t Look Now (1973)

Du Maurier wrote three plays. Her first was an adaptation of her novel Rebecca. In 1943 she wrote the autobiographically inspired drama The Years Between. Her third play is named September Tide.

Daphne Du Maurier spent much of her life in Cornwall, where most of her works are set. As her fame increased, she became more reclusive. She died on 19 April 1989, aged 81.

–Staff Reporter