Let's Pretend: The Make Believe World of Daphne du Maurier

Let's Pretend: The Make Believe World of Daphne du Maurier is a 1977 documentary in which Dame Daphne discusses her life and her work with Cliff Michelmore. She was interviewed at her home in Kilmarth and the documentary was directed by Christian Browning, the author's son. 

We haven't managed to find the whole documentary but below you find some parts of that interview in which she speaks of her childhood, her life and some of her books. Enjoy!

The Progress of Julius - a Guest Review by Misfit

“Something for nothing – something for nothing” is the mantra that governs the life of Julius Lévy. The story begins in 1860 in France as a young half-Jewish Julius learns the ways of selling in the local market place – always getting more than you give away – “something for nothing.” As the Prussians invade France the Lévys head for the relative safety of Paris, unforeseen events send Julius and his father heading for the relative safety of Algiers. Now orphaned, Julius learns to steal manipulate and swindle his way until he saves enough to strike out for England and the empire he feels destined to build – no matter what the cost to others around him – including his morbid obsession with his daughter.

That’s about all I’m going to tell, anymore and I’d be spoiling the story. Suffice it to say that Julius is a wholly despicable, unlikable character void of any knowledge of right or wrong. If he can’t have it then no one else can. While this third book of Du Maurier’s is still far from the excellence of her later books, it is a fascinating and disturbing read and quite amazing when you realize that she wrote this when she was all of twenty-six years old. Just be warned, Julius has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, so if you’re a reader who wants it all tied up with a pink ribbon and a HEA at the end, this probably isn’t the book for you. However, if you want a look at something besides the “romantic suspense” of Du Maurier’s later works I’d look this one up. 4/5 stars.

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You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to read du Maurier's Hungry Hill. I wanted to read something different from her best known works and thought that a family saga might make an interesting story.

Well... it did! An interesting, but, also a tragic and depressing story. The story of the Brodrick family and their life in Ireland from 1820 to 1920. The story opens with the patriarch John Brodrick, called Copper John. However we immediately know that the family has been in Ireland for a few generations and that one of the Brodrick man ended up being killed by a member of the Donovan family and the feud is still very much open. In fact one could say that the story begins with a Donovan cursing Copper John and all his children.

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.

Copper John is a man of progress. He lives in Clonmere with his five children and has decided he will open a mine on Hungry Hill. Although the land belongs to his partner it is Copper John who runs the mine and makes it a success. Hungry Hill ends up being their fortune.

However the Brodricks are never well accepted by the locals. Something neither Copper John nor Henry, his oldest son, are very worried about but that his second son, John. soon realises and feels uncomfortable with. Trouble with the miners leads Henry to fall ill and eventually die. John becomes his father heir but he is only interested in his dogs. Even after he marries and has children his interest is only in what gives him pleasure and he leaves all boring and tiresome decisions to his carefree and temperamental wife Fanny Rosa. It is an interesting thing that John seems like a sympathetic character in the beginning. He understands the way the locals think and anticipates the troubles his father is going to have. But he becomes more and more of a dreamer and his marriage makes him even more selfish and detached from the reality he finds tiresome.

John also dies young. He tries to end the feud with the Donovans and catches diphtheria. His children are still young and are left in the care of their mother. It is his oldest son, Johnnie, who eventually succeeds Copper John. The mines are still making them rich and Johnnie, a bit the image of his own mother, thinks only of his own pleasure. He lacks any self-control, which brings him very little friends and it is only when he falls in love with his brother Henry's fiancée that he realises he leads an empty life. He makes friends with the Donovans and once again that association does not end well. It seems the Donovans never forget which side they are on despite the Brodricks trying to end the feud. Johnnie eventually dies of an alcohol overdose...

It's his brother Henry that becomes the head of the family. Nothing like Johnnie he is profoundly in love with his wife and cares for his children and his business. One can say that if his father's marriage made him a worse person, Henry's marriage made him a better one. When his wife dies giving birth to their fourth child he is unable to cope with the reality of his life without her. His second marriage ruins his relationship with his children, with his friends and leaves only a shrewd and cold businessman.

His son Hal, enjoyed a close relationship with his mother and ends feeling rejected by his father. He knows his father thinks of him as a failure and the insecurity that comes out of that never lets him pursue his dream of painting and eventually sees him as a clerk in his own family's company. And once again it is a Donovan that leads to his death, still has a young man. He has time to see the mine come to an end though; other markets and raw materials make it unprofitable and after being sold the mine at Hungry Hill is finally closed.

We next see Hal's son, who was two when his father died, go back to the family home as an adult. He happens to find himself drinking with the wrong company in a period of civil war and the Donovan curse that started this story is finally fulfilled and his home his destroyed. Would the Brodrick family fate have been different had Copper John asked the Hill for permission before opening the mine?

I loved du Maurier's writing and I suppose that is what made the difference in a story where there are so few nice characters and quite a number of them are nasty villains. The richest the Brodrick men become the weaker and tortured they seem to become too. But she made me interested and engaged in what happened to them and I could easily have kept on reading for another generation or two.

The Doll by Daphne du Maurier

The Doll is a short story written by Daphne du Maurier that was lost for over 70 years. According to The Guardian, it was first published in 1937 and hadn't been published again until recently.

Dr. E. Strongman finds a mysterious diary washed up on the shore. The author of it is unknown and some of it is illegible and has some pages missing. However, Dr. Strongman writes a paper on it.

It is most certainly written by a man obsessed with a woman named, Rebecca. We learn that she is a violinist and met the unknown man at a party. He later starts coming to her flat.

"Before I left she showed me round her tiny flat. There was a little scullery place she used for a kitchen, a poky bathroom, and her own small bedroom which was furnished like a nun's cell, quite plain and bare. There was another room leading from the studio, but she did not show me this."

Rebecca does eventually show him the other room, to introduce him to Julio. He turns out to be a very evil looking mechanical doll. The he persistently asks Rebecca why she has this doll, she never tells him. He becomes more and more obsessed with her and the doll.

This is a pretty creepy story about obsession. Very well written and great character development. I highly recommend it, especially for those who can't get enough of Daphne du Mauier. Click on The Guardian to read it.

Poll: Which is your favourite Daphne du Maurier novel?

Frenchman's Creek - a Guest Review by Chris

I’ve read a number of books and short stories by Daphne du Maurier but Frenchman’s Creek is quite a bit different. Du Maurier once said that the only romance she ever wrote was Frenchman’s Creek. Romance purists might argue with that assessment, for while much of the story is romantic not all the markers of a romance are there.

The heroine, Dona St Columb, is an entitled and bored aristocrat living at Court with her husband and 2 children during the Restoration (though it’s rather vague about the when). She’s not like other married ladies though. She has a reputation for mischief, entering bawdy houses dressed as a man with her husband and his friends. The guys love her, even if they are a little scandalized by her behaviour. Her latest adventure gives her pause after she terrifies a little old lady during one of her pranks. Dona has an epiphany: this is not the life she wants to lead.

Dona leaves the city and heads for her husband’s estate in Cornwall, just her and the kids. She plans some quiet alone time, sleeping late and avoiding the usual country pleasantries like visiting the neighbours, but peace and quiet are not to be. A neighbour warns her that a pirate is on the loose! A French pirate at that- the worst kind! He’s been robbing the county hoity-toities blind. Little does she know that this blood thirsty pirate has been hiding out in the creek near her home.

But wait! Turns out this pirate’s reputation has been exaggerated. The Frenchman is a true gentleman, suave and debonair, and like Dona he is a free spirit. It seems that she’s found a bosom pal in the Frenchman. Will Dona turn to a life on the high seas?

Frenchman’s Creek is literary Calgon. (Calgon! Take Me Away!) Who needs Christian Grey of the Shady novel while there’s the Frenchman? Handsome, cultured, and very understanding. He knows what Dona wants before she does. Plus, he’s a rich pirate. Who wouldn’t think about sailing away with him?

For Dona, the Frenchman comes along at the right moment. She’s having a crisis. Pushing thirty, she sees that the life she’s lived up until now has been filled with frivolity. She married her husband because she liked his eyes. Not much to start a marriage on. Yet, she still yearns for adventure and freedom. There was something about this that bothered me (two somethings, actually) and while I sometimes sympathized with Dona’s need for freedom, I didn’t like where things were going.

Dona does get her head together and redeems herself, no more frightening old ladies for her, and all it took was a brush with the Frenchman.

Something I found interesting about Dona was her propensity for dressing like a boy. There is physical freedom in the clothing but also a social freedom in becoming male. Dona wishes that she could be a man and sail away. Daphne believed herself to have a male side to her personality and claimed it gave her the creative energy she used for writing. Maybe she felt that this male side gave her permission to do things that a proper lady could not, much like Dona did. An adventurous story of the life of a pirate had extra appeal for Daphne and as well as her readers, who were suffering through World War II at the time of her writing Frenchman’s Creek.

If you’d like to temporarily escape with a handsome pirate and some excellent writing, pick up Frenchman’s Creek. You won’t regret it.


*Sources: Answers, Daphne du Maurier

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You can find Chris blogging at Chrisbookarama and she is also the host of the Daphne du Maurier challenge

The Glassblowers - a Guest Review by Misfit

“Somehow, we no longer seemed to preach the brotherhood of man”

In this book du Maurier recounts the tale of her forebears, the Busson family of master glass-blowers leading up to and through the French Revolution. Told through the POV of Sophie as she looks back on her life, daughter of master glass-blower Mathurin Busson and his formidable (in a good way) wife Magdaleine and her siblings Robert, Pierre, Michel and Edmé. For Robert, the eldest working his craft in the countryside is not enough and he dreams of greatness in Paris – but unable to manage his spending he always ends up in financial disaster and bankruptcy and he depends on his family to bail him out time and again.

The countryside where the Busson family lives is not greatly affected by the first stirrings of the revolution in the cities, but that soon changes when Michel and Sophie’s husband Francois become National Guardsman and find themselves slowly being caught up in the nationalist fervor sweeping the country. At first Sophie is horrified at the behavior of her brother and husband as they join others in sacking the manor houses and churches -

“The people were mad. They had to have a victim. No single one of them was to blame, it was like a fever sweeping them.”

Eventually she too finds herself buying into the revolutionary ideals as the madness continues to grow and suspicion and rumor grip the countryside. In the end a new and “stable” government takes control but it is never enough. Eventually Sophie and her family are swept up in the War in the Vendée, a little known but horrific footnote in history (do go to Wik and read up on it). Once The Terror is over the Busson siblings rebuild their lives and eventually things come full circle with the return of Robert – who fled to England as an émigré to avoid the debts of his last business debacle.

This novel is a bit slower paced at times (although the scenes from the Vendée were downright unputdownable) and might not appeal to all readers, but I enjoyed it a great deal. A refreshing change seeing the Revolution from the countryside – major events such as the taking of the Bastille, the Women’s March on Versailles and the executions of Louis and Marie were events that happened far away. As maddening as he was in his doomed financial efforts, Robert was great fun and I loved the way the author worked in the “birth” of the family name in England – du Maurier. Definitely recommended for du Maurier fans or those interested in the history of the Revolution.

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You can find Misfit blogging at At Home With A Good Book and The Cat

Spotlight on Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier was born in London, England, in May 1907, the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of the author George du Maurier. Her first novel The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931.

She lived in Cornwall for many years and chose to set many of her novels in the region. Her most famous novel was Rebecca, which was adapted to the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock. Many of her other novels were also adapted including some whith a historical setting - Frenchman's Creek, Hungry Hill and Jamaica Inn.  She wrote both fiction (she was known as a romantic novelist but also wrote other genres) and non-fiction (including biographies and plays) . She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1969 and died in April 1989.

She has a long list of published works, some of which have an historical setting:

Fiction

The Loving Spirit (1931)
I'll Never Be Young Again (1932)
The Progress of Julius (1933) (later re-published as Julius)
Jamaica Inn (1936)
Rebecca (1938)
Rebecca (1940) (play—du Maurier's own stage adaptation of her novel)
Happy Christmas (1940) (short story)
Come Wind, Come Weather (1940) (short story collection)
Frenchman's Creek (1941)
Hungry Hill (1943)
The Years Between (1945) (play)
The King's General (1946)
September Tide (1948) (play)
The Parasites (1949)
My Cousin Rachel (1951)
The Apple Tree (1952) (short story collection, AKA Kiss Me Again, Stranger)
Mary Anne (1954)
The Scapegoat (1957)
Early Stories (1959) (short story collection, stories written between 1927–1930)
The Breaking Point (1959) (short story collection, AKA The Blue Lenses)
Castle Dor (1961) (with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch)
The Birds and Other Stories (1963) (republication of The Apple Tree)
The Glass-Blowers (1963)
The Flight of the Falcon (1965)
The House on the Strand (1969)
Not After Midnight (1971) (short story collection, AKA Don't Look Now)
Rule Britannia (1972)
"The Rendezvous and Other Stories" (1980) (short story collection)

Non-fiction

Gerald (1934)
The du Mauriers (1937)
The Young George du Maurier (1951)
The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë (1960)
Vanishing Cornwall (includes photographs by her son Christian)(1967)
Golden Lads (1975)
The Winding Stairs (1976)
Growing Pains -— the Shaping of a Writer (1977) (a.k.a. Myself When Young -— the Shaping of a Writer)
Enchanted Cornwall (1989)

Daphne du Maurier Book Giveaway

To celebrate this year's HT Season we will be giving away two books by Daphne du Maurier. To enter you just have to leave a comment saying which of her books you would like to win and why! The winner will be announced on June 29.

Why I love Daphne du Maurier by Sophie Reid

My mother gave me a copy of Daphne du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca when I was about twelve. I devoured it and adored it. From that moment on Daphne du Maurier became my favourite author, and Rebecca my favourite book.  When I asked her for some more, she sent me up to my grandparent’s house, which was a few minutes up the lane. My granny sent me away with a plastic bag full of old du Maurier paperbacks. I devoured these too. I remember I particularly liked The King’s General, one of her historical novels, based on the history of Menabilly and set in the civil war. Du Maurier bought the Civil War alive for me, and I loved it. The King’s General is still one of my favourites. I love the way that du Maurier manages to bring history to life.

I thought that was all there was to it. This was just before Virago began to republish du Maurier’s back catalogue, and before I was really aware of things like Amazon. By a strange coincidence, we had been going to Fowey for short Easter holiday breaks for a few years, before I ever read a du Maurier novel.  We began to go back again, for longer periods of time, and I was able to revel in the du Maurier connection. It’s a magical place, full of history and atmosphere, and it is easy to see why du Maurier chose to live there and write about the town, and Cornwall itself. In sixth form my obsession and fascination developed again. I reread Rebecca and remembered why it was such a fantastic book. I found books I hadn’t read, by and about du Maurier, and devoured them too. I discovered that du Maurier was a complex and intriguing woman, with so many depths to her character that are not initially apparent.

I decided there and then that one day I would write something on her, and began by the end of sixth form to come up with ideas for my dissertation I knew I would one day have to do. I have just handed in my dissertation, which I wrote about du Maurier and the aspects of freedom that appear throughout her work. I particularly related this to the male characters, because while it is apparent that women are often trapped in du Maurier’s novels, men are too, and find it harder to escape. I also discovered that the use of the past gave du Maurier a freedom that she craved. Through the past she could escape to another time and place, and she could bury herself in the history and records. For her historical based novels du Maurier put much effort into her research. For The House on the Strand, another of my favourites and one that I wrote about for my dissertation, she researched the history of the house, Kilmarth, and knew the landscape that she was writing about intimately. This helps to make these novels seem so realistic and magical. I found it interesting that most of her Cornish novels are historical, as she chooses to evoke a Cornwall that is romantic, in some respects, but also dangerous and wild. I love this mix of elements apparent in her work. She also liked to write about her family history and ancestors, and the research involved makes these stories full of detail, and realistic.

I love the way du Maurier writes. Her prose is beautiful and enchanting. I love the way that she evokes such a strong sense of atmosphere, and how this makes them so magical. I love how she uses the Cornish landscape in many of her novels. I love the way that she creates such diverse and interesting characters, and the way that her voice leaps off the page, drawing me in. It is all of this that keeps me coming back to her novels, year after year. I love how she takes something and adds a hint of darkness, something deeper. Nothing is ever how it seems, and I still love this. I love the darkness, the uncertainty, the unknown and the feeling of unrest that is often apparent. I think as a teenager I liked the way that she went below the surface and created a darker world. I still like this, and the way that she does not take anything for granted, and explores the deeper and darker aspects of characters. She is not afraid to do this. I love how her novels are all wildly different, and she experimented with different genres and ideas. Du Maurier’s life and writing has been a huge part of my life, and her writing continues to inspire my own writing.

Every time I go into a bookshop I automatically check under M – but there is never a new book. Last year Virago released a collection of rediscovered short stories, which was very exciting and the closest to something new we’re ever going to get! As I’ve come to reread du Maurier over the years it has become clear that her work remains just as magical to me, but that I see things in it that I may not have done when I was thirteen, fifteen or seventeen. I hope that it will continue to be that way for a long, long time.

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You can find Sophie blogging at Everything Du Maurier

Announcing the Daphne du Maurier Season

June has arrived and with it another, the fourth, edition of out Historical Tapestry Season. This year's edition is devoted to Dame Daphne du Maurier and either you are already a fan or new to her work we hope you will join us in the next few weeks in discussing her work.

We are still accepting guest posts so, if you have something to say about Daphne du Maurier or her work, do let us know either by leaving a comment with your contact on this post or by sending us an email to  historical.tapestry at gmail dot com.

During this period we will also continue to post about other books we have been reading and hosting posts by historical fiction authors and we hope you visit us often during the next few weeks and that you have as much fun participating as we've had preparing this.

Announcing HT's 2012 Season

In 2012 one of our most successful features is back - the Season - a month long event dedicated to one author. In 2012 it will be Daphne du Maurier!

Are there any fans around? Anyone wants to participate? It is held in June so there's plenty of time for you to catch up on her books and join us in discussing her work. If you are interested in writing an article or a review about her historical books send us an email at historical.tapestry @ gmail.com. We would love to have everyone join us in this celebration of du Maurier's work.

We usually also have a couple of giveaways so if you're a publisher and are  interested in donating some copies feel free to contact us too.