The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier #DDMreadingweek

Title: The Loving Spirit
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Publication: Sourcebooks, paperback, originally published in 1931
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Cornwall, 1830-1930

Description: Janet Coombe is a fearless young woman whose passion for the sea and the hills where she lives is more real to her than the ordinary people in her town.

The Glass-Blowers by Daphne du Maurier – for DDM Week

Title: The Glass-Blowers
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Publication: Doubleday & Company, hardcover, 1963
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 18th and 19th century France

Description: In this historical novel, du Maurier tells the imagined story of her actual ancestors, the Busson family, glass-blowers in rural France, and how they were affected by the French Revolution.

Daphne du Maurier's Mary Anne: Rewriting the Regency Romance as Feminist History #DDMreadingweek

I came across an interesting article, Daphne du Maurier’s Mary Anne: Rewriting the Regency Romance as Feminist History, by Katherine Turner, and decided it was perfect for Daphne du Maurier Reading Week despite my not having time to read Mary Anne (1954). 

Coincidentally, the du Maurier books live next to the Heyer paperbacks

Turner describes how du Maurier based this novel on her great-great grandmother (c. 1776–1852), who was the mistress of the Duke of York and involved in a huge scandal for selling army commissions, promotions, and transfers.  

The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier #DDMreadingweek

Title: The Parasites
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Publication: Doubleday & Co., hardcover, 1950 (originally published in 1949)
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century England and a little Paris

Today is Daphne’s 114th birthday! Please visit Heaven-Ali to read about Daphne du Maurier Reading Week. Happy Birthday also to Ali – I hope there are new books and dinner prepared by someone else.

Description: The Delaneys were an eccentric theatrical family – Pappy, a world-class singer, with a daughter, Maria; Mama, an unforgettable and indescribable dancer, with a son, Niall; and Celia, the only joint child from their marriage.

The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier #DDMreadingweek

Title: The House on the Strand
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Publication: 1969     Genre: Fiction     Setting: Cornwall

Occasion: Heaven-Ali's Daphne du Maurier Reading Week 2021

Description: Publishing executive Dick Young is between jobs when his old friend Magnus Lane lends him a vacation home in Cornwall, somewhat in exchange for Dick’s assistance with a mysterious project.

Kiss Me Again, Stranger by Daphne du Maurier #DDMreadingweek

Title: Kiss Me Again, Stranger
Author: Daphne du Maurier

Publication:  Pocket, paperback, 1970 (originally published 1953)

Genre: Short Story Collection

My Impressions: I picked up this lurid-looking book quickly at a library book sale right before the Lockdown, in anticipation of Daphne du Maurier Reading Week, a celebration of the life and work of Daphne du Maurier, organized by Heaven-Ali.   I thought it must be a lesser-known title like her dystopian novel, Rule Britannia, which I always forget.   Imagine my surprise when I examined it last night and saw it was “a Collection of Eight Stories, Long and Short,” including the short story that spawned a million nightmares, The Birds.  I now realize her short stories been published under different titles.  As most of my reading takes place late at night, I wasn’t sure reading The Birds was really in my best interest so I started by reading around it and enjoyed the other stories.  

Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier #DDMreadingweek

Title: Myself When Young: The Shaping of a Writer
Author:  Daphne du Maurier
Publication:  Arrow Books, paperback, 1993 (originally published in 1977)
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Occasion: Daphne du Maurier Reading Week

Plot: You probably know her as the author of Rebecca but du Maurier (1907 – 1989) wrote several other bestselling books that are equally memorable.  She came from a talented artistic family.  Her father was a famous actor, Sir Gerald du Maurier and her mother, Muriel Beaumont, an actress who met him in a play. Her grandfather was a well-known cartoonist for Punch, a popular humor magazine, and writer, French-born George du Maurier. He is best known for creating the character Svengali that became a catch-phrase for a coercive influence on someone.  Daphne was educated primarily at home before being “finished” in France, in the kind of family that summoned the children to say hello to guests briefly before sending them to the nursery with Nanny. Although not part of the nobility, the du Mauriers clearly mixed with all the right people due to Sir Gerald’s prominence.  Her upbringing seems fairly typical for an upper-middle-class British family but the drive and passion that developed in this shy young woman was all Daphne’s own.

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier

Title: Hungry Hill
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Publication: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1943, hardcover
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Ireland, 1820-1920

Plot: This is a multi-generational saga following the fortunes of an Irish mine-owning family, who are cursed by the peasants who once owned their land.  The book consists of five sections, each focused on a different generation as the feud continues.