Daphne du Maurier (1907–89) was edgy; throughout her life, she teetered on the edge between what was conventionally accepted within the tight-knit circles of the London elite and what was not. Although she was an introvert who preferred isolation, her name skyrocketed into the literary canon due to her hugely successful, suspenseful, and haunting Gothic tales, including Jamaica Inn (1936) and Rebecca (1938).
Daphne du Maurier is a key 20th-century novelist and writer. She published almost forty works over her lifetime, a number of which remain well-known and well-loved today.
Daphne du Maurier: biography
Let's take a look at Daphne du Maurier's life from the beginning to the end.
Growing up
On 13 May 1907, Daphne du Maurier was born in London, England, to Sir Gerald du Maurier and Muriel du Maurier (Beaumont). She grew up with two sisters in a wealthy and established family. The du Maurier family name was notable for its long line of successful creatives, and, although her parents' names may not be widely-familiar today, they were well known for their acting careers at the time.
Daphne's family was part of elite literary, artistic, and theatrical circles. Daphne's grandfather, George du Maurier, wrote the hugely popular gothic novel Trilby (1894). Her uncle edited The Bystander (1903–40) magazine, in which some of Daphne's short stories, poems, and essays were published. The family also had close ties with J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (1904).
Daphne stood out as an introvert in the du Maurier family. She was an avid reader from early childhood and read an array of books by authors including the Brontë sisters and Robert Louis Stevenson.1 Her love of writing was inspired by the books she read, the imaginative games she played with her sister, and the encouragement from her governess.
During her early life, Daphne spent extensive periods of time in Cornwall and France. In 1925, du Maurier attended finishing school near Paris in France.
Did you know? Daphne du Maurier had romantic relationships with both men and women during her life, including with Madamoiselle Yvon Fernande, her teacher at the finishing school in France.
Adulthood
A year later, in 1926, the du Mauriers bought a holiday home called Ferryside in Cornwall. If Daphne became financially independent, her parents said, she'd be able to stay there alone. Daphne was motivated to secure this independence, and she succeeded. In 1931, Daphne published her first novel, The Loving Spirit.
After reading The Loving Spirit, the army officer Frederick ('Boy') Browning came to Cornwall to find out more about its author. He and Daphne's relationship quickly developed; Daphne proposed to Boy, and they were married just months after their first meeting. They went on to have three children together, but enjoying motherhood did not come easily to Daphne.
Daphne published Jamaica Inn a couple of years after the death of her father, which would become one of her most popular novels. Daphne's family moved to Egypt after her husband was posted there. During this time, she started to write Rebecca. The novel was published to critical acclaim in 1938 after the Browning's return to Hampshire.
Daphne du Maurier: books
Over Daphne du Maurier's lifetime, she published nearly 40 books, including both fiction and non-fiction short stories, plays, novels, and essays.
Du Maurier's non-fiction works include a biography of her father, Gerald: A Portrait (1934), which she wrote after his death, and Vanishing Cornwall (1967), a reflection on the place she loved most.
Her short story collections included The Birds and Other Stories (1952), Breaking Point (1959), and The Apple Tree (1963). The latter two collections were written during a dark 'breaking point' period in du Maurier's life, reflected in the unnerving, psychological tones of many of her short stories.
Du Maurier was also a playwright. As well as adapting Rebecca for the stage, she wrote two other original plays titled The Years Between (1945) and September Tide (1948).
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier: summary
Inspired by du Maurier's own stay at the Jamaica Inn in Cornwall, the 1936 novel Jamaica Inn tells the story of Mary Yellan, who, according to her mother's dying wish, moves to stay at the inn with her aunt and uncle. However, her stay there quickly becomes a chilling experience. Sinister things are happening there, and her abusive uncle is a part of them.
Daphne du Maurier: facts
Daphne du Maurier remains as fascinating as the characters she wrote about in her novels. Let's take a look at some more facts about her that reflect this.
- Daphne du Maurier's father had always wanted a son, which motivated du Maurier to create an alter ego for herself – a boy called Eric Avon. This was not merely down to her father's influence, however. Many of du Maurier's books had male narrators, and she once expressed that she had always wished that she had been born a boy.
- Daphne du Maurier faced multiple accusations of plagiarism over her career. An American author, Edwina Macdonald, claimed that du Maurier had copied a book of hers called Blind Windows (1927) when writing Rebecca. A lawsuit was started; however, the claim was never proven.
- Many of Daphne du Maurier's short stories and novels were adapted into plays and films. Most notably, Alfred Hitchcock directed the films Jamaica Inn (1939), Rebecca (1940), and The Birds (1963) based on du Maurier's works of the same titles. Although du Maurier liked the adaptation of Rebecca, she was unhappy with Hitchcock's interpretation of 'The Birds' (1952) and Jamaica Inn as she felt they were not true to the original stories.
Daphne du Maurier - Key takeaways
- Daphne du Maurier (1907–89) is a famous 20th-century writer.
- During her life, Daphne du Maurier published nearly 40 works of fiction and non-fiction, including short stories, plays, essays, and novels.
- She spent a lot of time in Cornwall and was fascinated by a house called Menabilly there, which inspired many locations in her work and where she would live later in life.
- Some of her most famous works include Jamaica Inn (1936) and Rebecca (1938).
- Daphne du Maurier wrote in the Gothic genre as her novels often explored themes surrounding 'the unknown' such as death, the supernatural, and psychological horror.
1 Margaret Forster. Daphne du Maurier. Chatto & Windus Ltd. 1993.
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