Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989), novelist, was the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald du Maurier (1873-1934), and his wife Muriel, and the granddaughter of the artist and novelist George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (1834-1896), artist and novelist. Daphne du Maurier grew up in Cumberland Terrace, London, and Cannon Hall, Hampstead, but her family developed strong links with Cornwall after buying a riverside house near Fowey, and it was in Cornwall that Daphne settled. She began publishing stories and articles in 1928; her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931 by Heineman. There followed The Progress of Julius (Heineman, 1933) and Gerald, a portrait (Gollancz, 1934) before her first enduring success, Jamaica Inn, which was published by Gollancz in 1936. Two years later she published her most significant and best-loved novel, Rebecca . Besides these she published a number of other novels, short-stories and biographical portraits, blending history and literary art in some, while developing her own unique vision of the macabre in others. She published one volume of autobiography, Growing Pains about her early life in 1977. In 1932 she married Frederick A. M. Browning, later Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick (d1965); they had one son and two daughters.

From the guide to the Du Maurier Papers, c.1893-1981, (University of Exeter)

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