Vanishing Cornwall (1967) - non-fiction.The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte (1960) - non-fiction.The Breaking Point (1959) - short stories.The Apple Tree (1952) - short stories, later republished as The Birds and Other Stories as a result of the Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation.My Cousin Rachel (1951) - adapted into a film in 1952, and later again in 2017.The Years Between (1944) - stage play, adapted into a film in 1946.Frenchman's Creek (1941) - adapted into a film in 1944 starring Joan Fontaine, who'd previously played the second Mrs de Winter in Rebecca, and again in 1998 as a TV movie starring Tara Fitzgerald and marking the debut role of Anna Popplewell as her daughter.Rebecca (1938) - adapted into a stage play by Daphne herself in 1939 (not to be confused with the later musical), and made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940 subsequently adapted for TV in 1979, 19.Jamaica Inn (1936) - adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939 later adapted into a TV series in 19.The Progress of Julius (1933) - later republished as Julius.That said, she was very vocal about the negative portrayal of her late husband in the war film A Bridge Too Far, and appeared as a castaway on Desert Island Discs in 1977 (her chosen book being the collected works of Jane Austen).

In later life she became somewhat reclusive, to the point of not telling anyone she'd been made a Dame in 1969 (her children only found out about it from the newspapers) and even trying to get out of going to the ceremony.

After their marriage, she continued writing under her maiden name. They actually first met while he was visiting Cornwall on holiday, having been inspired to go there after reading her first novel, The Loving Spirit. Many of her novels and short stories have been successfully adapted into films, including three by Alfred Hitchcock.ĭu Maurier was married to the British Army officer Frederick Browning, who commanded the Airborne Division at Arnhem. Her works were bestsellers but weren't taken seriously by critics at first, although she has since earned an enduring reputation for narrative craft.

The daughter of two actors (Sir Gerald du Maurier and Muriel Beaumont), she was born in London but spent much of her life in Cornwall, where most of her works are set.Īlthough she's usually classed as a romantic novelist, her stories are actually almost Gothic, with overtones of the paranormal. 'Writers should be read, but neither seen nor heard.'ĭame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, DBE ( – 19 April 1989) was an English author and playwright.

The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier