Daphne Du Maurier 1907 - 1989 If You Were Asked to Think of an Author Who Has Written Books with Storylines Based in Cornwall Then Daphne Du Maurier Is the Name Most
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BEST OF CORNWALL 2020 Daphne du Maurier 1907 - 1989 If you were asked to think of an author who has written books with storylines based in Cornwall then Daphne du Maurier is the name most Daphne Du Maurier likely to spring to mind. The du Maurier family had holidayed in Cornwall throughout Daphne’s childhood and in 1926 her parents Sir Gerald and Lady Muriel du Maurier bought Ferryside, a house on the Bodinnick side of the river Fowey on the south coast of Cornwall. Daphne seized every opportunity to spend time at Browning had a stellar army career which at the end Ferryside and it was here in 1931 that she wrote The of it saw him Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Loving Spirit, her first novel. This book, whilst not leading Montague ‘Boy’ Browning, GCVO, KBE, CB, DSO. Early to literary fame, led to her marrying the then Major in 1948 he became Comptroller and Treasurer to HRH Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning who was so taken by the book Princess Elizabeth and after she became Queen in 1952 he that in 1932 he sailed his motor boat to Fowey where he became treasurer in the Office of the Duke of Edinburgh. met du Maurier, wooed her and married her three months He retired in 1959 having suffered a nervous breakdown a later in Lanteglos Church. couple of years earlier and died at Menabilly in 1965. Du Maurier’s study © Jamaica Inn 24 BEST OF CORNWALL 2020 In 1936 Daphne du Maurier joined her husband in Inn where du Maurier stayed for a few more nights and Alexandria where he had been posted and where by all learned of the inn’s smuggling history which proved the accounts she spent an unhappy 4 years. She returned to inspiration for her novel, Jamaica Inn. England in 1940 and stayed with friends in Hertfordshire In Jamaica Inn’s Daphne du Maurier Museum there are where, in 1941, she wrote Frenchman’s Creek a tale of a many of the author’s personal items including her desk, love affair between an English lady and a French pirate. typewriter and several recently acquired letters written to Frenchman’s Creek is a real creek on the Helford River which du Maurier or her husband by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, is one of the most beautiful rivers in the country and well Prince Charles and Field Marshall Montgomery. If you are worth a visit. (Boat hire available from Sailaway St Anthony interested in the life and work of du Maurier then a stop at 01326 231357). Jamaica Inn is highly recommended. On her return to Cornwall she rented a cottage at The complete list of du Maurier novels is: Readymoney Cove in Fowey before, in 1943, moving two 1931 The Loving Spirit miles to the west of Fowey to the magnificent Menabilly 1932 I’ll Never be Young Again on the Rashleigh estate which has been the inspiration 1933 Julius for Rebecca with the opening line ‘Last night I dreamt I 1936 Jamaica Inn went to Manderley again.”. It was here that she wrote 1938 Rebecca The King’s General, My Cousin Rachel, The Apple Tree and 1941 Frenchman’s Creek The Scapegoat. Daphne du Maurier lived at Menabilly until 1943 Hungry Hill 1969 when she moved down the coast to Kilmarth which 1946 The King’s General was another house owned by the Rashleighs and where 1949 The Parasites she lived until her death in 1989. In a similar way that 1951 My Cousin Rachel Manderlay in Rebecca was based on Menabilly, the history 1954 Mary Anne of Kilmarth was reflected inHouse on the Strand. 1957 The Scapegoat The book that established du Maurier as an author 1962 Castle Dor was Jamaica Inn which was published in 1936. The tale 1963 The Glass Blowers set high on Bodmin Moor was made into a film by Alfred 1965 The Flight of the Falcon Hitchcock in 1938 since when there have been radio, stage 1969 The House on the Strand and television adaptations, the most recent being in 2014 1972 Rule Britannia when BBC One ran a prime time three-parter starring Jessica Brown Findlay, Matthew McNulty and Sean Harris. Daphne du Maurier’s novels with their romance, crime, psychological intrigue and, in the case of The Birds, horror have been much loved by filmmakers who to date have adapted them into works for the cinema or television screens well in excess of fifty times. Jamaica Inn still exists and is situated literally just a stone’s throw off the A30 at Bolventor (PL15 7TS). The Inn was the inspiration for the novel when in 1930 Daphne du Part of a letter from HM Maurier stayed the night and went riding with a friend the Queen Elizabeth II to du following day only to get lost when mist descended in the Maurier’s husband Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning © Jamaica Inn late afternoon. Luckily their horses led them back to Jamaica Jamaica Inn 25.