The Rendezvous and Other Stories

Description

The short stories which Daphne du Maurier has written throughout her career have always had a haunting quality, and from two of them - The Birds and Don't Look Now - memorable films have been made. The fourteen tales included in the present volume were written over a period of many years some of them before her first novels were published, others in her thirties and forties; they reflect many human emotions: romance, disenchantment, fantasy, nostalgia, ambition, irony, the longing for adventure. Each story is based on something du Maurier observed or overheard and will provide pleasure for every mood.

In many ways the life of Daphne du Maurier resembles that of a fairy tale. Born into a family with a rich artistic and historical background, the daughter of a famous actor-manager, she was indulged as a child and grew up enjoying enormous freedom from financial and parental restraint. She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, who married her.