Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters: The Hidden Lives of Piffy, Bird and Bing

Description

The Du Mauriers - three beautiful, successful and rebellious sisters, whose lives were bound in a family drama that inspired Angela and Daphne's best novels. Much has been written about Daphne but here the hidden lives of the sisters are revealed in a riveting group biography. The middle sister in a celebrated artistic dynasty, Daphne du Maurier is one of the master storytellers of our time, author of 'Rebecca', 'Jamaica Inn' and 'My Cousin Rachel'. Her success and fame were enhanced by films of her novels and horrifying short stories, 'Don't Look Now' and the unforgettable 'The Birds' among them. But this fame overshadowed her sisters Angela and Jeanne, a writer and an artist of talent, living quiet lives even more unconventional than Daphne's own. In this group biography they are considered side by side, as they were in life, three sisters brought up in the hothouse of a theatrical family with a peculiar and powerful father. This family dynamic reveals the hidden lives of Piffy, Bird & Bing, full of social non-conformity, creative energy and compulsive make-believe, their lives as psychologically complex as a Daphne du Maurier plot line.

Described by the Sunday Times as 'one of our best biographers', Jane Dunn writes about women and their relationships, and sisters in particular. Her books include a biography of the sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the bestseller 'Elizabeth & Mary', which looks at the lives of the cousin queens Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Bath with her husband the writer and linguist, Nicholas Ostler.

'Perceptive and exuberant ... a saga that is sparklingly re-told' The Times 'The fascination for readers is the different character and destiny of each sister, plus their relationships with one another and with the dynamics of the family romance - and few family romances have been more potent than that of the du Mauriers' Spectator 'Daphne is a compelling subject - passionate and cold, attractive and repellent ... Angela suffers, as she did in life ...from ... Daphne's infinitely more intriguing saga' Evening Standard 'Meticulous, perceptive ... it is a sign of Jane Dunn's generous professionalism that she accords the du Maurier girls the same respect that she gave Bloomsbury's high priestesses in her acclaimed study of Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell' Financial Times 'Engaging ... this book's strength lies in its account of a trio of lives developing during a period of class and gender upheaval, and the sisters' response to social change' Independent 'Compelling ... sensitive and sympathetic ... loneliness is the thudding heart of Dunn's book, about three pampered sisters who never quite overcame the handicap of not being boys' Daily Telegraph 'Jane Dunn specialises in female relationships, and she has found three splendid women for her new book ... Dunn writes with haunting delicacy ... and she evokes a long-lost England in which women felt deep passions and survived emotional hurricanes with amazing outward restraint' Mail on Sunday 'Dunn is excellent on the lesbian 1920s and 30s in London, with delicious detail' Guardian 'An original, well-researched and very readable book full of well-chosen details and perceptive observations. In the subject of rivalry between literary sisters Jane Dunn has found a little goldmine' Literary Review 'Intriguing and revelatory biography ... [of] complex and contradictory lives' Scotsman