Daphne Du Maurier

Review: Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster NY: Bantam/Doubleday, 1993. This is a very well researched and organized biography of the gifted woman who gave us "The Birds," "Rebecca," and "Jamaica Inn." There is a detaled, outlined table of contents as well as an extensive family tree and several pages of photos grouped according to chronology. The index is also comprehensive. Forster is also a novelist, and her style is easy to read but not condescending. DDM captures the imagaination of many of us who specialize in 19th and 20th c. British literature. "Rebecca" has always been one of my favorite books, first read when I was 13, and reread many times over. The film is also captivating, and I found the short story of "The Birds" far creepier and more frightening than any film. Recommended for fans of DDM, biography, The Brontes, the gothic novel, literary bio, memoir, 19th/20th c lit and women's studies