Biography

Cook, Judith. Daphne: A Portrait of Daphne du Maurier. London: Bantam Press, 1991, 321 p.

Study of du Maurier's life and work. Cook describes du Maurier as "a strange, self-contained and introverted woman, a woman who had suffered an emotional onslaught in her early years, the blighting effect of which never left her."

Forster, Margaret. Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller. New York: Doubleday, 1993, 457 p.

Detailed account of du Maurier's life and career, including critical analysis and biographical interpretation of her works. Forster provides many previously unknown details about du Maurier's life, which she gathered from the letters and personal recollections of du Maurier's family, particularly her children, and her close friends.

Leng, Flavia. Daphne du Maurier: A Daughter's Memoir. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 1994, 206 p.

Childhood reminiscence focusing on family relationships and life at Menabilly.

Malet, Oriel, ed. Daphne du Maurier: Letters from Menabilly, Portrait of a Friendship. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1993, 303 p.

Collection of letters from du Maimer to her close friend and fellow author Oriel Malet. The letters, dating from the early 1950s to January 1981, discuss family and friends, the craft of writing, and books.

Criticism

Bleiler, E. F. "More Words and Pictures." The Washington Post Book World (December 27, 1987): 8.

Appreciates du Maurier's stories in Classics of the Macabre but finds the collection overall "an overproduced coffee-table book."

D'Ammassa, Don. Review of Classics of the Macabre. Science Fiction Chronicle 9, No. 5 (February 1988): 42.

Praises du Maurier's sense of timing and suspense and, noting the illustrations by Michael Foreman, calls it "a beautiful collection."

Ross, Mary. "Stories of Lives in Crisis." New York Herald Tribune Book Review (October 25, 1959): 13.

Favorable review of The Breaking Point in which Ross compliments du Maurier's storytelling ability.

Shallcross, Martyn. "Sinister Stories." In his The Private World of Daphne du Maurier, pp. 135-55. London: Robson Books, 1991.

Discusses the film adaptations of two of du Maurier's most famous short stories, "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now."

Siaulys, Anthony. Review of Don't Look Now. Best Sellers 31, No. 15 (November 1971): 353-54.

Positive assessment of Don't Look Now, noting that du Maurier has "the mark of a great suspense writer."

Smith, Harrison. 'The Anatomy of Terror." The Saturday Review, New York (March 14, 1953): 29, 52.

Review of Kiss Me Again, Stranger, in which Smith finds that du Maurier "has the gift of making believable the unbelievable."

Additional coverage of du Maurier's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Gale Research: Contemporary Authors, Vols. 5-8 (rev. ed.), 128; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 6; Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vols. 6, 11, 59; Major 20th-century Writers; and Something about the Author, Vols. 27, 60.