The Birds and Other Stories - Daphne Du Maurier

...ago. I tried to read the novel then, but could not get into it at all.
So, last year, in preparation for my summer holiday, I browsed the local discount bookshop for some holiday reads, and decided to have a go at Rebecca again. This time I couldn't put it down. Its just as dark as the film, and because of the gap between watching the film and reading the book, the conclusion was a complete surprise to me. Great stuff.

So, having ...
...more of her books - the most recent being 'The Birds and Other Stories', fist published in 1952. I was particularily drawn to this, because firstly I didn't realise that this was the inspiration for yet another Hitchcock film, and because I love the art of an author being able to grab your attention and write a memorable story in so few pages.

So the book starts with a short biography on Du Maurier who died in 1989 having written numerous ... more

I first heard of Daphne Du Maurier when watching Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca with my mum one Sunday afternoon many a year ago. I tried to read the novel then, but could not get into it at all.
So, last year, in preparation for my summer holiday, I browsed the local discount bookshop for some holiday reads, and decided to have a go at Rebecca again. This time I couldn't put it down. Its just as dark as the film, and because of the gap between watching the film and reading the book, the conclusion was a complete surprise to me. Great stuff.

So, having now become a Daphne Du Maurier fan I decided to try out a few more of her books - the most recent being 'The Birds and Other Stories', fist published in 1952. I was particularily drawn to this, because firstly I didn't realise that this was the inspiration for yet another Hitchcock film, and because I love the art of an author being able to grab your attention and write a memorable story in so few pages.

So the book starts with a short biography on Du Maurier who died in 1989 having written numerous novels, biographies, plays and short stories and been awarded a DBE in 1969. We then to onto a introduction by David Thompson who sums up each story for us (I have to admit that I never read the introductions as I like to discover the story for myself). Infact, I have decided just to give a very brief description of each story so as not to spoil your enjoyment. And so we get to each story:

The Birds

A strange winter wind blows in flocks of birds, from eagles to sparrows and wrens, who wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Britain, who find a new use for the air-raid sirens.

Monte Verita

A beautiful young woman marries and falls in love with her husbands best friend. However, her real love is the idea of eternal life - which can be found on the mysterious Monte Verita mountain.

The Apple Tree

After the death of the wife he had come to resent, an old withering Apple Tree takes on the ghostly presence of his deceased wife, and eventually takes its hold over him.

The Little Photographer

A bored rich wife embarks on a summer affair with a disabled photographer. His love for her is too strong to bear and must be quashed at all costs.

Kiss Me Again, Stanger

A hard working gentle mechanic falls in love with a cinema usherette with a hate of the RAF.

The Old Man

A story about a the relations of a family living by a lake with an unexpected ending.

Each story is dark and beautifully written. Death and murder seem to feature largely, and no-one is ever happy for long. But, each story holds your attention and leaves you wanting more.
A great introduction to a fabulous author who, in the words of Margaret Foster in her tribute to Du Maurier after her death, wrote ' No other popular writer has so triumpthantly defied classification ... She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied too the exacting requirements of "real literature",something very few novelists ever do'.

A great way of introducing yourself to a great author. I may well have read Rebecca alot earlier if I had read these short stories first.

Not to be missed! 

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