My obsessions don’t make me a better person. They eat up too much time and energy and can turn me into an absolute bore but, they are part of me. I find an interesting subject and suddenly I have to know everything about it. That’s the mark of an obsessive and, as I say, it has its downfalls. But sometimes that drive yields obscure treasures. Obsession is one reason I love Daphne Du Maurier’s stories. Two of her most famous works, (Rebecca and My Cousin, Rachel) are about the mania of being haunted by a subject. And, according to at least one biography, the Du Maurier had a literary obsession that I share: the Bronte family. Trust me, this makes sense. [amazon_link asins=’1844080757′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’theboothafoly-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c56111b5-9f60-11e8-83e8-4976ecd4bd23′] The Unforgettable Bronte Siblings The Bronte sisters are a fascinating subject, whether you are studying literature or history. Three adult sisters, with minimal resources, strove to support themselves as writers, when the publishing world of publishing was pretty much closed to women. The sisters created poems and novels that often dealt with obsession. The novels become best-sellers and then literary classics, studied and loved ever since. The Bronte girls all attained incredible literary success…
It’s funny how some writers go in and out of style. Some storytellers are flaming hot properties in one decade, and out of print in the next. You never can tell who will outlast their lifetimes. Taylor Caldwell, Edna Ferber and Thomas Chastain were royalty on the mid-century best-seller list, but I doubt if they’re remembered at all today beyond Ferber’s writing the source novel for Showboat. Daphne du Maurier fares a little better because of Rebecca and because a biography suggesting she was a lesbian but beyond that and a couple of short stories that were adapted into films, her name doesn’t ring many bells. That’s a shame because she was a prolific writer with more than thirty books to her credit and no one else created “mood” with words as well as she did. If you think I’m thinking of Rebecca again, I’m not. Her greatest “atmospheric” novel is, for me, My Cousin, Rachel. Rachel is a novel about the damage caused by doubt. In the beginning, Ambrose Ashley and his nephew Philip are completely sure of their spots in the world. Ambrose is the master of a Cornish estate and the guardian of Philip, his heir. Their lives are bound by the…
I remember the summer I met her. I was in junior high, to old for kid’s books and too young (and snobbish) for the historical romances my mother favored. When I whined that I wanted something new to read, Mom looked at me thoughtfully and handed me a library book with a drawing of the English countryside on the cover. “Try this” she said.”It’s surprising.” I glanced at the title, turned to the first paragraph and was hooked with the first line,”Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Some forty years later and I’m still hooked, returning as often as possible to the house in Cornwall called Manderly. You see, I’m obsessed with Rebecca. For Rebecca is a novel about obsession. The book began while the author, Daphne du Maurier, was living Egypt with her husband, Lt. Col. Tommy Browning and it grew out of two secret obsessions of her own: her intense homesickness for England and a packet of letters she found. The letters were from an unstable, beautiful woman Tommy had been engaged to for a short time, long before he met Daphne. Daphne and Tommy had not been married all that long when she found…