An NYRB Original
A dead child appears in the alleyways of Venice; routine eye surgery reveals the beast within to a meek housewife; nature in revolt against man’s abuse turns a harmless species into a force
that threatens humankind; a dalliance with a beautiful stranger offers something more dangerous than a broken heart. In Daphne du Maurier’s stories, the stuff of everyday life—grief, the limits
of self-knowledge, battles between the sexes, and environmental degradation—burst through the ordinary into the realm of the uncanny.
This new selection of du Maurier stories, chosen from the span of her extraordinarily fruitful career, represents the author at her most chilling and most psychologically astute, looking back
to the Gothic masterpieces of the Brontës and forward to the work of Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood. Here novelist Patrick McGrath revisits some of the best-known examples of du Maurier’s
output, like “The Birds” and “Don’t Look Now,” and unearths hidden gems—many of which have been unavailable for years. This book is an excellent introduction to one of the greatest storytellers
of the twentieth century and a deeper exploration of one of its most prodigious imaginations.
