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A review by wishesandpages
Manderley for ever by Tatiana de Rosnay
3.0
3.5 stars
I love Daphne du Maurier with my entire heart. If you've only read Rebecca by her, please give her books another chance. That's what she wanted. Don't categorize her as a romance writer. She isn't. She was such a great writer, who tried out so many genres, fiction, non-fiction, plays, and so on.
A few things bothered me in this biography though, like how the author put herself in the narrative at the beginning of each section of the book, or how much she focused on the French translations of du Maurier's books. I understand that it was written in French, but du Maurier was an English writer. Yes, France was so important to her, but it's not a reason. Also, as I read it in French, I would have liked for Tatiana de Rosnay to put the English titles of du Maurier's works, because I always had to look them up on the Internet (it quite puzzles me because de Rosnay herself read du Maurier in English, but oh well), I know it sounds snob but once again, du Maurier wrote in English. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this biography and I loved that Tatiana de Rosnay talked so much of what inspired du Maurier to writer her work. It meant the world to me to learn how she came to write The Loving Spirit, as it was her first novel and she had put so much of herself in it. Reading the last few pages was painful and I have to admit I cried, I really didn't want to say goodbye to Daphne, but that's how it is, unfortunately.
I love Daphne du Maurier with my entire heart. If you've only read Rebecca by her, please give her books another chance. That's what she wanted. Don't categorize her as a romance writer. She isn't. She was such a great writer, who tried out so many genres, fiction, non-fiction, plays, and so on.
A few things bothered me in this biography though, like how the author put herself in the narrative at the beginning of each section of the book, or how much she focused on the French translations of du Maurier's books. I understand that it was written in French, but du Maurier was an English writer. Yes, France was so important to her, but it's not a reason. Also, as I read it in French, I would have liked for Tatiana de Rosnay to put the English titles of du Maurier's works, because I always had to look them up on the Internet (it quite puzzles me because de Rosnay herself read du Maurier in English, but oh well), I know it sounds snob but once again, du Maurier wrote in English. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this biography and I loved that Tatiana de Rosnay talked so much of what inspired du Maurier to writer her work. It meant the world to me to learn how she came to write The Loving Spirit, as it was her first novel and she had put so much of herself in it. Reading the last few pages was painful and I have to admit I cried, I really didn't want to say goodbye to Daphne, but that's how it is, unfortunately.