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A review by courtneydoss
Manderley Forever by Tatiana de Rosnay
3.0
Daphne du Maurier is one of my favorite authors. I own almost all of her books and one of my prized possessions is an autographed copy of Jamaica Inn. However, what I knew about Daphne du Maurier as a person was rather limited up until I read this book. There is always a possibility when you find a public figure that something within their history will be enough to dampen your affection for their work, and honestly I worried about that when it came to du Maurier. Tatiana de Rosnay's biography, though, is full of such genuine affection for her subject that I wasn't bothered by the darker aspects of du Maurier's personality. I think this book handled well the duality of du Maurier and showed empathy in its description of some of du Maurier's more questionable actions.
However, this book was oddly composed. Tied together by the authors visit to different locations from du Maurier's life, the book is written almost as a novelization of her lifetime. There is a lot of present tense language that attributes thoughts and emotions to the characters within du Maurier's life that aren't sourced enough for a reader to determine what is fact backed up by first person accounts and what is conjecture. Because of the way that de Rosnay chose to write this biography, the placing of footnotes to account for sourcing may have appeared out of place, as the whole thing is framed more along the lines of a creative work than an academic biography.
I think that finding a biography that approaches du Maurier as a historical figure and studied academically is not likely for a very long time, as du Maurier is a rather modern author by biography standards. She only died in 1989 and has immediate family members still living. Because of this, her biographies are necessarily inhibited by respect for those that loved her. While this book hardly hides less than honorable parts of her past, there is an embargo on her early journals and of course there are aspects of her life that have not been revealed to the public. They may never be revealed to the public, or may be revealed many years later as was the case with Charlotte Bronte and her love letters to Constantin Heger. We simply don't know.
Either way, I think that Daphne du Maurier is a very interesting figure. The unusual duality of her gender identity, her struggles with her sexual identity, and her internalized homophobia are incredibly interesting, as is her profound love of history and Cornwall. I enjoyed this book, and look forward to the day when another biography of du Maurier is written.
However, this book was oddly composed. Tied together by the authors visit to different locations from du Maurier's life, the book is written almost as a novelization of her lifetime. There is a lot of present tense language that attributes thoughts and emotions to the characters within du Maurier's life that aren't sourced enough for a reader to determine what is fact backed up by first person accounts and what is conjecture. Because of the way that de Rosnay chose to write this biography, the placing of footnotes to account for sourcing may have appeared out of place, as the whole thing is framed more along the lines of a creative work than an academic biography.
I think that finding a biography that approaches du Maurier as a historical figure and studied academically is not likely for a very long time, as du Maurier is a rather modern author by biography standards. She only died in 1989 and has immediate family members still living. Because of this, her biographies are necessarily inhibited by respect for those that loved her. While this book hardly hides less than honorable parts of her past, there is an embargo on her early journals and of course there are aspects of her life that have not been revealed to the public. They may never be revealed to the public, or may be revealed many years later as was the case with Charlotte Bronte and her love letters to Constantin Heger. We simply don't know.
Either way, I think that Daphne du Maurier is a very interesting figure. The unusual duality of her gender identity, her struggles with her sexual identity, and her internalized homophobia are incredibly interesting, as is her profound love of history and Cornwall. I enjoyed this book, and look forward to the day when another biography of du Maurier is written.