Daphne Du Maurier Omnibus 4

Includes Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier's best-known and bestselling novel, is the classic tale of a young woman who marries handsome widower Maxim de Winter and moves to his great house at Manderley in Cornwall, only to find that all is not as it first seems . . . In My Cousin Rachel, Philip Ashley, an orphan raised by his benevolent cousin Ambrose, is drawn into the orbit of Ambrose's beautiful, mysterious new wife Rachel.

Includes the novels Frenchman's Creek and Hungry Hill, and the story collection The Birds & Other Stories. Frenchman's Creek tells the story of Lady Dona St Columb's escape from the Restoration Court in search of love and adventure at Navron in Cornwall. Hungry Hill is a powerful tale of the feud between two great families, the Donovans and the Brodricks. Daphne du Maurier's short story 'The Birds' was the basis for the classic Hitchcock film.

Includes Jamaica Inn, The Flight of the Falcon, The King's General, The Glass Blowers, Mary Anne, and The Breaking Point & Other Stories. Jamaica Inn weaves a tale of mystery at the eponymous inn on Cornwall's bleak moorlands. The Flight of the Falcon is set in the Italian town of Ruffano: in the 20th century the town has nearly forgotten its violent history, but is it still stained by its dark past? Set in the 17th century at Menabilly in Cornwall, The King's General is the story of a country and a family riven by war. The French Revolution is the backdrop to The Glass Blowers, a tale of family tragedy. Mary Anne is a vivid portrait of one woman's ambition as she rises from ordinary beginnings to become an influential royal mistress to the Duke of York.

Includes The House on the Strand, Julius, The Loving Spirit and The Doll: Short Stories. Written in the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft, The House on the Strand is a gripping, time-travelling horror tale. The eponymous hero of Julius is a quick-witted urchin caught up in the Franco-Prussian war, who is soon on his way to seek a fortune in London. The Loving Spirit, Daphne du Maurier's first published novel, is the history of the lives, loves and hardships of a Cornish family at the turn of the twentieth century. This omnibus also includes The Doll, a collection of some of du Maurier's most thrilling short stories.

J. M. Barrie has long been a controversial figure; as D. H. Lawrence observed in 1921, 'Barrie has a fatal touch for those he loves. They die'. The five nervous breakdowns, two suicides, one attempted suicide and numerous deaths that are associated with him blacken the reputation of a man adored by generations of children. However, what is less well known is that Barrie's malign influence grew out of his infatuation with the du Maurier family, particularly with the hypnotist, George du Maurier, creator of Svengali; with George's daughter and grandsons (models for the Darlings in Peter Pan); and with his enigmatic granddaughter, Daphne du Maurier, author of Rebecca and Barrie's final victim, whose life and work can never again be considered without reference to 'Unlce Jim'.