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Angela du Maurier's autobiography #1
It's Only the Sister: an autobiography
Despite being 'only the sister' Angela managed to avoid living in her sister's shadow as Margaret Forster in her obituary notice in The Independent wrote "...in spite of envying Daphne's success, Angela was not made bitter by it and the sisters remained devoted to each other."
She first wanted to be an actor and played Wendy for two seasons, including crashing whilst flying. But later she wanted to write and it was bad luck that the publication of her early novels coincided with Daphne's enormous success with Jamaica Inn and Rebecca. Altogether she published eleven books including two volumes of autobiography of which this is the first.
Born in 1904 into a famous theatrical family Angela's memoirs are a fascinating insight into a lost world of Edwardian glamour. Later in Cornwall she worked the land during the war--in between she travelled in Europe and met an extraordinary number of people. A life of infinite variety, lived to the full by a very gregarious woman.
She first wanted to be an actor and played Wendy for two seasons, including crashing whilst flying. But later she wanted to write and it was bad luck that the publication of her early novels coincided with Daphne's enormous success with Jamaica Inn and Rebecca. Altogether she published eleven books including two volumes of autobiography of which this is the first.
Born in 1904 into a famous theatrical family Angela's memoirs are a fascinating insight into a lost world of Edwardian glamour. Later in Cornwall she worked the land during the war--in between she travelled in Europe and met an extraordinary number of people. A life of infinite variety, lived to the full by a very gregarious woman.
265 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
About the author
Angela du Maurier
22 books10 followersAngela du Maurier was born on 1 March 1904 in London, the eldest of three daughters of prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel, née Beaumont. Born into a family with a rich artistic and historical background, her paternal grandfather was author and Punch cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the 1894 novel Trilby, and her mother was a maternal niece of journalist, author, and lecturer Comyns Beaumont. She and her sisters were indulged as a children and grew up enjoying enormous freedom from financial and parental restraint. Her middle sister, was the famous writer Daphne du Maurier, and her younger sister Jeanne was a painter.
Originally aspiring to follow the family tradition of acting, she planned to be an actress and spent two seasons on the stage. She played Wendy Darling alongside both Gladys Cooper and Dorothy Dickson as Peter Pan. She worked on the land in Cornwall during the war and travelled extensively in Europe. She later turned to writing, with the release of her earlier works coinciding with the publication of her sister's Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Her works of fiction include The Road to Leenane, Pilgrims by the Way, The Perplexed Heart, Reveille and Treveryan. She lived at Ferryside, the family house in Cornwall, for most of her life.
She died in Wandsworth, London, aged 97.
From Wikipedia
Originally aspiring to follow the family tradition of acting, she planned to be an actress and spent two seasons on the stage. She played Wendy Darling alongside both Gladys Cooper and Dorothy Dickson as Peter Pan. She worked on the land in Cornwall during the war and travelled extensively in Europe. She later turned to writing, with the release of her earlier works coinciding with the publication of her sister's Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Her works of fiction include The Road to Leenane, Pilgrims by the Way, The Perplexed Heart, Reveille and Treveryan. She lived at Ferryside, the family house in Cornwall, for most of her life.
She died in Wandsworth, London, aged 97.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 8, 2022
Perhaps not significant but an enjoyable memoir, Only the Sister is the memoir of Angela du Maurier, older sister of Daphne du Maurier. That has to be explained because Daphne’s sisters are virtually unknown today. Angela wrote a number of novels in her lifetime and they were reasonably popular. Most are out of print today. Even Daphne is mostly known for her pop gothic book, Rebecca, and the occasional movie that pops up.
Why read this? It is well written, funny and gives an excellent picture of life in a very well know theatrical family. Angela’s grandfather was George du Maurier who wrote very popular novels in the Victorian period and her father was Gerald du Maurier, a very well known theater actor and producer of the early 20th century. He was the original Captain Hook in Peter Pan and very big in his time. The family ran with a somewhat bohemian crowd and knew everyone who was anyone.
Angela’s memoir starts from early childhood when Gerald’s daughters are rubbing shoulders with all the notables of theatre, and as children she and her sisters produced, wrote (mostly Daphne) and performed their own dramas at home. The young du Maurier’s obviously had a good background for their future professions.
Angela dabbled in music, acting, and writing as well as travel and partying. Her novels were reasonably popular at the time but are almost all out of print today. The title “It’s Only the Sister” might suggest some resentment but I think that is mostly wrong. She’s quite good at laughing at herself and seemed to enjoy her relationships with Daphne and the rest of the family.
The other real positive here is what is shown about the times from her early childhood (born in 1904), the Great War, the 30s and through WWII and after .
Why read this? It is well written, funny and gives an excellent picture of life in a very well know theatrical family. Angela’s grandfather was George du Maurier who wrote very popular novels in the Victorian period and her father was Gerald du Maurier, a very well known theater actor and producer of the early 20th century. He was the original Captain Hook in Peter Pan and very big in his time. The family ran with a somewhat bohemian crowd and knew everyone who was anyone.
Angela’s memoir starts from early childhood when Gerald’s daughters are rubbing shoulders with all the notables of theatre, and as children she and her sisters produced, wrote (mostly Daphne) and performed their own dramas at home. The young du Maurier’s obviously had a good background for their future professions.
Angela dabbled in music, acting, and writing as well as travel and partying. Her novels were reasonably popular at the time but are almost all out of print today. The title “It’s Only the Sister” might suggest some resentment but I think that is mostly wrong. She’s quite good at laughing at herself and seemed to enjoy her relationships with Daphne and the rest of the family.
The other real positive here is what is shown about the times from her early childhood (born in 1904), the Great War, the 30s and through WWII and after .
January 24, 2011
The title refers to being only Daphne Du Maurier's sister, as a very rude woman once mistook her for Daphne, then realising her mistake called out to her husband, 'oh it's only the sister' before walking away. This memoir was written around the time I was born and, although of course it's incredibly dated, therein lies its fascination. She writes about a vanished world of the upper middle classes in the first half of the twentieth century and although at times it all seems very trivial, self-indulgent and twee, its authenticity and wit kept me reading -- there's a rich vein of social history here.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews