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Jamaica Inn & The Birds and Other Stories
Contains the
Jamaica Inn
The Birds
Monte Verità
The Apple Tree
The Little Photographer
Kiss Me Again, Stranger
The Old Man
Jamaica Inn
The Birds
Monte Verità
The Apple Tree
The Little Photographer
Kiss Me Again, Stranger
The Old Man
503 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Daphne du Maurier
430 books10.4k followersDaphne du Maurier was born on 13 May 1907 at 24 Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, London, the middle of three daughters of prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel, née Beaumont. In many ways her life resembles a fairy tale. 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 elder sister, Angela du Maurier, also became a writer, and her younger sister Jeanne was a painter.
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story.
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 16, 2025
Firstly although I picked this version to show - it has the same picture as my book but it only had JAMAICA INN.
I started and read most of it on a Trip to Cornwall - cooried in a bedroom high in the rafters of an 18th Century Fishing Cottage that smugglers may have lived in.
I managed to see many of the Locations and had two visits to Jamaica INN!
I do feel seeing the locations did give me a greater understanding of the background of the plot... although there was a double reason for Dozmary Pool as it is also alleged to be the last resting place of Excaliaber...
I didn't want to finish it as it would mean my soujorn was over...
I hope, upon next reading that many happy memories will flood through my brain...
It isn't quite as strong a work as others by Daphne du Maurier but once you have seen the country you definately feel the history of it.
I started and read most of it on a Trip to Cornwall - cooried in a bedroom high in the rafters of an 18th Century Fishing Cottage that smugglers may have lived in.
I managed to see many of the Locations and had two visits to Jamaica INN!
I do feel seeing the locations did give me a greater understanding of the background of the plot... although there was a double reason for Dozmary Pool as it is also alleged to be the last resting place of Excaliaber...
I didn't want to finish it as it would mean my soujorn was over...
I hope, upon next reading that many happy memories will flood through my brain...
It isn't quite as strong a work as others by Daphne du Maurier but once you have seen the country you definately feel the history of it.
January 25, 2017
I love historical fiction, and enjoyed Jamaica Inn - definitely want to go see this area of Britain. Mary's character very well written. I did not know until I picked this up that Du Maurier had written The Birds - really good short story.
December 12, 2014
I only read the Jamaica Inn, but thought it was really good and not predictable.
December 25, 2024
Mary Yellan's mother dies and her aunt Patience agrees to take her in provided she follows certain conditions. Mary travels to the Bodmin moors, a desolate place
She discovers that her uncle is one of the Cornish smugglers and witnesses an alleged murder of a man. The Jamaica Inn is not a real inn but just a facade.
She wants to report her uncle to the magistrate but she stops herself for the concern for her aunt.
Revolving around the theme of crime, morality, trust and freedom, Daphne portrays a vivid picture of the Cornwall moors depicting the state of mind of the characters.
The narrative falters sometimes and lags in pace but overall keeps the reader engaged and on the edge of the seat. While Rebecca reminded me of Jane Eyre, The Jamaica Inn reminded me of Wuthering Heights.
She discovers that her uncle is one of the Cornish smugglers and witnesses an alleged murder of a man. The Jamaica Inn is not a real inn but just a facade.
She wants to report her uncle to the magistrate but she stops herself for the concern for her aunt.
Revolving around the theme of crime, morality, trust and freedom, Daphne portrays a vivid picture of the Cornwall moors depicting the state of mind of the characters.
The narrative falters sometimes and lags in pace but overall keeps the reader engaged and on the edge of the seat. While Rebecca reminded me of Jane Eyre, The Jamaica Inn reminded me of Wuthering Heights.
August 2, 2019
The birds was much more melancholy and devoid of hope than the movie.
The other short stories also held up well, and I feel like Daphne felt the constraints she put on her female characters in her longer works.
The other short stories also held up well, and I feel like Daphne felt the constraints she put on her female characters in her longer works.
November 24, 2020
I couldn't go to bed after reading this, too much excitement for me, i loved it.
March 5, 2025
Another compilation of works by du Maurier. Her short stories are absolutely riveting
August 27, 2016
Jamaica Inn - 3 Stars:
It was a good book and well written but it wasn't really for me. I didn't really like any of the characters and didn't believe the romantic relationship in the least. I couldn't stand the constant 'you're a woman so you can't do that' and 'if you/I were a man you/I could do this.', and I thought the story was a bit predictable and the climax was anticlimactic.
The Birds - 3.5 stars:
It was an interesting short story and I liked it, but it was nothing special.
Monte Verita - 3.75 stars:
I enjoyed my overall experience reading this, and it reminded me of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.
The Apple Tree - 3 stars:
Again, it was a good short story, but nothing special.
The Little Photographer - 3.75 stars:
Despite this reminding me of Lady Chatterly's Lover I really enjoyed this one and where it went.
Kiss Me Again, Stranger - 3 stars:
It was nicely written, but really predictable and under developed.
The Old Man - 2.5 stars:
This really needed to be longer and the ending really brought it down for me.
It was a good book and well written but it wasn't really for me. I didn't really like any of the characters and didn't believe the romantic relationship in the least. I couldn't stand the constant 'you're a woman so you can't do that' and 'if you/I were a man you/I could do this.', and I thought the story was a bit predictable and the climax was anticlimactic.
The Birds - 3.5 stars:
It was an interesting short story and I liked it, but it was nothing special.
Monte Verita - 3.75 stars:
I enjoyed my overall experience reading this, and it reminded me of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.
The Apple Tree - 3 stars:
Again, it was a good short story, but nothing special.
The Little Photographer - 3.75 stars:
Despite this reminding me of Lady Chatterly's Lover I really enjoyed this one and where it went.
Kiss Me Again, Stranger - 3 stars:
It was nicely written, but really predictable and under developed.
The Old Man - 2.5 stars:
This really needed to be longer and the ending really brought it down for me.
February 11, 2012
Jamaica Inn was good enough but ruined by the obvious villain and the terrible ending.
The Birds was creepy, as were the rest of the stories.
The Birds was creepy, as were the rest of the stories.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews