"On December the third the wind changed overnight and it was winter. Until then the autumn had been mellow, soft. The leaves had lingered on the trees, golden red, and the hedgerows were still green. The earth was rich where the plough had turned it."
A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world.
The mountain paradise of 'Monte Verità ' promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd . . .
***
I do not usually review classic books such as this one. After all, it has been a much discussed book by people who are much more qualified to do so than I am.
However, I did just want to let you all know how much I enjoyed this book. The Birds is an extremely well known story which was adapted for screen by Alfred Hitchcock. I have never seen the film but friends tell me that it is really scary.
I am not a fan of either horror books or films and I did not feel that any of the stories in this book belonged squarely in the horror genre. I would describe them as disquieting and well worth reading.
There are six short stories in this volume. The first being The Birds, but also Monte Verita, The Apple Tree, The Little Photographer, Kiss Me Again, Stranger and The Old Man.
They are all good stories within their own right and I would encourage you to give them a try.
ISBN: 978 1844080878
Publisher: Virago Modern Classics
About the Author:
Daphne du Maurier (1907–89) was born in London, the daughter of the famous actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of George du Maurier, the author and artist. A voracious reader, she was from an early age fascinated by imaginary worlds and even created a male alter ego for herself.
Educated at home with her sisters and later in Paris, she began writing short stories and articles in 1928, and in 1931 her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published. A biography of her father and three other novels followed, but it was the novel Rebecca that launched her into the literary stratosphere and made her one of the most popular authors of her day.
In 1932, du Maurier married Major Frederick Browning, with whom she had three children. Besides novels, du Maurier published short stories, plays and biographies. Many of her bestselling novels became award-winning films, and in 1969 du Maurier was herself awarded a DBE. She lived most of her life in Cornwall, the setting for many of her books, and when she died in 1989, Margaret Forster wrote in tribute:
‘No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied too the exacting requirements of “real literature”, something very few novelists ever do’.
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