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螆蟻蠂蔚蟿伪喂 魏伪魏慰魏伪喂蟻委伪
螚 螖维蠁谓畏 谓蟿喂 螠蠅蟻喂苇, 纬蠈谓慰蟼 魏伪位位喂蟿蔚蠂谓喂魏萎蟼 慰喂魏慰纬苇谓蔚喂伪蟼, 萎蟿伪谓 渭喂伪 纬蠀谓伪委魏伪 蟺慰蠀, 蟺伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 苇未蔚喂蠂谓蔚 蔚蠀蟿蠀蠂喂蟽渭苇谓畏 魏伪喂 萎蟻蔚渭畏, 尾伪蟽伪谓喂味蠈蟿伪谓 伪蟺蠈 蠁慰尾委蔚蟼 魏伪喂 苇渭渭慰谓蔚蟼 喂未苇蔚蟼. 螝伪喂 伪蠀蟿维 蟿伪 蟽蠀谓伪喂蟽胃萎渭伪蟿伪 蟿伪 蔚魏渭蔚蟿伪位位蔚蠉蟿畏魏蔚 蟽蟿畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎 蟿畏蟼 纬喂伪 谓伪 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬萎蟽蔚喂 渭慰谓伪未喂魏维 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 魏伪喂 未喂畏纬萎渭伪蟿伪 纬蔚渭维蟿伪 渭蠀蟽蟿萎蟻喂慰 魏伪喂 伪纬蠅谓委伪.
危蟿畏谓 蟺伪蟻慰蠉蟽伪 苇魏未慰蟽畏 蟺蔚蟻喂位伪渭尾维谓慰谓蟿伪喂 蟿苇蟽蟽蔚蟻喂蟼 谓慰蠀尾苇位蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 蔚尉蔚蟻蔚蠀谓慰蠉谓 尾伪胃喂维 蟻喂味蠅渭苇谓慰蠀蟼 蠁蠈尾慰蠀蟼 魏伪喂 蟺蠈胃慰蠀蟼, 渭蠀蟽蟿喂魏维 魏伪喂 蔚蟺喂胃蠀渭委蔚蟼: 苇谓伪蟼 渭慰谓伪蠂喂魏蠈蟼 魏伪胃畏纬畏蟿萎蟼 蔚蟻蔚蠀谓维 蟿畏谓 蠀蟺蠈胃蔚蟽畏 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未慰蠀蟼 味蔚蠉纬慰蠀蟼 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏伪谓蠋谓. 螠喂伪 谓蔚伪蟻萎 纬蠀谓伪委魏伪 苇蟻蠂蔚蟿伪喂 伪谓蟿喂渭苇蟿蠅蟺畏 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺伪蟻蔚位胃蠈谓 蟿慰蠀 蟺伪蟿苇蟻伪 蟿畏蟼. 螠喂伪 慰渭维未伪 蟺蟻慰蟽魏蠀谓畏蟿蠋谓 尾蟻委蟽魏蔚喂 蟿畏谓 魏伪蟿伪蟽蟿蟻慰蠁萎 蟽蟿畏谓 螜蔚蟻慰蠀蟽伪位萎渭. 螆谓伪蟼 蔚蟺喂蟽蟿萎渭慰谓伪蟼 蠂伪位喂谓伪纬蠅纬蔚委 蟿喂蟼 未蠀谓维渭蔚喂蟼 蟿慰蠀 渭蠀伪位慰蠉 渭蔚 蟿蟻慰渭伪魏蟿喂魏维 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位苇蟽渭伪蟿伪...
危蟿畏谓 蟺伪蟻慰蠉蟽伪 苇魏未慰蟽畏 蟺蔚蟻喂位伪渭尾维谓慰谓蟿伪喂 蟿苇蟽蟽蔚蟻喂蟼 谓慰蠀尾苇位蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 蔚尉蔚蟻蔚蠀谓慰蠉谓 尾伪胃喂维 蟻喂味蠅渭苇谓慰蠀蟼 蠁蠈尾慰蠀蟼 魏伪喂 蟺蠈胃慰蠀蟼, 渭蠀蟽蟿喂魏维 魏伪喂 蔚蟺喂胃蠀渭委蔚蟼: 苇谓伪蟼 渭慰谓伪蠂喂魏蠈蟼 魏伪胃畏纬畏蟿萎蟼 蔚蟻蔚蠀谓维 蟿畏谓 蠀蟺蠈胃蔚蟽畏 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未慰蠀蟼 味蔚蠉纬慰蠀蟼 螒渭蔚蟻喂魏伪谓蠋谓. 螠喂伪 谓蔚伪蟻萎 纬蠀谓伪委魏伪 苇蟻蠂蔚蟿伪喂 伪谓蟿喂渭苇蟿蠅蟺畏 渭蔚 蟿慰 蟺伪蟻蔚位胃蠈谓 蟿慰蠀 蟺伪蟿苇蟻伪 蟿畏蟼. 螠喂伪 慰渭维未伪 蟺蟻慰蟽魏蠀谓畏蟿蠋谓 尾蟻委蟽魏蔚喂 蟿畏谓 魏伪蟿伪蟽蟿蟻慰蠁萎 蟽蟿畏谓 螜蔚蟻慰蠀蟽伪位萎渭. 螆谓伪蟼 蔚蟺喂蟽蟿萎渭慰谓伪蟼 蠂伪位喂谓伪纬蠅纬蔚委 蟿喂蟼 未蠀谓维渭蔚喂蟼 蟿慰蠀 渭蠀伪位慰蠉 渭蔚 蟿蟻慰渭伪魏蟿喂魏维 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位苇蟽渭伪蟿伪...
367 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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18.9k people want to read
About the author
Daphne du Maurier
360听books9,500听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, n茅e 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. The nameless heroine has
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. The nameless heroine has
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July 9, 2017
*5/5* 伪蟽蟿苇蟻喂伪 蟽蟿畏谓 尾伪胃渭委未伪 伪尉喂慰位蠈纬畏蟽畏蟼 纬喂伪 渭喂伪 蔚尉蠅蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏萎 蟺苇谓伪.
围蟻蔚喂维味蔚蟿伪喂 魏维蟿喂 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟽蠈蟿蔚蟻慰 伪蟺慰 胃蔚蠆魏蠈 蟿伪位苇谓蟿慰 纬喂伪 谓伪 渭蟺慰蟻苇蟽蔚喂 苇谓伪蟼 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪蟼 蟽蔚 蔚位维蠂喂蟽蟿蔚蟼 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼 谓伪 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬萎蟽蔚喂 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠈位蠀蟿畏 慰位慰魏位萎蟻蠅蟽畏.
螒蠀蟿蠈 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿畏蟻委味蔚蟿伪喂 蠅蟼 渭蔚纬伪位蔚委慰,
蟺谓蔚蠀渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟼 蟺位慰蠉蟿慰蟼,维蟻喂蟽蟿畏 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂魏萎 蔚蟺喂未蔚尉喂蠈蟿畏蟿伪 魏伪喂 蔚蟺喂尾位畏蟿喂魏维 维渭蔚蟽畏 蠂蔚喂蟻伪纬蠋纬畏蟽畏 蟿蠅谓 蟽蠀谓伪喂蟽胃畏渭伪蟿喂魏蠋谓 蔚谓伪位位伪纬蠋谓.
螖畏位蠋谓蠅 伪喂蠋谓喂伪 蟺伪纬喂未蔚蠀渭苇谓畏 蟽'伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏蠈 蟽蠁蠀蟻慰魏蠈蟺畏渭伪 蟿畏蟼 Daphne du Maurier.
螚 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 魏伪喂 畏 蟺位慰魏萎 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽伪谓 伪尾委伪蟽蟿伪 谓伪 蔚尉伪蟺位蠅胃慰蠉谓 蟽蔚 苇谓伪 蟺慰位蠀蟽苇位喂未慰 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蠀蟽喂魏蠈 苇蟺慰蟼.
螖蔚谓 蔚委谓伪喂 慰蠀蟽喂蠋未蔚喂蟼 慰喂 蟺慰位位苇蟼 位蔚蟺蟿慰渭苇蟻蔚喂蔚蟼 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 蟺位慰魏萎 蟿畏蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪蟼. 螁位位蠅蟽蟿蔚 蟺蔚蟻喂纬蟻维蠁慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 慰蟺喂蟽胃蠈蠁蠀位位慰 魏伪喂 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位慰蠉谓 蟺位萎蟻畏 蟽蠉谓慰蠄畏.
螚 蟺伪蟻伪位蠀蟿喂魏萎 苇魏蟺位畏尉畏 蟿慰蠀 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿畏, 魏伪胃蠋蟼 魏伪喂 畏 蟽蟿伪胃蔚蟻维 伪蠀尉伪谓蠈渭蔚谓畏 伪纬蠅谓委伪,伪蟻蠂委味慰蠀谓 伪蟺慰 蟿喂蟼 蟺蟻蠋蟿蔚蟼 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼 魏伪喂 蔚尉蔚位委蟽蟽慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蔚 苇谓蟿伪蟽畏 魏伪喂 蟻蠀胃渭蠈 蔚谓伪位位伪蟽蟽蟽蠈渭蔚谓蠅谓 蟽魏畏谓蠋谓 渭蔚 纬蔚蠅渭蔚蟿蟻喂魏萎 蟺蟻蠈慰未慰.
螣喂 萎蟻蠅蔚蟼 蠂蠅蟻委味慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蔚 未蠀慰 魏伪蟿畏纬慰蟻委蔚蟼.
螚 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 蟺蔚蟻喂位伪渭尾维谓蔚喂 蟿畏谓 蟺委蟽蟿畏 蟽蟿慰谓 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂蟽渭蠈, 蟿喂蟼 伪蟺慰未蔚委尉蔚喂蟼,蟿伪 蔚蟺喂蠂蔚喂蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 维蟻谓畏蟽畏 蟽蔚 蠈蟿喂 伪谓伪蠁苇蟻蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 伪谓蔚尉萎纬畏蟿慰 魏伪喂 蟿慰 蠀蟺蔚蟻蠁蠀蟽喂魏蠈.
螚 未蔚蠉蟿蔚蟻畏 伪谓伪蠁苇蟻蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪 蟿畏蟼 蠂伪蟻喂蟽渭伪蟿喂魏萎蟼 蟺蟻蠈尾位蔚蠄畏蟼. 韦畏蟼 渭蔚蟿伪胃伪谓维蟿喂伪蟼 蠉蟺伪蟻尉畏蟼 魏伪喂 蟿畏蟼 蟿蟻慰渭伪魏蟿喂魏萎蟼 蠄蠀蠂喂魏萎蟼 蟺蟻慰谓慰畏蟿喂魏蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼.
韦慰 蟺伪蟻蔚位胃蠈谓 蔚蟺喂尾维位位蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 蟺伪蟻蠈谓 魏伪喂 畏 蔚蟺伪谓维位畏蠄畏 魏伪胃喂蔚蟻蠋谓蔚喂 蟿伪 纬蔚纬慰谓蠈蟿伪.
螆谓伪蟼 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈蟼 蟿蠈蟺慰蟼 魏维蟺慰蠀 蟽蟿畏 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪.
螤伪位喂苇蟼 蔚魏魏位畏蟽委蔚蟼 魏伪喂 蟽蟿蔚谓维 蟽慰魏维魏喂伪 渭蔚 位伪尾蠀蟻喂谓胃蠋未畏 渭慰蟻蠁萎.
螚 纬位蠀魏喂维 谓慰蟽蟿伪位纬委伪 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭喂魏蟻慰蠉 蟺伪喂未喂慰蠉 蟺慰蠀 蔚委谓伪喂 谓蔚魏蟻蠈.
螣喂 蟿蟻伪纬喂魏苇蟼 蠁喂纬慰蠉蟻蔚蟼 蟿蠅谓 纬慰谓喂蠋谓 蟺慰蠀 伪谓蟿苇蠂慰蠀谓 蟿慰 伪谓蠀蟺苇蟻尾位畏蟿慰.
螆谓伪蟼 未慰位慰蠁蠈谓慰蟼 蟺慰蠀 蟽魏慰蟻蟺维蔚喂 蠄蠀蠂苇蟼 蟽蟿伪 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓维 谓蔚蟻维
螠蔚蟽伪喂蠅谓喂魏苇蟼 纬苇蠁蠀蟻蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 蔚谓蠋谓慰蠀谓 蔚蟺慰蠂苇蟼 魏伪喂 胃蟻蠉位慰蠀蟼.
桅喂纬慰蠉蟻蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 蔚尉伪蠁伪谓委味慰谓蟿伪喂 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺慰 魏蟻伪蠀纬苇蟼 魏伪喂 慰蠀蟻位喂伪蠂蟿维.
桅伪谓蟿维蟽渭伪蟿伪 渭喂魏蟻蠋谓 蟺伪喂未喂蠋谓. 螖委未蠀渭蔚蟼 畏位喂魏喂蠅渭苇谓蔚蟼 纬蠀谓伪委魏蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 魏蠅蟺畏位伪蟿慰蠉谓 蟽蟿慰 渭伪魏维尾蟻喂慰. 螛位委蠄畏. 螒蟺蠈纬谓蠅蟽畏. 螒谓畏蟽蠀蠂委伪.
螆谓伪 魏蠈魏魏喂谓慰 伪未喂维尾蟻慰蠂慰...
螛蔚蠅蟻蠋 蟺蠅蟼 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 渭慰谓伪未喂魏蠈 苇蟻纬慰 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀,蟿慰 慰蟺慰委慰 纬慰畏蟿蔚蠉蔚喂 魏伪喂 蟽慰魏维蟻蔚喂 蔚蟺蔚喂未萎 魏伪胃蠈位畏 蟿畏 未喂维蟻魏蔚喂伪 蟿畏蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪蟼 慰 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿畏蟼 伪喂蟽胃维谓蔚蟿伪喂 维渭蔚蟽伪 蠈蠂喂 蟿畏谓 蔚蠉魏慰位畏 伪谓伪蟺维谓蟿蔚蠂畏 蟿蟻慰渭慰魏蟻伪蟿委伪,伪位位维 苇谓伪 未喂维蠂蠀蟿慰,尾伪胃蠉 魏伪喂 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈 蠁蠈尾慰 蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀蟽蟽蠅蟻蔚蠉蔚蟿伪喂 魏伪喂 尾伪蟻伪委谓蔚喂 蟽伪谓 伪蟻纬蠈蟼 蟺谓喂纬渭蠈蟼.
危蔚 伪蠀蟿萎谓 蟿畏谓 魏伪蟿维蟽蟿伪蟽畏 蟺蟻慰蟽胃苇蟿慰谓蟿伪喂 慰喂 蔚尉蔚位委尉蔚喂蟼 魏伪喂 慰喂 蔚谓伪位位伪纬苇蟼 渭苇蠂蟻喂 蟿畏谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪 蔚纬魏位畏渭伪蟿喂魏萎 未喂维蟽蟿伪蟽畏.
螝伪位萎 伪谓维纬谓蠅蟽畏!!
螤慰位位慰蠉蟼 伪蟽蟺伪蟽渭慰蠉蟼!!
围蟻蔚喂维味蔚蟿伪喂 魏维蟿喂 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟽蠈蟿蔚蟻慰 伪蟺慰 胃蔚蠆魏蠈 蟿伪位苇谓蟿慰 纬喂伪 谓伪 渭蟺慰蟻苇蟽蔚喂 苇谓伪蟼 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪蟼 蟽蔚 蔚位维蠂喂蟽蟿蔚蟼 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼 谓伪 未畏渭喂慰蠀蟻纬萎蟽蔚喂 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠈位蠀蟿畏 慰位慰魏位萎蟻蠅蟽畏.
螒蠀蟿蠈 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿畏蟻委味蔚蟿伪喂 蠅蟼 渭蔚纬伪位蔚委慰,
蟺谓蔚蠀渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟼 蟺位慰蠉蟿慰蟼,维蟻喂蟽蟿畏 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂魏萎 蔚蟺喂未蔚尉喂蠈蟿畏蟿伪 魏伪喂 蔚蟺喂尾位畏蟿喂魏维 维渭蔚蟽畏 蠂蔚喂蟻伪纬蠋纬畏蟽畏 蟿蠅谓 蟽蠀谓伪喂蟽胃畏渭伪蟿喂魏蠋谓 蔚谓伪位位伪纬蠋谓.
螖畏位蠋谓蠅 伪喂蠋谓喂伪 蟺伪纬喂未蔚蠀渭苇谓畏 蟽'伪蠀蟿蠈 蟿慰 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏蠈 蟽蠁蠀蟻慰魏蠈蟺畏渭伪 蟿畏蟼 Daphne du Maurier.
螚 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪 魏伪喂 畏 蟺位慰魏萎 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽伪谓 伪尾委伪蟽蟿伪 谓伪 蔚尉伪蟺位蠅胃慰蠉谓 蟽蔚 苇谓伪 蟺慰位蠀蟽苇位喂未慰 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蠀蟽喂魏蠈 苇蟺慰蟼.
螖蔚谓 蔚委谓伪喂 慰蠀蟽喂蠋未蔚喂蟼 慰喂 蟺慰位位苇蟼 位蔚蟺蟿慰渭苇蟻蔚喂蔚蟼 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 蟺位慰魏萎 蟿畏蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪蟼. 螁位位蠅蟽蟿蔚 蟺蔚蟻喂纬蟻维蠁慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 慰蟺喂蟽胃蠈蠁蠀位位慰 魏伪喂 伪蟺慰蟿蔚位慰蠉谓 蟺位萎蟻畏 蟽蠉谓慰蠄畏.
螚 蟺伪蟻伪位蠀蟿喂魏萎 苇魏蟺位畏尉畏 蟿慰蠀 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿畏, 魏伪胃蠋蟼 魏伪喂 畏 蟽蟿伪胃蔚蟻维 伪蠀尉伪谓蠈渭蔚谓畏 伪纬蠅谓委伪,伪蟻蠂委味慰蠀谓 伪蟺慰 蟿喂蟼 蟺蟻蠋蟿蔚蟼 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼 魏伪喂 蔚尉蔚位委蟽蟽慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蔚 苇谓蟿伪蟽畏 魏伪喂 蟻蠀胃渭蠈 蔚谓伪位位伪蟽蟽蟽蠈渭蔚谓蠅谓 蟽魏畏谓蠋谓 渭蔚 纬蔚蠅渭蔚蟿蟻喂魏萎 蟺蟻蠈慰未慰.
螣喂 萎蟻蠅蔚蟼 蠂蠅蟻委味慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蔚 未蠀慰 魏伪蟿畏纬慰蟻委蔚蟼.
螚 蟺蟻蠋蟿畏 蟺蔚蟻喂位伪渭尾维谓蔚喂 蟿畏谓 蟺委蟽蟿畏 蟽蟿慰谓 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂蟽渭蠈, 蟿喂蟼 伪蟺慰未蔚委尉蔚喂蟼,蟿伪 蔚蟺喂蠂蔚喂蟻萎渭伪蟿伪 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 维蟻谓畏蟽畏 蟽蔚 蠈蟿喂 伪谓伪蠁苇蟻蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 伪谓蔚尉萎纬畏蟿慰 魏伪喂 蟿慰 蠀蟺蔚蟻蠁蠀蟽喂魏蠈.
螚 未蔚蠉蟿蔚蟻畏 伪谓伪蠁苇蟻蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 伪位萎胃蔚喂伪 蟿畏蟼 蠂伪蟻喂蟽渭伪蟿喂魏萎蟼 蟺蟻蠈尾位蔚蠄畏蟼. 韦畏蟼 渭蔚蟿伪胃伪谓维蟿喂伪蟼 蠉蟺伪蟻尉畏蟼 魏伪喂 蟿畏蟼 蟿蟻慰渭伪魏蟿喂魏萎蟼 蠄蠀蠂喂魏萎蟼 蟺蟻慰谓慰畏蟿喂魏蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼.
韦慰 蟺伪蟻蔚位胃蠈谓 蔚蟺喂尾维位位蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰 蟺伪蟻蠈谓 魏伪喂 畏 蔚蟺伪谓维位畏蠄畏 魏伪胃喂蔚蟻蠋谓蔚喂 蟿伪 纬蔚纬慰谓蠈蟿伪.
螆谓伪蟼 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈蟼 蟿蠈蟺慰蟼 魏维蟺慰蠀 蟽蟿畏 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪.
螤伪位喂苇蟼 蔚魏魏位畏蟽委蔚蟼 魏伪喂 蟽蟿蔚谓维 蟽慰魏维魏喂伪 渭蔚 位伪尾蠀蟻喂谓胃蠋未畏 渭慰蟻蠁萎.
螚 纬位蠀魏喂维 谓慰蟽蟿伪位纬委伪 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭喂魏蟻慰蠉 蟺伪喂未喂慰蠉 蟺慰蠀 蔚委谓伪喂 谓蔚魏蟻蠈.
螣喂 蟿蟻伪纬喂魏苇蟼 蠁喂纬慰蠉蟻蔚蟼 蟿蠅谓 纬慰谓喂蠋谓 蟺慰蠀 伪谓蟿苇蠂慰蠀谓 蟿慰 伪谓蠀蟺苇蟻尾位畏蟿慰.
螆谓伪蟼 未慰位慰蠁蠈谓慰蟼 蟺慰蠀 蟽魏慰蟻蟺维蔚喂 蠄蠀蠂苇蟼 蟽蟿伪 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓维 谓蔚蟻维
螠蔚蟽伪喂蠅谓喂魏苇蟼 纬苇蠁蠀蟻蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 蔚谓蠋谓慰蠀谓 蔚蟺慰蠂苇蟼 魏伪喂 胃蟻蠉位慰蠀蟼.
桅喂纬慰蠉蟻蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 蔚尉伪蠁伪谓委味慰谓蟿伪喂 渭蔚蟿维 伪蟺慰 魏蟻伪蠀纬苇蟼 魏伪喂 慰蠀蟻位喂伪蠂蟿维.
桅伪谓蟿维蟽渭伪蟿伪 渭喂魏蟻蠋谓 蟺伪喂未喂蠋谓. 螖委未蠀渭蔚蟼 畏位喂魏喂蠅渭苇谓蔚蟼 纬蠀谓伪委魏蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 魏蠅蟺畏位伪蟿慰蠉谓 蟽蟿慰 渭伪魏维尾蟻喂慰. 螛位委蠄畏. 螒蟺蠈纬谓蠅蟽畏. 螒谓畏蟽蠀蠂委伪.
螆谓伪 魏蠈魏魏喂谓慰 伪未喂维尾蟻慰蠂慰...
螛蔚蠅蟻蠋 蟺蠅蟼 蟺蟻蠈魏蔚喂蟿伪喂 纬喂伪 渭慰谓伪未喂魏蠈 苇蟻纬慰 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀,蟿慰 慰蟺慰委慰 纬慰畏蟿蔚蠉蔚喂 魏伪喂 蟽慰魏维蟻蔚喂 蔚蟺蔚喂未萎 魏伪胃蠈位畏 蟿畏 未喂维蟻魏蔚喂伪 蟿畏蟼 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪蟼 慰 伪谓伪纬谓蠋蟽蟿畏蟼 伪喂蟽胃维谓蔚蟿伪喂 维渭蔚蟽伪 蠈蠂喂 蟿畏谓 蔚蠉魏慰位畏 伪谓伪蟺维谓蟿蔚蠂畏 蟿蟻慰渭慰魏蟻伪蟿委伪,伪位位维 苇谓伪 未喂维蠂蠀蟿慰,尾伪胃蠉 魏伪喂 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈 蠁蠈尾慰 蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀蟽蟽蠅蟻蔚蠉蔚蟿伪喂 魏伪喂 尾伪蟻伪委谓蔚喂 蟽伪谓 伪蟻纬蠈蟼 蟺谓喂纬渭蠈蟼.
危蔚 伪蠀蟿萎谓 蟿畏谓 魏伪蟿维蟽蟿伪蟽畏 蟺蟻慰蟽胃苇蟿慰谓蟿伪喂 慰喂 蔚尉蔚位委尉蔚喂蟼 魏伪喂 慰喂 蔚谓伪位位伪纬苇蟼 渭苇蠂蟻喂 蟿畏谓 蟿蔚位蔚蠀蟿伪委伪 蔚纬魏位畏渭伪蟿喂魏萎 未喂维蟽蟿伪蟽畏.
螝伪位萎 伪谓维纬谓蠅蟽畏!!
螤慰位位慰蠉蟼 伪蟽蟺伪蟽渭慰蠉蟼!!
September 7, 2016
Having seen the 1973 film adaptation of "Don't Look Now" many years ago which completely freaked me out, I thought this would somewhat take the gloss off the reading experience simply because it contained one of the most shocking finales in history, but thankfully I needn't have worried. Although the other four short stories in this collection are every bit as chilling it's "Don't Look Now" that stands out from the rest as a terrifying masterpiece of slow-burning tension, which is spine-chilling as hell but also tender and intimate, a perfect distillation of the confusion and desire that attend grief for a married couple, which, as the story progresses, adventures forward through the winding streets of Venice with the logic of a nightmare. After the death of their daughter Venice to degree becomes a sort of haven for the healing process, well that's until a seriously creepy old psychic clairvoyant predicts some rather disturbing happenings. This is in essence a haunting ghost story which looks at the close affinity of a loving couple and the emotional reactions of losing a child. And it's here I will stop for reasons of not giving too much away!. All the stories are, in their own way, refusals of comfort with the one thing in common being that unpleasant things happen to people, and in one way or another, there is little chance of escapism, Du Maurier certainly knows how to hold ones attention, you may know what's coming but not necessarily in the direction that is anticipated and that's a strong attribute to have.
You could be settled into the most comfy chair on the planet, but once she starts to weave her web of unnerving horror, just don't expect to stay that way.
You could be settled into the most comfy chair on the planet, but once she starts to weave her web of unnerving horror, just don't expect to stay that way.
September 18, 2024
Pretty Good! 馃檪
All of the stories are good, but some are even better.
The title story, 鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Now鈥�, is a story of the supernatural. A father discovers during a trip to Venice that he has precognition. Not that he believes in it. Too bad for him.
In 鈥淭he Way of the Cross鈥�, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is turned into a pilgrimage of misery for all participants, except a little boy...
With a newlywed wife succumbing to adultery, a member of the peer, unable to turn off her snobbery... and loses her 鈥渓ooks鈥�, her husband, a retired member of the military is incapable of forgetting his military life.
A nouveau rich couple is falling to pieces: The husband is having an affair with the young newlywed and his wife sees every activity as a charitable event. The parson doesn鈥檛 wish to be there, and has a humiliating incident with his pants. The old lady falls in a well and passes out.
There is no way that this story could not become my favorite.
Four stars. 鉁ㄢ湪鉁ㄢ湪
All of the stories are good, but some are even better.
The title story, 鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Now鈥�, is a story of the supernatural. A father discovers during a trip to Venice that he has precognition. Not that he believes in it. Too bad for him.
In 鈥淭he Way of the Cross鈥�, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is turned into a pilgrimage of misery for all participants, except a little boy...
With a newlywed wife succumbing to adultery, a member of the peer, unable to turn off her snobbery... and loses her 鈥渓ooks鈥�, her husband, a retired member of the military is incapable of forgetting his military life.
A nouveau rich couple is falling to pieces: The husband is having an affair with the young newlywed and his wife sees every activity as a charitable event. The parson doesn鈥檛 wish to be there, and has a humiliating incident with his pants. The old lady falls in a well and passes out.
There is no way that this story could not become my favorite.
Four stars. 鉁ㄢ湪鉁ㄢ湪
August 3, 2018
Daphne du Maurier takes a dip into the deep and murky waters of the human condition. What did she find there? Certainly not treasure. Egos punctured and hopes shattered, mysteries solved but in the worst way, the soul turned into a commodity, the wrecks of dreams and desires... just another day at the beach for the chilly and not particularly empathetic Ms. du Maurier, who is all too familiar with humanity's constant ability to fool itself.
The talent on display reminded me of both Ruth Rendell and Joyce Carol Oates. All three authors share the ability to effortlessly create characters that are recognizable and rooted in our reality, while maintaining a dispassionate detachment from those characters. Cold-blooded writers, writing about mainly unsympathetic people. Perhaps not a fun experience but there was certainly much to admire. Her prose is elegant; her characters are unpleasant but interesting; her themes are darkly fascinating; her disinterest in spelling things out and thus keeping her stories ambiguous is admirable.
The most famous of the collection, its title story "Don't Look Now" - about an ill-fated holiday in Venice - was certainly disturbing and memorable. And bleak. "Not After Midnight" had a strain of weird fantasy that made it all the more haunting. And bleak. "A Border-Line Case" pulls double duty as a mystery and an anti-romance; the story was continually tense. And bleak. "The Breakthrough" could have been a mournful exploration of things spiritual and material, but du Maurier's cold eye made the story feel more like a cautionary tale both desolate and eerie. And bleak.
My favorite was actually the most broadly comic: "The Way of the Cross". This scabrous farce details the trials and tribulations of a small tour group in Jerusalem. A miniature Ship of Fools. Nearly every character gets their very personalized and often quite cruel comeuppance (except for an ingenious child, who miraculously escapes punishment - but give him time). The worst, most excruciating embarrassment was surprisingly reserved for the irritable Reverend Babcock, forced to lead this band of snobs and hypocrites and liars. Poor Reverend! I actually thought du Maurier would leave him unscathed. Possibly because I saw myself in him, haha. But du Maurier makes it clear that a Reverend should not see himself as above his flock, even if he is in charge of a flock of assholes. Anyway, I laughed a lot in this story, I laughed until I choked.
The talent on display reminded me of both Ruth Rendell and Joyce Carol Oates. All three authors share the ability to effortlessly create characters that are recognizable and rooted in our reality, while maintaining a dispassionate detachment from those characters. Cold-blooded writers, writing about mainly unsympathetic people. Perhaps not a fun experience but there was certainly much to admire. Her prose is elegant; her characters are unpleasant but interesting; her themes are darkly fascinating; her disinterest in spelling things out and thus keeping her stories ambiguous is admirable.
The most famous of the collection, its title story "Don't Look Now" - about an ill-fated holiday in Venice - was certainly disturbing and memorable. And bleak. "Not After Midnight" had a strain of weird fantasy that made it all the more haunting. And bleak. "A Border-Line Case" pulls double duty as a mystery and an anti-romance; the story was continually tense. And bleak. "The Breakthrough" could have been a mournful exploration of things spiritual and material, but du Maurier's cold eye made the story feel more like a cautionary tale both desolate and eerie. And bleak.
My favorite was actually the most broadly comic: "The Way of the Cross". This scabrous farce details the trials and tribulations of a small tour group in Jerusalem. A miniature Ship of Fools. Nearly every character gets their very personalized and often quite cruel comeuppance (except for an ingenious child, who miraculously escapes punishment - but give him time). The worst, most excruciating embarrassment was surprisingly reserved for the irritable Reverend Babcock, forced to lead this band of snobs and hypocrites and liars. Poor Reverend! I actually thought du Maurier would leave him unscathed. Possibly because I saw myself in him, haha. But du Maurier makes it clear that a Reverend should not see himself as above his flock, even if he is in charge of a flock of assholes. Anyway, I laughed a lot in this story, I laughed until I choked.
August 4, 2022
The following review is on 'Don鈥檛 Look Now', the first story in the book.
A married couple take a vacation in Venice trying to get over the recent death of their daughter when they notice two old ladies staring across the room at them. And so begins this strange paranormal experience. I didn鈥檛 want to get lost in reporting back on a whole book of stories, so just read this one for now . I was impressed with the Nicholas Roeg film of the book in the seventies, but this original story knocked me out. It was just so beautifully crafted from start to finish and carried so much power with it. A fascinating 2 hour read!
A married couple take a vacation in Venice trying to get over the recent death of their daughter when they notice two old ladies staring across the room at them. And so begins this strange paranormal experience. I didn鈥檛 want to get lost in reporting back on a whole book of stories, so just read this one for now . I was impressed with the Nicholas Roeg film of the book in the seventies, but this original story knocked me out. It was just so beautifully crafted from start to finish and carried so much power with it. A fascinating 2 hour read!
May 14, 2021
The Year of Women--in which I'm devoting 2021 to reading female authors only--continues with Daphne du Maurier. It鈥檚 been a few years since I鈥檝e read and loved Rebecca and have had Don鈥檛 Look Now and Other Stories on my reading docket for some time. It contains five tales published together in 1971: Don鈥檛 Look Now, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross and The Breakthrough. The very first is the very best. The law of diminishing returns applied the more I read, with the collection taking a nose dive at the end of the second story and never recovering.
In Don鈥檛 Look Now, a married couple named John and Laura holiday in Venice, recovering from the death of their daughter who suffered a meningitis infection. At a restaurant, they're beguiled by a pair of middle-aged identical twin sisters, one of which appears fixated on John. He determines that twin to be blind. Laura follows the other one into the restroom and returns to confide to her husband that the blind twin had a vision of their daughter standing behind them. She added that John also has second sight but fails to realize it. Finally, the twins issue a warning that the couple will be in danger if they remain in Venice, none of which John takes seriously.
In Not After Midnight, a prep school headmaster named Timothy Grey holidays on the Greek isle of Crete. Rejecting his chalet due to his desire for privacy and for a view of the surf so he can paint, Timothy discovers his new accommodation was recently vacated by a man who drowned while swimming at night. His only real vexation is an obnoxious American guest named Stoll and the man鈥檚 silent wife. He gradually begins to spy on the couple. Adding to the intrigue is a card he discovers in the chalet written by the drowning victim, which reads 鈥淣ot after midnight鈥� and 38, the number of the chalet belonging to the Stolls.
In A Border-Line Case, 19-year-old actor Shelagh Money has returned home to look after her ill father. She's concerned that his condition might not improve quickly enough for her to accept her first major theater role, playing Viola in Twelfth Night. Her father appears on the road to recovery, reminiscing about an old navy pal named Nick Barry who he fell out of touch with. Suddenly confronting Shelagh with a look of horror, he dies. Feeling the need to reconcile her late father鈥檚 relationship with the man he was thinking about when he died, she travels to Ireland to seek the reclusive Commander Barry out.
It's always the same when you come face-to-face with death, the nurse told her, you feel you could have done more. It used to worry me a lot when I was training. And of course with a close relative it's worse. You've had a great shock, you must try and pull yourself together for your mother's sake ... My mother's sake? My mother would not mind if I walked out of the house this moment, Shelagh was on the point of saying, because then she would have all the attention, all the sympathy, people would say how wonderfully she was bearing up, whereas with me in the house sympathy will be divided. So death, Shelagh decided, was a moment for compliments, for everyone saying polite things about everybody else which they would not dream of saying at another time. Let me run upstairs for you ... Let me answer the telephone ... Shall I put on the kettle? An excess of courtesy, like mandarins in kimonos bowing, and at the same time an attempt at self-justification for not having been there when the explosion happened.
In The Way of the Cross, British tourists from Little Bletford congregate in Jerusalem, where the vicar who was scheduled to lead their tour of the Holy City falls ill and is replaced by a young minister. In The Breakthrough, an electrical engineer is loaned out by his employer to the salt marshes near Saxmere, where he discovers an eccentric scientist is working on a project to harness the lifeforce at the moment of death.
Don鈥檛 Look Now and Other Stories is grand in that each of the tales involves a British tourist or tourists who grant themselves a much-needed change of scenery only to encounter more than they bargained for. It鈥檚 sublime packaging on the part of du Maurier, or perhaps very disciplined, considering all of the stories were published the same year. Don鈥檛 Look Now is the best, an eerie exploration of the clarity and mystery of a psychic vision, or what happens when you鈥檙e provided an answer without understanding the question. It uses foreshadowing to build suspense very well. This served as source material for an offbeat thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie released in 1973.
Du Maurier establishes atmosphere and parses out detail supremely well in all five of the stories, particularly Not After Midnight, which should serve as a warning that while on holiday, never ignore local superstition. She promises more than she鈥檚 able to ultimately deliver in this story. A Border-Line Case runs off the tracks at the halfway mark rather than the very end, failing to provide the necessary intrigue for all of the build-up. The Way of the Cross is self-indulgent nonsense that goes absolutely nowhere. The ideas sifted through in The Breakthrough don鈥檛 even hold up. But the overall effect, combining psychological realism with a love of the past, is one that definitely makes me want to read more from the author.
Daphne du Maurier was born in 1907 in London, England. Her father was a prominent stage actor and theater manager and her mother鈥攗ntil her retirement in 1910鈥攁lso an actor. Some of Daphne鈥檚 early work was published in the weekly British magazine the Bystander. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931. One of its fans, a World War I veteran named Frederick Browning who鈥檇 risen to the rank of major, wooed du Maurier and they married a year later. They had three children and Lady Browning continued to publish under her maiden name to great success. Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman鈥檚 Creek, Hungry Hill and My Cousin Rachel, and her short stories The Birds and Don鈥檛 Look Now would all be adapted to film. Du Maurier rarely granted interviews for print or television and resided for much of her life privately in Cornwall, where she died in 1989.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
In Don鈥檛 Look Now, a married couple named John and Laura holiday in Venice, recovering from the death of their daughter who suffered a meningitis infection. At a restaurant, they're beguiled by a pair of middle-aged identical twin sisters, one of which appears fixated on John. He determines that twin to be blind. Laura follows the other one into the restroom and returns to confide to her husband that the blind twin had a vision of their daughter standing behind them. She added that John also has second sight but fails to realize it. Finally, the twins issue a warning that the couple will be in danger if they remain in Venice, none of which John takes seriously.
In Not After Midnight, a prep school headmaster named Timothy Grey holidays on the Greek isle of Crete. Rejecting his chalet due to his desire for privacy and for a view of the surf so he can paint, Timothy discovers his new accommodation was recently vacated by a man who drowned while swimming at night. His only real vexation is an obnoxious American guest named Stoll and the man鈥檚 silent wife. He gradually begins to spy on the couple. Adding to the intrigue is a card he discovers in the chalet written by the drowning victim, which reads 鈥淣ot after midnight鈥� and 38, the number of the chalet belonging to the Stolls.
In A Border-Line Case, 19-year-old actor Shelagh Money has returned home to look after her ill father. She's concerned that his condition might not improve quickly enough for her to accept her first major theater role, playing Viola in Twelfth Night. Her father appears on the road to recovery, reminiscing about an old navy pal named Nick Barry who he fell out of touch with. Suddenly confronting Shelagh with a look of horror, he dies. Feeling the need to reconcile her late father鈥檚 relationship with the man he was thinking about when he died, she travels to Ireland to seek the reclusive Commander Barry out.
It's always the same when you come face-to-face with death, the nurse told her, you feel you could have done more. It used to worry me a lot when I was training. And of course with a close relative it's worse. You've had a great shock, you must try and pull yourself together for your mother's sake ... My mother's sake? My mother would not mind if I walked out of the house this moment, Shelagh was on the point of saying, because then she would have all the attention, all the sympathy, people would say how wonderfully she was bearing up, whereas with me in the house sympathy will be divided. So death, Shelagh decided, was a moment for compliments, for everyone saying polite things about everybody else which they would not dream of saying at another time. Let me run upstairs for you ... Let me answer the telephone ... Shall I put on the kettle? An excess of courtesy, like mandarins in kimonos bowing, and at the same time an attempt at self-justification for not having been there when the explosion happened.
In The Way of the Cross, British tourists from Little Bletford congregate in Jerusalem, where the vicar who was scheduled to lead their tour of the Holy City falls ill and is replaced by a young minister. In The Breakthrough, an electrical engineer is loaned out by his employer to the salt marshes near Saxmere, where he discovers an eccentric scientist is working on a project to harness the lifeforce at the moment of death.
Don鈥檛 Look Now and Other Stories is grand in that each of the tales involves a British tourist or tourists who grant themselves a much-needed change of scenery only to encounter more than they bargained for. It鈥檚 sublime packaging on the part of du Maurier, or perhaps very disciplined, considering all of the stories were published the same year. Don鈥檛 Look Now is the best, an eerie exploration of the clarity and mystery of a psychic vision, or what happens when you鈥檙e provided an answer without understanding the question. It uses foreshadowing to build suspense very well. This served as source material for an offbeat thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie released in 1973.
Du Maurier establishes atmosphere and parses out detail supremely well in all five of the stories, particularly Not After Midnight, which should serve as a warning that while on holiday, never ignore local superstition. She promises more than she鈥檚 able to ultimately deliver in this story. A Border-Line Case runs off the tracks at the halfway mark rather than the very end, failing to provide the necessary intrigue for all of the build-up. The Way of the Cross is self-indulgent nonsense that goes absolutely nowhere. The ideas sifted through in The Breakthrough don鈥檛 even hold up. But the overall effect, combining psychological realism with a love of the past, is one that definitely makes me want to read more from the author.
Daphne du Maurier was born in 1907 in London, England. Her father was a prominent stage actor and theater manager and her mother鈥攗ntil her retirement in 1910鈥攁lso an actor. Some of Daphne鈥檚 early work was published in the weekly British magazine the Bystander. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931. One of its fans, a World War I veteran named Frederick Browning who鈥檇 risen to the rank of major, wooed du Maurier and they married a year later. They had three children and Lady Browning continued to publish under her maiden name to great success. Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman鈥檚 Creek, Hungry Hill and My Cousin Rachel, and her short stories The Birds and Don鈥檛 Look Now would all be adapted to film. Du Maurier rarely granted interviews for print or television and resided for much of her life privately in Cornwall, where she died in 1989.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
February 3, 2023
The title story, "Don't Look Now," was my favorite in this collection of five short stories. A grieving husband and wife are on vacation in Venice when some strange supernatural events occur.
"The Breakthrough" involves an engineer who is sent to a remote facility where secret research is being done. It had a science fiction, mad scientist vibe.
A British schoolmaster travels to Crete to enjoy his hobby of painting by the ocean in "Not After Midnight." A strange couple in a neighboring cottage are involved in a mysterious activity when they go off in their boat every day.
A young woman's father died, and she travels to Ireland to make a connection with his former best friend. He's a recluse on an island with several secrets in "A Border-Line Case."
In "The Way of the Cross," a British group was traveling with their pastor to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem. When he falls sick, a less experienced minister is recruited to take his place. This is a story about the pilgrims themselves, their interactions, and their relationships. It was my least favorite of the group.
In each of these stories Daphne du Maurier has the characters journey from their familiar English environment to a place where they feel uncertain and frightened when strange things happen. Sometimes they don't understand the language well, and don't have a friend with whom they can share their fears. The author is very skilled in setting up suspenseful situations.
"The Breakthrough" involves an engineer who is sent to a remote facility where secret research is being done. It had a science fiction, mad scientist vibe.
A British schoolmaster travels to Crete to enjoy his hobby of painting by the ocean in "Not After Midnight." A strange couple in a neighboring cottage are involved in a mysterious activity when they go off in their boat every day.
A young woman's father died, and she travels to Ireland to make a connection with his former best friend. He's a recluse on an island with several secrets in "A Border-Line Case."
In "The Way of the Cross," a British group was traveling with their pastor to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem. When he falls sick, a less experienced minister is recruited to take his place. This is a story about the pilgrims themselves, their interactions, and their relationships. It was my least favorite of the group.
In each of these stories Daphne du Maurier has the characters journey from their familiar English environment to a place where they feel uncertain and frightened when strange things happen. Sometimes they don't understand the language well, and don't have a friend with whom they can share their fears. The author is very skilled in setting up suspenseful situations.
April 8, 2019
螚 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪, 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 位伪尾蠉蟻喂谓胃慰 蟿蠅谓 魏伪谓伪位喂蠋谓 蟿畏蟼 魏伪喂 蟿喂蟼 蟺慰位蠀维蟻喂胃渭蔚蟼 纬苇蠁蠀蟻蔚蟼, 蠀蟺萎蟻尉蔚 蟿慰 喂未伪谓喂魏蠈 蟺蔚蟻喂尾维位位慰谓, 蔚谓蟿蠈蟼 蟿慰蠀 慰蟺慰委慰蠀 畏 渭蟺蠈蟻蔚蟽蔚 未蔚尉喂慰蟿蔚蠂谓喂魏维 谓伪 蠂蟿委蟽蔚喂 苇谓伪 伪魏蠈渭畏 伪蟿渭慰蟽蠁伪喂蟻喂魏蠈 胃蟻委位蔚蟻 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻委慰蠀, 蠈蟺慰蠀 蟿伪 蠈蟻喂伪 渭蔚蟿伪尉蠉 蟺蟻伪纬渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟿畏蟿伪蟼 魏伪喂 蟺伪蟻伪委蟽胃畏蟽畏蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 未蠀蟽未喂维魏蟻喂蟿伪. 螆谓伪 魏蠈魏魏喂谓慰 伪未喂维尾蟻慰蠂慰, 未蠉慰 畏位喂魏喂蠅渭苇谓蔚蟼 未委未蠀渭蔚蟼 伪未蔚位蠁苇蟼, 魏喂 慰喂 蟽魏喂苇蟼 蟺慰蠀 伪谓蟿喂魏伪蟿慰蟺蟿蟻委味慰谓蟿伪喂, 维位位慰蟿蔚 慰谓蔚喂蟻喂魏维 魏喂 维位位慰蟿蔚 蔚蠁喂伪位蟿喂魏维, 蟽蟿伪 谓蔚蟻维 蟿畏蟼 蟺蠈位畏蟼 蟿蠅谓 螖蠈纬畏未蠅谓, 蔚委谓伪喂 渭蔚蟻喂魏维 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟽蟿慰喂蠂蔚委伪 蟺慰蠀, 蟿蠈蟽慰 蟽蟿慰 尾喂尾位委慰, 蠈蟽慰 魏伪喂 蟽蟿畏谓 慰渭蠈蟿喂蟿位畏 (Don鈥檛 look now) 蟿伪喂谓委伪 蟿慰蠀 螡委魏慰位伪蟼 巍蔚纬魏, 未蔚谓 胃伪 尉蔚蠂维蟽蔚喂蟼 蟺慰蟿苇.
January 11, 2021
The film adaptation of 鈥滵on鈥檛 Look Now鈥� is regarded by some as one of the best pieces of British cinema. It has long been a favourite of mine and I am delighted to say I enjoyed the short story it is based upon very much, incredibly well-written. It grips you from beginning to end, slowly building that sense of foreboding. It was the opening tale in this collection of four short stories.
It follows a couple - John and his grief-stricken wife Laura, who are holidaying in Venice after the death of their daughter Christine. Whilst sitting in a restaurant, they spot a pair of middle-aged twins. One of them is blind and claims to be a psychic. She informs Laura that she could see the deceased Christine sat with the couple and even describes outfits that Christine wore. They also believe that John has psychic powers - specifically the ability to see the future, and that the spirit of Christine is trying to warn them that they are in grave danger if they stay in Venice.
The couple later receive a telephone call and are informed that their son, Johnnie, has been taken ill back in England and has to have an emergency operation. Laura leaves via plane to return to England, but not long after her departure, John spots his wife with the twins on a vaporetto. He is certain it is his wife, wearing her red coat. The red coat is the iconic imagery that makes you think of Don鈥檛 Look Now (you will see why upon its conclusion).
But, when he telephones to see how his son is doing in England, his wife Laura is there on the other end of the line. So who exactly did John see on the river, and what does this all mean?
Following Don鈥檛 Look Now there are four other stories: Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way Of The Cross, and The Breakthrough.
DuMaurier鈥檚 short stories are best when it follows a main character鈥檚 grief. This is very prevalent in A Border-Line Case, where a young girl of nineteen, Shelagh, has recently lost her father. This grief, and honouring her late father鈥檚 wishes, are the driving force behind the plot.
All of them reach a satisfying conclusion, and I look forward to reading more of her short stories in the future, mainly 鈥漈he Birds鈥�.
I give the collection as a whole 4.5 stars, rounded down to a 4.
It follows a couple - John and his grief-stricken wife Laura, who are holidaying in Venice after the death of their daughter Christine. Whilst sitting in a restaurant, they spot a pair of middle-aged twins. One of them is blind and claims to be a psychic. She informs Laura that she could see the deceased Christine sat with the couple and even describes outfits that Christine wore. They also believe that John has psychic powers - specifically the ability to see the future, and that the spirit of Christine is trying to warn them that they are in grave danger if they stay in Venice.
The couple later receive a telephone call and are informed that their son, Johnnie, has been taken ill back in England and has to have an emergency operation. Laura leaves via plane to return to England, but not long after her departure, John spots his wife with the twins on a vaporetto. He is certain it is his wife, wearing her red coat. The red coat is the iconic imagery that makes you think of Don鈥檛 Look Now (you will see why upon its conclusion).
But, when he telephones to see how his son is doing in England, his wife Laura is there on the other end of the line. So who exactly did John see on the river, and what does this all mean?
Following Don鈥檛 Look Now there are four other stories: Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way Of The Cross, and The Breakthrough.
DuMaurier鈥檚 short stories are best when it follows a main character鈥檚 grief. This is very prevalent in A Border-Line Case, where a young girl of nineteen, Shelagh, has recently lost her father. This grief, and honouring her late father鈥檚 wishes, are the driving force behind the plot.
All of them reach a satisfying conclusion, and I look forward to reading more of her short stories in the future, mainly 鈥漈he Birds鈥�.
I give the collection as a whole 4.5 stars, rounded down to a 4.
July 1, 2015
The first three stories in this collection (Don't Look Now, Not After Midnight, and A Border-Line Case) are absolutely wonderful. They're very atmospheric and, at times, chilling. I'd recommend this whole collection on those stories alone. However, it's the final two works (The Way of the Cross and The Breakthrough) that really let down this collection and thus rob it of a four-star rating. They're two bland stories that don't really offer much and only exist to disappoint.
October 2, 2022
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news and all, but this was blander than bland, and it's absolutely killing me writing this review as it concerns one of my most loved female authors; Daphne Du Maurier.
I adore Du Maurier's writing style, and she has quite literally blew me away with her prose within other works, but unfortunately, that just wasn't enough to carry me through this collection.
The only story really worth my time was the first one 'Don't look now'. It was intriguing, with a gothic atmosphere, and a juicy twist at the end. Everything else was really tedious to read, and I struggled to persevere to the end.
Du Maurier was an amazing writer, and she wrote one of my most loved novels 'Rebecca' but quite honestly, that felt like it was in a completely different league to this.
If you're new to Du Maurier, don't begin with this one, delve into one of her full-length novels first.
I adore Du Maurier's writing style, and she has quite literally blew me away with her prose within other works, but unfortunately, that just wasn't enough to carry me through this collection.
The only story really worth my time was the first one 'Don't look now'. It was intriguing, with a gothic atmosphere, and a juicy twist at the end. Everything else was really tedious to read, and I struggled to persevere to the end.
Du Maurier was an amazing writer, and she wrote one of my most loved novels 'Rebecca' but quite honestly, that felt like it was in a completely different league to this.
If you're new to Du Maurier, don't begin with this one, delve into one of her full-length novels first.
February 17, 2023
3,5*
Que nunca se diga de Daphne du Maurier que n茫o sabe manter o suspense at茅 ao 煤ltimo par谩grafo e que esse n茫o representa um final eficaz e satisfat贸rio. Pelo menos foi o que aconteceu nos tr锚s primeiros contos desta colect芒nea dos anos 70, com esta despropositada capa de filme er贸tico manhoso.
Em 鈥淎quele Inverno em Veneza鈥�, h谩 um elemento de sobrenatural que apesar das minhas retic锚ncias, acaba por fazer sentido no fim, quando um casal a tentar recuperar da perda de uma filha conhece um estranho par de irm茫s.
Em 鈥淣茫o Depois da Meia-Noite鈥�, tamb茅m passado no Sul da Europa, a sensa莽茫o de perigo que persegue um pintor ingl锚s numa est芒ncia tur铆stica confirma-se numa conclus茫o macabra e inesperada.
Em 鈥淣as Raias da Loucura鈥�, a autora parece perder o controlo da verosimilhan莽a do enredo, quando uma rapariga que acabou de enterrar o pai vai 脿 Irlanda 脿 procura de um colega do pai, redimindo-se, ainda assim, nas 煤ltimas linhas.
Nos dois 煤ltimos contos, Du Maurier faz uma incurs茫o na s谩tira de costumes e na fic莽茫o-cient铆fica respectivamente, g茅neros onde ela n茫o parece estar 脿 vontade.
Aquele Inverno em Veneza-4*
N茫o Depois da Meia-Noite-4*
Nas Raias da Loucura-3,5*
O Caminho do Calv谩rio-2,5*
O Avan莽o da Ci锚ncia-2,5*
Que nunca se diga de Daphne du Maurier que n茫o sabe manter o suspense at茅 ao 煤ltimo par谩grafo e que esse n茫o representa um final eficaz e satisfat贸rio. Pelo menos foi o que aconteceu nos tr锚s primeiros contos desta colect芒nea dos anos 70, com esta despropositada capa de filme er贸tico manhoso.
Em 鈥淎quele Inverno em Veneza鈥�, h谩 um elemento de sobrenatural que apesar das minhas retic锚ncias, acaba por fazer sentido no fim, quando um casal a tentar recuperar da perda de uma filha conhece um estranho par de irm茫s.
Em 鈥淣茫o Depois da Meia-Noite鈥�, tamb茅m passado no Sul da Europa, a sensa莽茫o de perigo que persegue um pintor ingl锚s numa est芒ncia tur铆stica confirma-se numa conclus茫o macabra e inesperada.
Em 鈥淣as Raias da Loucura鈥�, a autora parece perder o controlo da verosimilhan莽a do enredo, quando uma rapariga que acabou de enterrar o pai vai 脿 Irlanda 脿 procura de um colega do pai, redimindo-se, ainda assim, nas 煤ltimas linhas.
Nos dois 煤ltimos contos, Du Maurier faz uma incurs茫o na s谩tira de costumes e na fic莽茫o-cient铆fica respectivamente, g茅neros onde ela n茫o parece estar 脿 vontade.
Aquele Inverno em Veneza-4*
N茫o Depois da Meia-Noite-4*
Nas Raias da Loucura-3,5*
O Caminho do Calv谩rio-2,5*
O Avan莽o da Ci锚ncia-2,5*
October 17, 2021
Quite the collection of thrillers. Not only did these short stories take me on a metaphysical haunted theme park ride but I took pleasure in travelling alongside true power of imagination and awe.
The ideas behind most of these stories express themselves as very fresh and intelligent, especially the first 鈥楧on鈥檛 look now鈥� the second 鈥楴ot after Midnight鈥� & the last 鈥楾he Breakthrough鈥�, being surprisingly complex for short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these with the total confusion and dire end of the first story, the serene setting but interminable tension build leading to eventual horror of the second and the completely insane actions of the last; keeping me hooked throughout.
I rate du Maurier鈥檚 novels highly for all the reasons stated above and more, and these stories are equal to those that I鈥檝e read, even, perhaps offering increasingly creepier thrills to the reader.
The ideas behind most of these stories express themselves as very fresh and intelligent, especially the first 鈥楧on鈥檛 look now鈥� the second 鈥楴ot after Midnight鈥� & the last 鈥楾he Breakthrough鈥�, being surprisingly complex for short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these with the total confusion and dire end of the first story, the serene setting but interminable tension build leading to eventual horror of the second and the completely insane actions of the last; keeping me hooked throughout.
I rate du Maurier鈥檚 novels highly for all the reasons stated above and more, and these stories are equal to those that I鈥檝e read, even, perhaps offering increasingly creepier thrills to the reader.
May 13, 2017
Happy Short Story Month! (May, 2017)
This is a collection of five short stories by Daphne du Maurier (Don't Look Now, The Breakthrough, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross) which exhibit the great versatility and inventiveness of the author. The topics vary from psychic precognition, to scientific experimentation, to possible murder, to incest, and finally to various forms of public humiliation (atonement for sins?) All were interesting but I found some of the endings a bit disappointing. All in all worth reading but I have to say I appreciate du Maurier's full length novels more.
This is a collection of five short stories by Daphne du Maurier (Don't Look Now, The Breakthrough, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross) which exhibit the great versatility and inventiveness of the author. The topics vary from psychic precognition, to scientific experimentation, to possible murder, to incest, and finally to various forms of public humiliation (atonement for sins?) All were interesting but I found some of the endings a bit disappointing. All in all worth reading but I have to say I appreciate du Maurier's full length novels more.
September 24, 2018
螘尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏萎 畏 纬蟻伪蠁萎 蟿畏蟼 du Maurier. 螠喂伪 渭喂魏蟻萎蟼 苇魏蟿伪蟽畏蟼 谓慰蠀尾苇位伪 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻委慰蠀, 畏 慰蟺慰委伪 慰位慰魏位畏蟻蠋谓蔚蟿伪喂 蟽蟿慰谓 蠂蟻蠈谓慰 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻苇蟺蔚喂, 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟿蟻蠈蟺慰 蟺慰蠀 蠈蠁蔚喂位蔚.
May 3, 2017
螣 韦味慰谓 魏伪喂 畏 螞蠈蟻伪 尾蟻委蟽魏慰谓蟿伪喂 蟽蔚 苇谓伪 蟿伪尉委未喂 蟽蟿畏谓 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪, 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 蟺蟻慰蟽蟺维胃蔚喂伪 谓伪 蔚蟺慰蠀位蠋蟽慰蠀谓 蟿伪 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏维 蟿蟻伪蠉渭伪蟿伪 蟺慰蠀 蟿慰蠀蟼 苇蠂蔚喂 蟺蟻慰魏伪位苇蟽蔚喂 慰 胃维谓伪蟿慰蟼 蟿畏蟼 渭喂魏蟻萎蟼 蟿慰蠀蟼 魏蠈蟻畏蟼. 螘魏蔚委, 魏伪喂 蟺喂慰 蟽蠀纬魏蔚魏蟻喂渭苇谓伪 蟽蔚 苇谓伪 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 谓畏蟽喂维 蟿畏蟼 位喂渭谓慰胃维位伪蟽蟽伪蟼 蟿畏蟼 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪蟼, 蟿慰 韦慰蟻蟿蟽苇位位慰, 胃伪 蟽蠀谓伪谓蟿萎蟽慰蠀谓 2 蟺蔚蟻委蔚蟻纬蔚蟼 螒纬纬位委未蔚蟼 未委未蠀渭蔚蟼 伪未蔚位蠁苇蟼 (畏 渭喂伪 蟿蠀蠁位萎 魏伪喂 渭苇谓蟿喂慰蠀渭) 慰喂 慰蟺慰委蔚蟼 胃伪 喂蟽蠂蠀蟻喂蟽蟿慰蠉谓 蟺蠅蟼 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉谓 伪谓 蔚蟺喂魏慰喂谓蠅谓萎蟽慰蠀谓 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 谓蔚魏蟻萎 蟿慰蠀蟼 魏蠈蟻畏.
螚 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏维 蔚蠉胃蟻伪蠀蟽蟿畏 螞蠈蟻伪 胃伪 蔚蟺畏蟻蔚伪蟽蟿蔚委 蟽蔚 渭蔚纬维位慰 尾伪胃渭蠈 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 位蔚纬蠈渭蔚谓伪 蟿慰蠀 渭苇谓蟿喂慰蠀渭 蟽蔚 伪谓蟿委胃蔚蟽畏 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟺喂慰 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂蟽蟿萎 韦味慰谓, 慰 慰蟺慰委慰蟼 胃伪 伪谓蟿喂渭蔚蟿蠅蟺委蟽蔚喂 蟿慰 蠈位慰 味萎蟿畏渭伪 渭蔚 芦蔚位伪蠁蟻蠈蟿畏蟿伪禄 蟺伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 慰喂 蟺蟻慰蔚喂未慰蟺慰喂萎蟽蔚喂蟼 蟿畏蟼 蟿蠀蠁位萎蟼 伪未蔚位蠁萎蟼 伪蠁慰蟻慰蠉谓 蟿慰谓 委未喂慰 魏伪喂 苇谓伪 蔚蟺喂魏蔚委渭蔚谓慰 魏伪魏蠈 蟺慰蠀 苇蟻蠂蔚蟿伪喂 蟺蟻慰蟼 蟿慰 渭苇蟻慰蟼 蟿慰蠀.
螚 螡蟿喂 螠慰蟻喂苇 纬蟻维蠁蔚喂 苇谓伪 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏蠈 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻委慰蠀 渭蔚 蟺喂谓蔚位喂苇蟼 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蠀蟽喂魏慰蠉 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀. 螚 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪 伪蠁慰渭慰喂蠋谓蔚蟿伪喂 蟺蔚蟻委蟿蔚蠂谓伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蟿慰 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 伪谓伪未蔚喂魏谓蠉慰谓蟿伪蟼 蟿畏谓 纬慰畏蟿蔚委伪 魏伪喂 蟿慰 渭蠀蟽蟿萎蟻喂慰 蟿畏蟼 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 纬慰蟿胃喂魏萎 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪. 韦慰 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蠀蟽喂魏蠈 蟽蟿慰喂蠂蔚委慰 蟽蟿伪未喂伪魏维 魏蠀蟻喂伪蟻蠂蔚委, 苇蟿蟽喂 蠋蟽蟿蔚 谓伪 蟺伪蟻伪蟽蠉蟻蔚喂 蟿慰谓 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂蟽蟿萎 韦味慰谓 蟽蟿慰 蔚蠁喂伪位蟿喂魏蠈 蟿慰蠀 蠁喂谓维位蔚.
螚 蔚位位蔚喂蟺蟿喂魏萎 蟺蔚蟻喂纬蟻伪蠁萎 蟿蠅谓 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻蠅谓 未委谓蔚喂 蟽蟿慰 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 渭喂伪 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻畏 蠂蟻慰喂维 魏维谓慰谓蟿维蟼 蟿慰 伪魏蠈渭伪 蟺喂慰 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈 魏伪喂 渭蠀蟽蟿萎蟻喂慰鈥�
5/5 伪蟺位维鈥�
违螕: 韦慰 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 苇蠂蔚喂 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蔚蟻胃蔚委 魏伪喂 蟽蟿慰谓 魏喂谓畏渭伪蟿慰纬蟻维蠁慰 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰谓 螡委魏慰位伪蟼 巍蔚纬魏 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟿委蟿位慰 鈥淒on鈥檛 look now鈥� 蟿慰 1973. 螒蟻喂蟽蟿慰蠀蟻纬畏渭伪蟿喂魏萎 渭蔚蟿伪蠁慰蟻维, 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰谓 渭蔚纬维位慰 蟽魏畏谓慰胃苇蟿畏, 伪蟺蠈位蠀蟿伪 蟺喂蟽蟿萎 蟽蟿慰 魏位委渭伪 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀 魏伪喂 渭蔚 苇谓伪 蔚魏蟺位畏魏蟿喂魏蠈 味蔚蠀纬维蟻喂 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿蠋谓 蟽蟿慰蠀蟼 蟻蠈位慰蠀蟼 蟿慰蠀 韦味慰谓 魏伪喂 蟿畏蟼 螞蠈蟻伪蟼, 蟿慰谓 螡蟿蠈谓伪位谓蟿 危维未蔚蟻位伪谓蟿 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 韦味慰蠉位喂 螝蟻委蟽蟿喂鈥� 螚 蟽魏畏谓萎 蟽蔚尉 蟿慰蠀 味蔚蠀纬伪蟻喂慰蠉 蟺伪蟻伪渭苇谓蔚喂 蟺蟻蠅蟿慰蟺慰蟻喂伪魏萎 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 蔚蟺慰蠂萎 蟿畏蟼 魏伪喂 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻伪 蟿慰位渭畏蟻萎鈥�
螚 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏维 蔚蠉胃蟻伪蠀蟽蟿畏 螞蠈蟻伪 胃伪 蔚蟺畏蟻蔚伪蟽蟿蔚委 蟽蔚 渭蔚纬维位慰 尾伪胃渭蠈 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 位蔚纬蠈渭蔚谓伪 蟿慰蠀 渭苇谓蟿喂慰蠀渭 蟽蔚 伪谓蟿委胃蔚蟽畏 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟺喂慰 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂蟽蟿萎 韦味慰谓, 慰 慰蟺慰委慰蟼 胃伪 伪谓蟿喂渭蔚蟿蠅蟺委蟽蔚喂 蟿慰 蠈位慰 味萎蟿畏渭伪 渭蔚 芦蔚位伪蠁蟻蠈蟿畏蟿伪禄 蟺伪蟻蠈位慰 蟺慰蠀 慰喂 蟺蟻慰蔚喂未慰蟺慰喂萎蟽蔚喂蟼 蟿畏蟼 蟿蠀蠁位萎蟼 伪未蔚位蠁萎蟼 伪蠁慰蟻慰蠉谓 蟿慰谓 委未喂慰 魏伪喂 苇谓伪 蔚蟺喂魏蔚委渭蔚谓慰 魏伪魏蠈 蟺慰蠀 苇蟻蠂蔚蟿伪喂 蟺蟻慰蟼 蟿慰 渭苇蟻慰蟼 蟿慰蠀.
螚 螡蟿喂 螠慰蟻喂苇 纬蟻维蠁蔚喂 苇谓伪 蔚尉伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏蠈 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻委慰蠀 渭蔚 蟺喂谓蔚位喂苇蟼 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蠀蟽喂魏慰蠉 蟿蟻蠈渭慰蠀. 螚 螔蔚谓蔚蟿委伪 伪蠁慰渭慰喂蠋谓蔚蟿伪喂 蟺蔚蟻委蟿蔚蠂谓伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蟿慰 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 伪谓伪未蔚喂魏谓蠉慰谓蟿伪蟼 蟿畏谓 纬慰畏蟿蔚委伪 魏伪喂 蟿慰 渭蠀蟽蟿萎蟻喂慰 蟿畏蟼 渭苇蟽伪 蟽蔚 渭喂伪 纬慰蟿胃喂魏萎 伪蟿渭蠈蟽蠁伪喂蟻伪. 韦慰 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蠀蟽喂魏蠈 蟽蟿慰喂蠂蔚委慰 蟽蟿伪未喂伪魏维 魏蠀蟻喂伪蟻蠂蔚委, 苇蟿蟽喂 蠋蟽蟿蔚 谓伪 蟺伪蟻伪蟽蠉蟻蔚喂 蟿慰谓 慰蟻胃慰位慰纬喂蟽蟿萎 韦味慰谓 蟽蟿慰 蔚蠁喂伪位蟿喂魏蠈 蟿慰蠀 蠁喂谓维位蔚.
螚 蔚位位蔚喂蟺蟿喂魏萎 蟺蔚蟻喂纬蟻伪蠁萎 蟿蠅谓 蠂伪蟻伪魏蟿萎蟻蠅谓 未委谓蔚喂 蟽蟿慰 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 渭喂伪 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻畏 蠂蟻慰喂维 魏维谓慰谓蟿维蟼 蟿慰 伪魏蠈渭伪 蟺喂慰 蟽魏慰蟿蔚喂谓蠈 魏伪喂 渭蠀蟽蟿萎蟻喂慰鈥�
5/5 伪蟺位维鈥�
违螕: 韦慰 未喂萎纬畏渭伪 苇蠂蔚喂 渭蔚蟿伪蠁蔚蟻胃蔚委 魏伪喂 蟽蟿慰谓 魏喂谓畏渭伪蟿慰纬蟻维蠁慰 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰谓 螡委魏慰位伪蟼 巍蔚纬魏 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 蟿委蟿位慰 鈥淒on鈥檛 look now鈥� 蟿慰 1973. 螒蟻喂蟽蟿慰蠀蟻纬畏渭伪蟿喂魏萎 渭蔚蟿伪蠁慰蟻维, 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰谓 渭蔚纬维位慰 蟽魏畏谓慰胃苇蟿畏, 伪蟺蠈位蠀蟿伪 蟺喂蟽蟿萎 蟽蟿慰 魏位委渭伪 蟿慰蠀 尾喂尾位委慰蠀 魏伪喂 渭蔚 苇谓伪 蔚魏蟺位畏魏蟿喂魏蠈 味蔚蠀纬维蟻喂 蟺蟻蠅蟿伪纬蠅谓喂蟽蟿蠋谓 蟽蟿慰蠀蟼 蟻蠈位慰蠀蟼 蟿慰蠀 韦味慰谓 魏伪喂 蟿畏蟼 螞蠈蟻伪蟼, 蟿慰谓 螡蟿蠈谓伪位谓蟿 危维未蔚蟻位伪谓蟿 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 韦味慰蠉位喂 螝蟻委蟽蟿喂鈥� 螚 蟽魏畏谓萎 蟽蔚尉 蟿慰蠀 味蔚蠀纬伪蟻喂慰蠉 蟺伪蟻伪渭苇谓蔚喂 蟺蟻蠅蟿慰蟺慰蟻喂伪魏萎 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 蔚蟺慰蠂萎 蟿畏蟼 魏伪喂 喂未喂伪委蟿蔚蟻伪 蟿慰位渭畏蟻萎鈥�
March 24, 2025
These five long short stories are amazingly sinister and suspenseful, but occasionally very witty too. A few stories contain a paranormal element, others less so, which doesn鈥檛 make them less macabre.
First story: Don鈥檛 look now:
The excellent movie based on this story is of course well-known. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie were marvellous in that movie, which is really one of my favorite movies ever. When you have only seen the movie, as I did, you will be so surprised that the short story takes place in such a shorter time than the movie. Great story, loved it!
Second story: The Breakthrough:
Strange story on a research project to try to save the the last token of thought of dead people just after they die. Pretty paranormal, but can鈥檛 say I was fond of this tale.
Third story: Not after Midnight:
Very uncomfortable tale about an English schoolteacher on holiday at a coastal region of Crete. Really good story! Loved it!
Fourth story: A border-line Case:
A young woman is shockingly confronted by the result of her mother鈥檚 past behaviour. Good story, not very impressive.
Fifth story: The Way of the Cross:
A very hilarious tale of a group of eight tourists from a small English town on a sightseeing tour of Jerusalem. The story made it clear to me that Daphne du Maurier was an extremely witty writer. This is a story of a very messy tour, people getting lost, people getting hurt and several participants could even have been seriously harmed or even died. All ends rather well. Unforgettable story, loved it!
I was so impressed by most of these short stories. Daphne du Maurier possessed a great writing style, phantasy and wit!
First story: Don鈥檛 look now:
The excellent movie based on this story is of course well-known. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie were marvellous in that movie, which is really one of my favorite movies ever. When you have only seen the movie, as I did, you will be so surprised that the short story takes place in such a shorter time than the movie. Great story, loved it!
Second story: The Breakthrough:
Strange story on a research project to try to save the the last token of thought of dead people just after they die. Pretty paranormal, but can鈥檛 say I was fond of this tale.
Third story: Not after Midnight:
Very uncomfortable tale about an English schoolteacher on holiday at a coastal region of Crete. Really good story! Loved it!
Fourth story: A border-line Case:
A young woman is shockingly confronted by the result of her mother鈥檚 past behaviour. Good story, not very impressive.
Fifth story: The Way of the Cross:
A very hilarious tale of a group of eight tourists from a small English town on a sightseeing tour of Jerusalem. The story made it clear to me that Daphne du Maurier was an extremely witty writer. This is a story of a very messy tour, people getting lost, people getting hurt and several participants could even have been seriously harmed or even died. All ends rather well. Unforgettable story, loved it!
I was so impressed by most of these short stories. Daphne du Maurier possessed a great writing style, phantasy and wit!
March 13, 2018
Excelente recopilaci贸n de relatos de la inglesa Daphne du Maurier, de la mano de La Biblioteca de Carfax, con una portada magistral de Rafael Mart铆n Coronel. Du Maurier siempre ser谩 conocida por sus novelas 鈥楻ebeca鈥� y 鈥楲a posada de Jamaica鈥�, as铆 como por su relato 鈥楲os p谩jaros鈥�, que tambi茅n tuvieron su correspondiente adaptaci贸n cinematogr谩fica, de la mano del maestro Hitchcock.
La autora se desenvuelve muy bien en las distancias cortas. Es capaz de mantener la tensi贸n conduci茅ndonos a un crescendo inesperado y angustioso. Si bien los giros finales est谩n bien, lo que m谩s he disfrutado ha sido la narraci贸n, el viaje hasta los mismos. Y es que estos relatos est谩n muy bien escritos (o traducidos), la autora conoce perfectamente los resortes de tan complicada g茅nero.
Estos son los cinco relatos incluidos en 鈥楴o mires ahora y otros relatos鈥� (2018):
No mires ahora (). Un matrimonio, que est谩 de viaje por Venecia, se encuentra en una terraza. La historia comienza cuando el marido intenta hacer jugar a su mujer a un antiguo juego, inventarse historias sobre las personas sentadas en las otras mesas. Pero todo se complicar谩 cuando una anciana le diga su esposa que puede ver a su hija muerta. Fascinante y estupendo relato, lleno de suspense.
El manzano (). El protagonista, que acaba de enviudar de su mujer, a la que no amaba, cree verla representada en un viejo manzano. Otro magn铆fico relato, mi favorito junto al anterior.
No despu茅s de medianoche (****). Un profesor viaja a Creta en busca de descanso y para poder pintar. El hecho de que le asignen una caba帽a cuyo anterior hu茅sped muri贸 ahogado, tendr谩 sus consecuencias. Muy buen relato.
El estanque (**). Unos ni帽os, de vacaciones junto a su familia, se divierten jugando en el bosque, cerca de un estanque que obsesiona a Deborah. Narrado a modo de falso cuento infantil, no ha acabado de gustarme.
Las lentes azules (****). Marda West est谩 en el hospital, donde le han operado de la vista. Cuando le quinten los vendajes, y le coloquen las lentes provisionales, se llevar谩 un gran susto. Gran relato, cercano a la ciencia ficci贸n.
La autora se desenvuelve muy bien en las distancias cortas. Es capaz de mantener la tensi贸n conduci茅ndonos a un crescendo inesperado y angustioso. Si bien los giros finales est谩n bien, lo que m谩s he disfrutado ha sido la narraci贸n, el viaje hasta los mismos. Y es que estos relatos est谩n muy bien escritos (o traducidos), la autora conoce perfectamente los resortes de tan complicada g茅nero.
Estos son los cinco relatos incluidos en 鈥楴o mires ahora y otros relatos鈥� (2018):
No mires ahora (). Un matrimonio, que est谩 de viaje por Venecia, se encuentra en una terraza. La historia comienza cuando el marido intenta hacer jugar a su mujer a un antiguo juego, inventarse historias sobre las personas sentadas en las otras mesas. Pero todo se complicar谩 cuando una anciana le diga su esposa que puede ver a su hija muerta. Fascinante y estupendo relato, lleno de suspense.
El manzano (). El protagonista, que acaba de enviudar de su mujer, a la que no amaba, cree verla representada en un viejo manzano. Otro magn铆fico relato, mi favorito junto al anterior.
No despu茅s de medianoche (****). Un profesor viaja a Creta en busca de descanso y para poder pintar. El hecho de que le asignen una caba帽a cuyo anterior hu茅sped muri贸 ahogado, tendr谩 sus consecuencias. Muy buen relato.
El estanque (**). Unos ni帽os, de vacaciones junto a su familia, se divierten jugando en el bosque, cerca de un estanque que obsesiona a Deborah. Narrado a modo de falso cuento infantil, no ha acabado de gustarme.
Las lentes azules (****). Marda West est谩 en el hospital, donde le han operado de la vista. Cuando le quinten los vendajes, y le coloquen las lentes provisionales, se llevar谩 un gran susto. Gran relato, cercano a la ciencia ficci贸n.
May 17, 2024
Back in 2021, I fell in love with Daphne du Maurier through reading her most beloved novel Rebecca. I was blown away by her writing style, the novel's atmosphere and beauty; and so I vowed to read as much of hers as I could. Du Maurier was a prolific writer, publishing 17 (!) novels and 6 short story collections during her lifetime. I knew I never wanted to read all of them but I wanted to read her big four 鈥� the so called Cornish novels 鈥� as well as her two short stories 鈥� "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now" 鈥� which were turned into popular movies. Now in 2024, by reading this book here, I have finally accomplished that goal.
I would consider du Maurier one of my favorite writers but she differs greatly from other "classical" writers I call favorites. Du Maurier is way more messy. She can give you romance and sex as well as mystery and intrigue. She's way more explicit than other writers of her time. And above all, she's fun to read. But I don't like all of her novels equally: Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel were brilliant, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn ... not so much. The two short story collections I've read from her 鈥� The Birds and Other Stories and Don't Look Now and Other Stories 鈥� were both solid, but not brilliant. So it's a mixed bag, but I still hold her works dearly and would recommend them.
Don't Look Now is a 1971 collection of five short stories, first published under the title Not After Midnight in Great Britain. Of the five stories, "The Way of the Cross" is the absolute standout. The two respective titular stories were great as well. "A Border-Line Case" was by far the weakest of the bunch, and "The Breakthrough" was pretty mediocre.
Don't Look Now (4 stars)
The titular story follows the married couple, John and Laura, on their first holiday after the death of their young daughter Christine. It's a mystery story (and truly a wild ride!) that also grapples with themes of grief and different ways to cope with it.
When the couple learns that their son has taken ill at boarding school, Laura leaves immediately and flies back to England. John vows to follow her with their car the next day. On his ride out of the city, he sees Laura on a vaporetto with the twins, apparently heading back into the city. Instead of leaving the city himself, John searches for his wife for hours on end but is unable to locate her. Later that evening, when he calls the boarding school, he is distressed to find that Laura is, in fact, in England. That same evening, John sees the little girl again who seems to be feeling from a man. Attempting to protect her from a presumed murderer, John follows her. The "child" is revealed to be a middle-aged "woman dwarf". She pulls a knife from her sleeve and pierces John throat. As John slumps to the floor, thinking to himself "Oh God, what a silly way to die.", he has a vision of the vaporetto and realises it is a premonition of the scene in a few days' time when Laura and the sisters will return for his funeral.
The twists and turns in this story are truly wild and there's no way of seeing all of them coming. The ending took me out of the story due to how unrealistic it was, but otherwise Daphne had me at the edge of my seat. I shared John's sense of foreboding and didn't trust the twin sisters either.
Not After Midnight (4 stars)
Timothy Grey, a preparatory school headmaster, takes a holiday to the Greek island of Crete with the intent of finding some solitude in which to paint. On arrival at his hotel, he asks to move his accommodation to a better chalet, near the water's edge, which the hotel management agrees to with some reluctance. The reason becomes clear when he discovers that the chalet's previous occupant had drowned while swimming at night. Also staying at the hotel is Stoll, a drunken and obnoxious American, and his silent and apparently deaf wife. They spend every day out in a small boat, ostensibly fishing.
Grey finds a card in his chalet left by the previous occupant reading, "Not after midnight" and the number 38, which he realises is the number of Stoll's chalet. One morning, Grey follows the couple and discovers that their days are being spent collecting ancient artefacts from a local shipwreck, with Mrs Stoll diving and supplying the finds to her husband on the beach. Grey is spotted, and that evening Stoll offers a gift, presumably to keep him quiet. His wife invites him to visit their chalet, but "not after midnight". Timothy declines the invitation, but Mrs Stoll dives to his chalet in the night and leaves the gift on his front porch. In the morning, Grey resolves to return the unwanted gift, but finds that the Stolls have departed. Determined to find out more about the Stolls' activities, he hires a boat and 鈥� when exactly over the local shipwreck 鈥� looks into the depths to see Stoll's body, drifting in the current, tied to an anchor.
Similarly to the first story, I thought that "Not After Midnight" started out brilliantly, but then kinda fell apart towards the end. In the beginning, it was easy to sympathise with Timothy and his need for quiet. The fact that everyone acted so weirdly about his choice of abode freaked me out as much as it did him. When we then learn about the previous occupant's death, things started to click into place, and the sense of foreboding grew. When Mrs Stoll snorkelled to Timothy's place, after he didn't follow through on their invitation, to leave the gift, it was truly creepy. The atmosphere was there. The suspense was there. The ending, with Mr Stoll's death, came, yet again, out of the blue, and I struggle to make sense of it. Did Mrs Stoll kill her husband? If so, why?
A Border-Line Case (2 stars)
Shelagh Money, a 19-year-old aspiring actress who goes by the stage name of Jennifer Blair, is looking forward to her first big theatre role, playing Viola/Cesaro in Twelfth Night. She looks after her seriously ill father. One evening, as the two look through an old family album and Shelagh's father reminisces about his former friend and best man, Commander Nick Barry, he, quite unexpectedly, looks at Shelagh with a look of horror and disbelief on his face, collapses and dies.
Horrified by the events, Shelagh travels to Ireland to seek out Commander Barry and learn more about him and his relation to his father. She discovers that Nick lives a reclusive life on a small island. When she attempts to investigate further, she is kidnapped and taken to the island as Nick's "guest". Shelagh is shocked to see that he keeps on his desk a framed copy of her father's wedding photograph, which had been doctored to swap around the heads of the groom and the best man.
When Nick questions her, Shelagh lies and gives her stage name Jennifer Blair. When she asks him about the photograph, he tells her that his wife died shortly after their wedding. Shelagh finds herself strongly attracted to Nick. That night, they have sex in the back of a grocer's van. There, Nick admits that the photograph is a fake: a practical joke that the new bride took rather badly at the time, because Nick "got her drunk" one night and the two of them had sex, cheating on their respective husband and best friend. Although Shelagh is shocked to learn this about her mom, she tells Nick that she loves him and wants to be with him. Nick, however, is set on the two of them parting ways, and so Shelagh has no choice but to return to England.
YIKES. YIKES. YIKES. This story, ya'll. It wasn't for me, honey. I mean, the twist at the end is shocking, scandalous even. And I bet readers back in du Maurier's day were clutching their pearls, but to me, it felt so fucking forced. Why did Shelagh and Nick fall "in love" in the first place? They literally had one conversation. Shelagh was also giving damsel in distress, whilst Nick was the big brooding alpha male, and I just hate that dynamic.
But I really liked the beginning, and thought it was so well done and creepy when Shelagh initially spotted the fake wedding photo at Nick's place. I was really able to put myself in her shoes. Like, for real, imagine being in that situation. My fight or flight would've kicked in immediately, LMAO.
The Way of the Cross (5 stars)
A disparate party from the middle-class village of Little Bletford take a sightseeing cruise to Middle East, led by their local vicar. All are in their own individual ways unsatisfied with their lives and their relationships. When their vicar falls ill, just before a planned 24-hour excursion ashore to Jerusalem, his place is taken by the inexperienced Reverend Babcock, a man more used to mixing with the youth of his own slum parish in Huddersfield. On the first night of the cruise, Robin, a precocious nine-year-old and grandson of one of the couples, suggests a walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the dark, among the bushes and trees, two people overhear things about themselves that force them to re-evaluate their lives. The next day, several of the party experience mishaps and personal humiliations, and by the end of the excursion all apart from Robin have met the fate that they most dread. In dealing with the disasters the whole group learn a great deal about themselves and their loved ones, and they return happier people.
The Breakthrough (3 stars)
Stephen Saunders is sent to an isolated laboratory on the salt marshes of the East Coast to help out with a secret project. He is told that the laboratory is in need of an electrical engineer, but is given no other details. On arrival, Stephen discovers that he is expected to help operate the computer for an experiment to trap a human's vital spark, or psychic energy, at the point of death and prevent it from going to waste. The test subject is Ken, an affable young assistant who is dying of leukaemia.
As Ken lies on the point of death he is put under hypnosis along with Niki, a "backward child" whom the scientists have found to be susceptible. Niki is asked to 'stay with Ken' as his life ebbs away, and initially it seems that the experiment has been a success, with the instruments showing that Ken's energy has been captured. But after the point of death Niki, still under hypnosis, reports that Ken is asking the experimenters to let him go, and they realise that they may have captured more of Ken than his psychic energy. Horrified, they disconnect the apparatus and release the energy.
Definitely the most unlikely story of the bunch, as it's kinda sci-fi-esque. I didn't really care for it, tbh, but I applaud du Maurier for trying out different genres.
I would consider du Maurier one of my favorite writers but she differs greatly from other "classical" writers I call favorites. Du Maurier is way more messy. She can give you romance and sex as well as mystery and intrigue. She's way more explicit than other writers of her time. And above all, she's fun to read. But I don't like all of her novels equally: Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel were brilliant, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn ... not so much. The two short story collections I've read from her 鈥� The Birds and Other Stories and Don't Look Now and Other Stories 鈥� were both solid, but not brilliant. So it's a mixed bag, but I still hold her works dearly and would recommend them.
Don't Look Now is a 1971 collection of five short stories, first published under the title Not After Midnight in Great Britain. Of the five stories, "The Way of the Cross" is the absolute standout. The two respective titular stories were great as well. "A Border-Line Case" was by far the weakest of the bunch, and "The Breakthrough" was pretty mediocre.
Don't Look Now (4 stars)
The titular story follows the married couple, John and Laura, on their first holiday after the death of their young daughter Christine. It's a mystery story (and truly a wild ride!) that also grapples with themes of grief and different ways to cope with it.
'Don't look now,' John said to his wife, 'but there are a couple of old girls two tables away who are trying to hypnotise me.'In a restaurant, the couple encounters a set of identical twin sisters, which Laura thinks to be "male twins in drag." The blind one claims to have psychic abilities; she tells Laura that Christine is still with them and trying to warn them that they are in danger if they remain in Venice. Whilst Laura believes these claims, John is skeptical (...to say the least, at one point he thinks: "False old bitch, I know they followed us" LMAO). During a night out, John hears a cry and sees what appears to be a small girl running along an alley. He later learns that the city has been plagued by a series of recent murders.
When the couple learns that their son has taken ill at boarding school, Laura leaves immediately and flies back to England. John vows to follow her with their car the next day. On his ride out of the city, he sees Laura on a vaporetto with the twins, apparently heading back into the city. Instead of leaving the city himself, John searches for his wife for hours on end but is unable to locate her. Later that evening, when he calls the boarding school, he is distressed to find that Laura is, in fact, in England. That same evening, John sees the little girl again who seems to be feeling from a man. Attempting to protect her from a presumed murderer, John follows her. The "child" is revealed to be a middle-aged "woman dwarf". She pulls a knife from her sleeve and pierces John throat. As John slumps to the floor, thinking to himself "Oh God, what a silly way to die.", he has a vision of the vaporetto and realises it is a premonition of the scene in a few days' time when Laura and the sisters will return for his funeral.
The twists and turns in this story are truly wild and there's no way of seeing all of them coming. The ending took me out of the story due to how unrealistic it was, but otherwise Daphne had me at the edge of my seat. I shared John's sense of foreboding and didn't trust the twin sisters either.
Not After Midnight (4 stars)
Timothy Grey, a preparatory school headmaster, takes a holiday to the Greek island of Crete with the intent of finding some solitude in which to paint. On arrival at his hotel, he asks to move his accommodation to a better chalet, near the water's edge, which the hotel management agrees to with some reluctance. The reason becomes clear when he discovers that the chalet's previous occupant had drowned while swimming at night. Also staying at the hotel is Stoll, a drunken and obnoxious American, and his silent and apparently deaf wife. They spend every day out in a small boat, ostensibly fishing.
Grey finds a card in his chalet left by the previous occupant reading, "Not after midnight" and the number 38, which he realises is the number of Stoll's chalet. One morning, Grey follows the couple and discovers that their days are being spent collecting ancient artefacts from a local shipwreck, with Mrs Stoll diving and supplying the finds to her husband on the beach. Grey is spotted, and that evening Stoll offers a gift, presumably to keep him quiet. His wife invites him to visit their chalet, but "not after midnight". Timothy declines the invitation, but Mrs Stoll dives to his chalet in the night and leaves the gift on his front porch. In the morning, Grey resolves to return the unwanted gift, but finds that the Stolls have departed. Determined to find out more about the Stolls' activities, he hires a boat and 鈥� when exactly over the local shipwreck 鈥� looks into the depths to see Stoll's body, drifting in the current, tied to an anchor.
Similarly to the first story, I thought that "Not After Midnight" started out brilliantly, but then kinda fell apart towards the end. In the beginning, it was easy to sympathise with Timothy and his need for quiet. The fact that everyone acted so weirdly about his choice of abode freaked me out as much as it did him. When we then learn about the previous occupant's death, things started to click into place, and the sense of foreboding grew. When Mrs Stoll snorkelled to Timothy's place, after he didn't follow through on their invitation, to leave the gift, it was truly creepy. The atmosphere was there. The suspense was there. The ending, with Mr Stoll's death, came, yet again, out of the blue, and I struggle to make sense of it. Did Mrs Stoll kill her husband? If so, why?
A Border-Line Case (2 stars)
Shelagh Money, a 19-year-old aspiring actress who goes by the stage name of Jennifer Blair, is looking forward to her first big theatre role, playing Viola/Cesaro in Twelfth Night. She looks after her seriously ill father. One evening, as the two look through an old family album and Shelagh's father reminisces about his former friend and best man, Commander Nick Barry, he, quite unexpectedly, looks at Shelagh with a look of horror and disbelief on his face, collapses and dies.
Horrified by the events, Shelagh travels to Ireland to seek out Commander Barry and learn more about him and his relation to his father. She discovers that Nick lives a reclusive life on a small island. When she attempts to investigate further, she is kidnapped and taken to the island as Nick's "guest". Shelagh is shocked to see that he keeps on his desk a framed copy of her father's wedding photograph, which had been doctored to swap around the heads of the groom and the best man.
When Nick questions her, Shelagh lies and gives her stage name Jennifer Blair. When she asks him about the photograph, he tells her that his wife died shortly after their wedding. Shelagh finds herself strongly attracted to Nick. That night, they have sex in the back of a grocer's van. There, Nick admits that the photograph is a fake: a practical joke that the new bride took rather badly at the time, because Nick "got her drunk" one night and the two of them had sex, cheating on their respective husband and best friend. Although Shelagh is shocked to learn this about her mom, she tells Nick that she loves him and wants to be with him. Nick, however, is set on the two of them parting ways, and so Shelagh has no choice but to return to England.
'The trouble with you is, Jinnie, you won't grow up. You live in a dream world that doesn't exist. That's why you opted for the stage.' Her father's voice, indulgent but firm. 'One of these days, you'll come to with a shock.'On the opening night of her play, she receives a letter from Nick and a photograph that she initially takes to be of herself in the role of Cesaro, but is in fact of Nick in the same role when he was a boy. Nick explains that she had reminded him of somebody - and has since realised that that person was himself. Shelagh at last understands her presumed father's dying look of horror and disbelief; with his last breath he had realised that Shelagh was not his biological daughter but Nick's.
YIKES. YIKES. YIKES. This story, ya'll. It wasn't for me, honey. I mean, the twist at the end is shocking, scandalous even. And I bet readers back in du Maurier's day were clutching their pearls, but to me, it felt so fucking forced. Why did Shelagh and Nick fall "in love" in the first place? They literally had one conversation. Shelagh was also giving damsel in distress, whilst Nick was the big brooding alpha male, and I just hate that dynamic.
But I really liked the beginning, and thought it was so well done and creepy when Shelagh initially spotted the fake wedding photo at Nick's place. I was really able to put myself in her shoes. Like, for real, imagine being in that situation. My fight or flight would've kicked in immediately, LMAO.
The Way of the Cross (5 stars)
A disparate party from the middle-class village of Little Bletford take a sightseeing cruise to Middle East, led by their local vicar. All are in their own individual ways unsatisfied with their lives and their relationships. When their vicar falls ill, just before a planned 24-hour excursion ashore to Jerusalem, his place is taken by the inexperienced Reverend Babcock, a man more used to mixing with the youth of his own slum parish in Huddersfield. On the first night of the cruise, Robin, a precocious nine-year-old and grandson of one of the couples, suggests a walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the dark, among the bushes and trees, two people overhear things about themselves that force them to re-evaluate their lives. The next day, several of the party experience mishaps and personal humiliations, and by the end of the excursion all apart from Robin have met the fate that they most dread. In dealing with the disasters the whole group learn a great deal about themselves and their loved ones, and they return happier people.
Lady Althea shook her head. Pain she could have borne, but not this loss of pride, this misery of shame, the knowledge that in that one moment of biting the bread she had thrown away all grace, all dignity.THIS STORY WAS SO FUCKING GOOD AND SO WELL CRAFTED. I'm obsessed with it. I love how everyone got what they had coming. And it was so fucking messy. Lady Althea loosing her fucking front teeth. The vicar hiding from Miss Dean whenever he sees her coming up the lane, her being convinced that he's half in love with her. Bob and Jill's young marital problems. Jim flirting with Jill, and later more than that. (Jim Forster, you will catch these hands.) Bob and Kate finding out. Miss Dean almost drowning in the church. Jim getting lost in a huge crowd despite his claustrophobia. Every single character is humiliated, humbled. Except for the innocent child Robin, of course. I LOVED it.
The Breakthrough (3 stars)
Stephen Saunders is sent to an isolated laboratory on the salt marshes of the East Coast to help out with a secret project. He is told that the laboratory is in need of an electrical engineer, but is given no other details. On arrival, Stephen discovers that he is expected to help operate the computer for an experiment to trap a human's vital spark, or psychic energy, at the point of death and prevent it from going to waste. The test subject is Ken, an affable young assistant who is dying of leukaemia.
As Ken lies on the point of death he is put under hypnosis along with Niki, a "backward child" whom the scientists have found to be susceptible. Niki is asked to 'stay with Ken' as his life ebbs away, and initially it seems that the experiment has been a success, with the instruments showing that Ken's energy has been captured. But after the point of death Niki, still under hypnosis, reports that Ken is asking the experimenters to let him go, and they realise that they may have captured more of Ken than his psychic energy. Horrified, they disconnect the apparatus and release the energy.
Definitely the most unlikely story of the bunch, as it's kinda sci-fi-esque. I didn't really care for it, tbh, but I applaud du Maurier for trying out different genres.
August 19, 2017
An interesting collection full of stories of subtle (and in some cases, not so subtle) horror and suspense. My favourite was definitely the title story, Don't Look Now, and sadly, some stories didn't really work for me, hence the 3-star rating.
June 10, 2018
This is part of my treasured Folio collection and its a cracker.
The book collects Daphne du Maurier's macabre stories together which span her writing career.
The book contains several famous short stories which I am sure have been more succinctly and creatively reviewed than I could have achieved plus I do not give spoilers.
I think the only exception would be the Birds the last story in this collected edition and one which was the basis of Hitchcocks classic.
The reason why I focus on this one is that I can be a little more lenient with my no spoilers since I am sure everything has either heard or seen the film plus I had a rather strange experience this morning which brought the story in to focus.
I long thought that the scene in the film with the crows in the play ground was a little contrived (stay with me you will get there) as it was well know that Hitchcock would not mind bending a few rules if it meant a better cinematic experience. Well I thought that the way the birds sounded and acted was a little false.
that was till this morning - when outside the house where there is a very large tree a large number of crows started to form and yes they sounded exactly like that. I later found out they were hounding a Red Kite which was circling but still it did bring that school house scene to mind.
And so I set about reading the stories (and considering the book was 300 pages plus) I forgot how east it was to get drawn in to her work.
Enough to say that the story from this book is far more powerful and harrowing by the simplicity of which Ms du Maurier describes the events. It is times like these that remind me that re-reading a book sometimes can be even more striking that reading it for the first time.
The book collects Daphne du Maurier's macabre stories together which span her writing career.
The book contains several famous short stories which I am sure have been more succinctly and creatively reviewed than I could have achieved plus I do not give spoilers.
I think the only exception would be the Birds the last story in this collected edition and one which was the basis of Hitchcocks classic.
The reason why I focus on this one is that I can be a little more lenient with my no spoilers since I am sure everything has either heard or seen the film plus I had a rather strange experience this morning which brought the story in to focus.
I long thought that the scene in the film with the crows in the play ground was a little contrived (stay with me you will get there) as it was well know that Hitchcock would not mind bending a few rules if it meant a better cinematic experience. Well I thought that the way the birds sounded and acted was a little false.
that was till this morning - when outside the house where there is a very large tree a large number of crows started to form and yes they sounded exactly like that. I later found out they were hounding a Red Kite which was circling but still it did bring that school house scene to mind.
And so I set about reading the stories (and considering the book was 300 pages plus) I forgot how east it was to get drawn in to her work.
Enough to say that the story from this book is far more powerful and harrowing by the simplicity of which Ms du Maurier describes the events. It is times like these that remind me that re-reading a book sometimes can be even more striking that reading it for the first time.
May 20, 2018
Esta es otra estupenda recopilaci贸n de relatos de Daphne Du Maurier que tambi茅n me ha encantado. Es el tercer libro que leo de la escritora este a帽o y es que me tiene absolutamente hipnotizada con sus historias. Pronto continuar茅 con sus novelas.
July 29, 2021
A collection of 5 short stories by mystery writer Daphne Du Maurier featuring the classi 鈥楧on鈥檛 Look Now鈥�.
鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Now,鈥� is one of the authors best known stories and was subsequently made into a film. It is the story of a young British couple holidaying in Venice, trying to recover after recently losing their young daughter following her death. Their break takes an unusual turn when they meet two sisters in a caf茅. One of the sisters is blind and she claims that she can see the deceased child sitting with her parents at a nearby table. Following this meeting the story escalates with lots of events and ultimately a violent ending. The books is worth reading for this story alone although the other four stories make interesting reading if not achieving the same recognition as 鈥楧on鈥檛 Look Now鈥�
Daphne Du Maurier wrote 鈥楻ebecca鈥� which is one of my favourite all time books but there is so much more of her work that deserves a read.
鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Now,鈥� is one of the authors best known stories and was subsequently made into a film. It is the story of a young British couple holidaying in Venice, trying to recover after recently losing their young daughter following her death. Their break takes an unusual turn when they meet two sisters in a caf茅. One of the sisters is blind and she claims that she can see the deceased child sitting with her parents at a nearby table. Following this meeting the story escalates with lots of events and ultimately a violent ending. The books is worth reading for this story alone although the other four stories make interesting reading if not achieving the same recognition as 鈥楧on鈥檛 Look Now鈥�
Daphne Du Maurier wrote 鈥楻ebecca鈥� which is one of my favourite all time books but there is so much more of her work that deserves a read.
August 10, 2017
Setting and Suspense
It should be no surprise that the author who had conjured up Manderley should be marvelous in her use of physical settings. "Don't Look Now," the title story, is the perfect embodiment of the sinister side of Venice, as those who recall the Nicholas Roeg movie will recall. And remarkably precise, down to street names and minor alleys; contrast Ian McEwan who, when he surely imitated it in , did not specify his Venicelike city. "The Way of the Cross" is even more closely tied to the topography of Jerusalem. "Not After Midnight" is inextricably set at a small holiday hotel on the coast of Crete, the only setting unfamiliar to me. And the atmosphere of "A Borderline Case" and "The Breakthrough," the other two stories, is enriched immensely by their settings at a lonely lake in Ireland and the windswept marshes of East Anglia respectively.
It should be no surprise either that the author of was a dab hand at suspense. And in two of the stories, she adds a paranormal element which twists the screw an extra couple of turns. I have to say that Roeg did more in his movie than du Maurier in her rather briefer story, but she was the one who first saw the terrifying possibility of taking an English couple, already disoriented from a recent bereavement, adding two elderly Scottish sisters with second sight, and bringing them to nightfall by a deserted canal. "The Breakthough" teeters on the edge of science fiction, Frankenstein by way of John Wyndham. It is suspenseful too, but its horror lies more in the disturbing moral questions it raises than in anything physical.
Most of these stories date from the later sixties. If there is anything old-fashioned about du Maurier's writing, it would be in her delivery systems; her plot mechanics seem to date back to an earlier period of popular fiction. The group of eight cruise passengers from an English village who take a side excursion to Jerusalem in "The Way of the Cross" might almost be characters from an Agatha Christie mystery; it starts as broad social comedy, and you are just waiting for Hercule Poirot to show up. Yet du Maurier manages to give each of them some significant epiphany that goes deeper than anything Christie attempted. And her treatment of sexual matters, which Christie would have kept under wraps if she had acknowledged them at all, is that much more explicit, though never gross.
Sex plays a part too in "A Borderline Case." After her father dies, nineteen-year-old Jinnie decides to look up a long-estranged colleague of his in Ireland, with no knowledge of what she will find. Jinnie clearly is straight out of the mold of plucky girl heroines of mid-century romance (the same trope that Kate Atkinson tapped into in ). You have to cut her quite a lot of slack as she gets in over her head in a potentially dangerous situation. But then suddenly you realize that she is a child of the sexual revolution and not girls' adventure stories of the forties at all. Where du Maurier goes with this is somewhere that Agatha Christie (and probably not Kate Atkinson either) would never, ever have touched.
It should be no surprise that the author who had conjured up Manderley should be marvelous in her use of physical settings. "Don't Look Now," the title story, is the perfect embodiment of the sinister side of Venice, as those who recall the Nicholas Roeg movie will recall. And remarkably precise, down to street names and minor alleys; contrast Ian McEwan who, when he surely imitated it in , did not specify his Venicelike city. "The Way of the Cross" is even more closely tied to the topography of Jerusalem. "Not After Midnight" is inextricably set at a small holiday hotel on the coast of Crete, the only setting unfamiliar to me. And the atmosphere of "A Borderline Case" and "The Breakthrough," the other two stories, is enriched immensely by their settings at a lonely lake in Ireland and the windswept marshes of East Anglia respectively.
It should be no surprise either that the author of was a dab hand at suspense. And in two of the stories, she adds a paranormal element which twists the screw an extra couple of turns. I have to say that Roeg did more in his movie than du Maurier in her rather briefer story, but she was the one who first saw the terrifying possibility of taking an English couple, already disoriented from a recent bereavement, adding two elderly Scottish sisters with second sight, and bringing them to nightfall by a deserted canal. "The Breakthough" teeters on the edge of science fiction, Frankenstein by way of John Wyndham. It is suspenseful too, but its horror lies more in the disturbing moral questions it raises than in anything physical.
Most of these stories date from the later sixties. If there is anything old-fashioned about du Maurier's writing, it would be in her delivery systems; her plot mechanics seem to date back to an earlier period of popular fiction. The group of eight cruise passengers from an English village who take a side excursion to Jerusalem in "The Way of the Cross" might almost be characters from an Agatha Christie mystery; it starts as broad social comedy, and you are just waiting for Hercule Poirot to show up. Yet du Maurier manages to give each of them some significant epiphany that goes deeper than anything Christie attempted. And her treatment of sexual matters, which Christie would have kept under wraps if she had acknowledged them at all, is that much more explicit, though never gross.
Sex plays a part too in "A Borderline Case." After her father dies, nineteen-year-old Jinnie decides to look up a long-estranged colleague of his in Ireland, with no knowledge of what she will find. Jinnie clearly is straight out of the mold of plucky girl heroines of mid-century romance (the same trope that Kate Atkinson tapped into in ). You have to cut her quite a lot of slack as she gets in over her head in a potentially dangerous situation. But then suddenly you realize that she is a child of the sexual revolution and not girls' adventure stories of the forties at all. Where du Maurier goes with this is somewhere that Agatha Christie (and probably not Kate Atkinson either) would never, ever have touched.
July 3, 2019
I am a huge fan of short story collections. Instead of reading a chapter or two while waiting for the doctor you can knock out a whole story. This collection wasn鈥檛 the best of the best, but it did entertain.
鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Now鈥� - 4 Stars
A husband and wife on holiday after a family loss find themselves in the middle of much more than they expected.
It makes sense that this story is the one that had a movie made from it. It had great buildup and the ending was one that the reader wouldn鈥檛 expect.
A Border Line Case鈥� - 3 Stars
A daughter decides to track down a friend from her father's past and learns that some searches are better left undone.
The ending was obvious from the beginning but it was entertaining. I liked that it wasn鈥檛 as description heavy as some of the other stories in this collection and that it read quick.
鈥淭he Breakthrough鈥� - 3 Stars
A man sent to assist with a computer learns that science experiences in secluded locations never end well.
The beginning and middle of this one had me hooked but the ending left a lot to be desired. This was the one story I would have liked to see in novel form with more story at the back end.
鈥淭he Way of the Cross鈥� - 2 Stars
A group traveling discover many truths about themselves while visiting a holy location.
I liked the idea behind this story but got bored with the telling of it. It was way to descriptive and took up too much of my reading time. The way the characters were written was impressive, but the excessive detail killed it for me.
鈥淣ot After Midnight鈥� - 1 Star
A vacationing teacher has a gut feeling about another couple's invitation to spend more time together.
This one was overly dramatic and had this ridiculous buildup to nothing. I went back and read the beginning multiple times to figure out what I had missed and could not figure it out. It was like he did something shameful and everyone knew about it and left his job because of it. I am not sure what that piece had to do with the rest of the story and assume I misunderstood something about it.
鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Now鈥� - 4 Stars
A husband and wife on holiday after a family loss find themselves in the middle of much more than they expected.
It makes sense that this story is the one that had a movie made from it. It had great buildup and the ending was one that the reader wouldn鈥檛 expect.
A Border Line Case鈥� - 3 Stars
A daughter decides to track down a friend from her father's past and learns that some searches are better left undone.
The ending was obvious from the beginning but it was entertaining. I liked that it wasn鈥檛 as description heavy as some of the other stories in this collection and that it read quick.
鈥淭he Breakthrough鈥� - 3 Stars
A man sent to assist with a computer learns that science experiences in secluded locations never end well.
The beginning and middle of this one had me hooked but the ending left a lot to be desired. This was the one story I would have liked to see in novel form with more story at the back end.
鈥淭he Way of the Cross鈥� - 2 Stars
A group traveling discover many truths about themselves while visiting a holy location.
I liked the idea behind this story but got bored with the telling of it. It was way to descriptive and took up too much of my reading time. The way the characters were written was impressive, but the excessive detail killed it for me.
鈥淣ot After Midnight鈥� - 1 Star
A vacationing teacher has a gut feeling about another couple's invitation to spend more time together.
This one was overly dramatic and had this ridiculous buildup to nothing. I went back and read the beginning multiple times to figure out what I had missed and could not figure it out. It was like he did something shameful and everyone knew about it and left his job because of it. I am not sure what that piece had to do with the rest of the story and assume I misunderstood something about it.
January 18, 2020
Expertly wrought tales of intrigue and nastiness.
December 17, 2016
A word of caution: Do not confuse this book, with . They are not the same book. The only things they have in common are the the title story and the author. Both books are fine, mind you, but if you are participating in a group discussion and the stories you are reading aren't the same as what everyone else is reading, you will likely feel left out in the cold.
That said, this is a fine collection of stories by an exceptional author. I really enjoyed her writing style and the the way that she was able to bring various settings around the world to life. That said, I don't think any of the stories really hit it out of the park. Maybe I expect more from the author of and but I felt like she set up several of the stories for a big finish and then....they just ended. I award this anthology 鈽呪槄鈽吢� stars out of five although at least half a star is awarded out of respect for Dame Daphne.
My thanks to the folks at the Horror Aficionados group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
That said, this is a fine collection of stories by an exceptional author. I really enjoyed her writing style and the the way that she was able to bring various settings around the world to life. That said, I don't think any of the stories really hit it out of the park. Maybe I expect more from the author of and but I felt like she set up several of the stories for a big finish and then....they just ended. I award this anthology 鈽呪槄鈽吢� stars out of five although at least half a star is awarded out of respect for Dame Daphne.
My thanks to the folks at the Horror Aficionados group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
February 24, 2018
Son 5 relatos que yo definir铆a de terror psicol贸gico. El manzano ya lo hab铆a le铆do en otra antolog铆a y era de mis favoritos de la autora. Pero, en este caso, los otros 4 me han encantado , sobre todo el que da nombre a la antolog铆a. Me encanta la autora.
February 25, 2015
--Don't Look Now
--Not After Midnight
--A Border-Line Case
--The Way of the Cross
--The Breakthrough
--Not After Midnight
--A Border-Line Case
--The Way of the Cross
--The Breakthrough
September 24, 2024
I bought this collection a few months back and then never got around to finishing it until now. Apparently insomnia has claimed me again, and I finally finished some books and put some others on the DNF list. Per usual, here are my ratings for each story in the collection. Overall I gave this 4 stars since some of the stories were baffling to me. I don't know what message I was supposed to be getting.听
"Don't Look Now" (5 stars)-John and Laura are a married couple trying to rediscover each other after the lost of a child. However, something or someone still seems to be with them. I loved the Gothic elements in this story and the ending.听
"Not after Midnight" (5 stars)-This story was a bit long, but I liked how it played out. A school teacher who is away on vacation to Crete starts to realize there is something sinister with a married couple that is located nearby where he is staying. He finds out the person who stayed in his chalet came to a bad end and now he's wondering if the couple could have had something to do with it. There are some horror/supernatural elements afoot here. I still wonder about the married man. But once again, solid ending.听
"A Border-Line Case" (4 stars)-What a long story. A young woman and actress who decides to embark to meet a man that her late father used to be friends with. I was confused for a bit of it and wondered where du Maurier was going with things. But once again, that ending saved things.听
"The Way of the Cross" (3 stars)-It started off interesting but then just meandered. Reading about a group of travelers to Jerusalem was not that interesting in the end. I kept thinking something bad was going to befall them and it just felt a bit too like a comedy of errors in the end. Also may be I am too bloodthirsty? I was like, eh no one died.听
"The Breakthrough" (4 stars)-I honestly thought this one was very good. We get a nice echo of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with a question of can a soul be captured?
"Don't Look Now" (5 stars)-John and Laura are a married couple trying to rediscover each other after the lost of a child. However, something or someone still seems to be with them. I loved the Gothic elements in this story and the ending.听
"Not after Midnight" (5 stars)-This story was a bit long, but I liked how it played out. A school teacher who is away on vacation to Crete starts to realize there is something sinister with a married couple that is located nearby where he is staying. He finds out the person who stayed in his chalet came to a bad end and now he's wondering if the couple could have had something to do with it. There are some horror/supernatural elements afoot here. I still wonder about the married man. But once again, solid ending.听
"A Border-Line Case" (4 stars)-What a long story. A young woman and actress who decides to embark to meet a man that her late father used to be friends with. I was confused for a bit of it and wondered where du Maurier was going with things. But once again, that ending saved things.听
"The Way of the Cross" (3 stars)-It started off interesting but then just meandered. Reading about a group of travelers to Jerusalem was not that interesting in the end. I kept thinking something bad was going to befall them and it just felt a bit too like a comedy of errors in the end. Also may be I am too bloodthirsty? I was like, eh no one died.听
"The Breakthrough" (4 stars)-I honestly thought this one was very good. We get a nice echo of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with a question of can a soul be captured?
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