'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.' So begins Rebecca, one of the most remarkable novels ever written. Its author is Daphne du Maurier, who grew up in a golden world of success and privilege. Her grandfather was George du Maurier, famous for his Punch cartoons and his novel Trilby. Her father, Gerald, was the theatrical idol of his generation. Daphne adored him and he returned her devotion, being fiercely possessive of her.

It was when her family bought a holiday in Cornwall that Daphne's career began. Cornwall was to be her great love, inspiring a great passion in her quite unmatched by her love for her husband, 'Boy' Browning, or her children. It was Cornwall that fed her writing and it was her house, Menabilly, that sparked her creative imagination. Here Daphne wrote the novels which made her famous - novels such as Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek and My Cousin Rachel.

Judith Cook's portrait of Daphne du Maurier is an illuminating study of a complex and introverted woman whose books continue to captivate generations of readers, entranced by her superb sense of place and atmosphere, and above all by her unique gift for storytelling.