Rebecca captured the popular imagination as few other 20th-century novels have done. But almost no one was aware that this novel and the other passionate even violent stories which made Daphne du Maurier a house-hold name mirrored her own fantasy life. She maintained a charming facade, while underneath there was emotional turbulence and ambiguity. Margaret Forster explores - with the co-operation of the family and access to revealing unpublished letters - Daphne's relationship with her father, her marriage to 'Boy' Browning, her secret wartime love affair, and her highly significant friendship with Gertrude Lawrence.

This startling and extraordinary story - a biography to match du Mauriers storytelling gifts - reveals at last the secret drama of her life.