The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
Last Night I Dreamt: A Personal History of the du Mauriers by Paul de Zulueta – The Book Launch
Daunt Books, Marylebone, still beautiful despite the scaffolding
Last week, on 3rd September, at 6.30 pm, Last Night I Dreamt: A Personal History of the du Mauriers by Paul de Zulueta was officially launched in London at Daunt Books flagship branch in Marylebone.
Approaching Daunt Books, there was a beautiful display of copies of Last Night I Dreamt by Paul de Zulueta in the window
The Marylebone branch of Daunt Books, which you will find at 83-84 Marylebone High Street, London, W1U 4QW, is described as one of the most beautiful bookshops in London. The Edwardian building originally opened in 1912 as an antiquarian bookshop called Francis Edwards. Businessman James Daunt founded Daunt Books in 1990 at the Marylebone store. The shop still features long oak galleries, a mezzanine floor, and spectacular stained-glass windows.
Inside Daunt Books, Marylebone branch
We were privileged to attend the book launch, and it was such a special occasion to be part of. Paul greeted more than two hundred guests and signed many, many copies of his book for them. Many members of the du Maurier family from three generations attended, as did staff from the publisher Virago, Paul's literary agents Peters, Fraser and Dunlop, Daphne du Maurier's literary agents Curtis Brown, and many of Paul's friends and colleagues. There was much talking and many introductions.
Sarah Savitt, Paul's editor at Virago, spoke about working on Last Night I Dreamt with Paul before, introducing him to the audience. He then spoke about writing the book and read a couple of short passages from it.
Paul de Zulueta
Running the Daphne du Maurier website, down in Fowey as we do, means we seldom interact with other people in the book world, so it was a joy to meet so many of them. We were thrilled by all the compliments paid to the Daphne du Maurier website and our Instagram account.
Last Night I Dreamt by Paul de Zulueta
Partway through the event, one of the Daunt Books staff members announced that they had sold out of all the copies of Paul's book in the shop. A little later, I asked how many copies that was and was told they had sold 200 books in about an hour, the most they had ever sold at a launch. Daunt Books holds several book launches a week, so this was quite some record. They even had to take down the window display to sell those copies!
Taking down the window display so that these copies could be sold
Reviews for Last Night I Dreamt have been excellent, and it seems certain that this book will be a lasting and important part of what we know about Daphne du Maurier and some of her remarkable ancestors.
We definitely recommend that you buy a copy and get reading; you won't regret it.
Ann Willmore, September 2026.