Announcing the Daphne du Maurier Reading Week 2023
Every year, book reviewer and blogger, HeavenAli brings us the Daphne du Maurier Reading Week, which always coincides with Daphne's birthday on 13th May. Ali shares her birthday with Daphne du Maurier, which makes her decision to lead this reading week very special. This year, the Daphne du Maurier Reading Week dates are 8th – 15th May. This is less than three weeks away, so it is time to start choosing which Daphne du Maurier books to read during this special week.
Here is an extract from what HeavenAli had to say about Daphne du Maurier and her writing last year:
Last year Ali's choices were Daphne's first novel, The Loving Spirit, the most recently published book of short stories, The Doll: Short Stories, and the novel about Daphne's French ancestry, The Glassblowers. But, of course, you can choose whichever titles you want, be it one of the novels, some short stories, a biography, or even one of the many lovely books about Daphne du Maurier.
A look at the currently available Virago editions of Daphne du Maurier's books
I think re-reading favourites is an excellent way to celebrate Daphne's birthday. My first choice will be The Parasites, my absolute favourite of all Daphne du Maurier's novels, partly because it tells us much about Daphne. My second choice will be Oriel Malet's book Letters from Menabilly: Portrait of a Friendship. Again, this beautiful book, made up of Daphne's correspondence with Oriel, tells us a lot about Daphne. And, while I appreciate that she was different things to different people and probably always hid a large proportion of who she was, this book, because it is made up of private letters between two friends, gives you an insight into one of the people that Daphne was. Finally, if I have time, I will dip into some short stories because Daphne created such brilliant snapshots in her short story writing.
During the reading week, check in with Ali at her blog here for comments and updates as the week progresses.