Myself When Young: The Shaping of a Writer

In 1937 Daphne du Maurier published a romanticized story of her family. At that time she was already well known thanks to the novel “Jamaica Inn,” and soon her main bestseller, “Rebecca,” was released. In her book, she tells about the lives of her ancestors, starting with her great-great-grandmother, the mistress of the Duke of York, and ending with her grandfather—known novelist and artist George du Maurier.

The story is full of events and twists—missing husbands, scandals, court proceedings—but all of this is presented in the form of a romantic comedy, making the book engaging for readers. Du Maurier was always interested in people’s characters and destinies, in the secrets of the past and how they influence the present; and in her book she discovers “cheerful shadows of the past,” not pale phantoms, which makes her narration especially captivating.