THE MISCHIEF MAKERS
Author: Elizabeth Gifford
Publisher: Corvus
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Shades of my childhood and youth were brought back to me as I read this enthralling, endearing portrait of acclaimed author Dahne du Maurier. Elizabeth Gifford in ‘The Mischief Makers’ brings du Maurier to full and enigmatic life in this historical fiction novel. Showing deep respect for the author, fearless in revealing the demons that plagued her, the relationships that influenced her, Gifford’s deep research has pierced the skin of the woman who lived her novels so much within her head, producing timeless narratives. An eminently readable novel, one which does justice to du Maurier’s magic.
I remember the quivering anticipation of ‘Rebecca’; the malevolence of that first Mrs De Winter, the sprawling rooms at Manderley, the haunted woods. Read when I was young but never forgotten, embedded deeply in my psyche. The book spawned movies, plays and even pseudonyms for present day authors. Du Maurier’s short story ’The Birds’ gave flight to a Hitchcock movie that had its own irrevocable impact.
Gifford allows us to get to know the real du Maurier, the rather uncertain tomboy, who loved sailing, walking the woods, hated cocktail parties or being centre of attention, who made Cornwall her home – the place where she could write, explore and found her beloved Manderley in the shape of the then deserted Menabilly, where she made a home for many years.
Gifford is clearly enamoured of the woman who wrote so many best sellers in the more Gothic romance genre. With their dark psychological undertones, melancholic, tortured heroines, flights of fantasy – they reflect a life that was far from simple. The fascinating story of du Maurier’s life is told with empathy – at times it is very focused on the influential JM Barrie, whose dark imagination goaded her into difficult realms. Author of the classic Peter Pan – the boy who never grew up ‘, there is a back story that is chilling. He appears as an almost ‘Svengali’ figure who encouraged her to plumb the depths of her imagination, mesmerized his audiences, a loved ‘Uncle Jim’ but a man who left Daphne questioning, in later life, that fine line between fantasy and reality and the dangers therein. He adopted her five Llewellyn – Davies male cousins when their parents died so was an integral part of their family.
With all the aspects of a gothic romance, The Mischief Makers’ shows Daphne’s life in all its complexities. The middle daughter of renowned actor (and philanderer) Gerald Du Maurier and his actress wife Muriel, her early life saw her very close to her father but rather estranged from her mother. An imaginative child, she found refuge in writing. Finding a holiday home in Cornwall was a turning point as it was here that Daphne found a refuge to write from, found her handsome army husband and the landscape that fed her soul. Du Maurier was no ordinary woman and this deep dive into the early 20th Century, the social issues, influential family figures, the shaping of her psyche is compelling, haunting, intriguing – a book to relish.