Books by Daphne Du Maurier

Every week, dozens of new thrillers appear in bookshops. But, often, the classic ones are the best of all. If you haven’t read any of these five yet, you have a treat in store—recommended by British novelist Lucy Atkins, author of the brilliant Magpie Lane.

Love and marriage may go together like a horse and carriage, but what happens when the horses are spooked and the whole procession is run off the road? Katie Kitamura, whose new novel A Separation charts the disastrous—and tragic—failure of a marriage, considers some of literature’s most heartfelt accounts of relationship failure

A good thriller isn’t about the violence or bloodshed, it’s about making the reader feel off-balance and as if something isn’t quite right, says bestselling author Tess Gerritsen. She tells us about her own favourite thrillers.

Rachel Hickman, co-founder of Chicken House Publishing and author of One Silver Summer, selects books with wild settings that have appeal to older children. She discusses how a strong use of nature adds drama and meaning to a narrative, and the way that setting can become another character in a story.

Daphne du Maurier is one of the most overlooked writers of the twentieth century, says Oxford University’s Laura Varnam. As her best known-work, Rebecca, continues to attract new movie adaptations and du Maurier enjoys a critical renaissance, Varnam explores the books which highlight this novelist’s sheer range and brilliance—from biography and fiction to history and horror.