Discovering Daphne…

Finally after a good few weeks of plotting and organising things behind the scenes I can announce with joy, on what would have been her 104th Birthday, that myself and the lovely Polly of Novel Insights will be hosting the ‘Discovering Daphne’ season throughout the whole of October this year. Polly and I are both huge fans of Daphne and we are hoping that be you a Du Maurier novice or a full on fan you will be join us to discover/further discover a marvellous author who deserves much more attention and acclaim.

Why did we decide on October? Well it’s the perfect Daphne reading time of year. As you may spot from my review of ‘The Doll’ (a newly published collection of some of her earlier work which had be thought lost) there is something about Daphne Du Maurier’s writing that makes you want to curl up in a big comfy chair by the fire and be ever so slightly chilled and thrilled all at once, and October is a month that has that feeling doesn’t it? We also wanted to give you plenty of notice so you could join in (big thanks to Thomas of My Porch for creating some wonderful buttons for us by the way) with it all…

  

So what’s the plan? Well when we say the whole of October we actually mean the first week from the 1st – 9th of October 2011 and will kick of with the first of five optional (though we hope you join in with them all) Daphne read-a-longs, and where better to start than the very beginning of her career with her first novel ‘The Loving Spirit’ and on the 9th a fictionalised biography of her great-great grandmother ‘Mary Anne’ a tale so wonderful its hard to believe its actually true. Around these titles will be  a full week of various posts on other Du Maurier novels, reviews of books that have been inspired by her, and constant updates of what other people (aka YOU) have been reading and thinking, plus giveaways and competitions before the final three read-a-longs…

• Sunday 16th October: ‘The House on the Strand’ – speculative time-travelling Daphne showing how versatile she is.
• Sunday 23rd October: ‘Don’t Look Now & Other Stories’ – a collection of Daphne’s short stories which are always wonderful and rather dark.
• Sunday 30th October: ‘Rebecca’ – if you have read it before or if you haven’t already, we will be discussing possibly the most famous of Daphne’s novels which should prove a perfect way to end the season.

Blimey, that should make for plenty of fun and fabulous reading and discussions for one month don’t you think? I have created a ‘Discovering Daphne’ page on the site for you to return to should you wish.

We really hope you are going to be joining in all over the world… So much so that to start off the whole event (and make Friday the 13th lucky for two of you) with the help of Daphne’s publishers Virago in the UK, we have a set of all the read-a-long novels to giveaway each. So if you want to be off to a wonderful head start with ‘The Loving Spirit’, ‘Mary Anne’, ‘The House on the Strand’ and ‘Rebecca’ then all you need to do is tell us which Daphne Du Maurier you haven’t read yet you would most like to and why? Hopefully you will be reading an extra Daphne book during the season too. You have until the 20th, and if you want to double your chances of winning pop to Novel Insights and do the same there. These parcels can go global so do enter wherever in the world you are. Good luck, ooh I am excited, and let us know what you think of the Discovering Daphne season and do feel free to spread the word.