Last Night I Dreamt

An intimate, revelatory family biography of the iconic writer Daphne du Maurier, by her eldest surviving grandson Born into a famous artistic dynasty, Daphne grew up in an atmosphere of bohemian privilege. At a time when girls of her class were not expected to have a career, she defied convention and moved to Cornwall to pursue her ambition to become a writer. There, over six decades, she dreamt up the stories that have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide and still haunt our cultural imagination, including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and 'The Birds'. Last Night I Dreamt explores how the turbulence and contradictions of Daphne's own life - spanning war, affairs, and unrequited love - inspired her writing. It also uncovers the powerful influence of her notable forebears, in particular her domineering father Gerald, the most famous actor-manager of his generation, and her grandfather George, a renowned Victorian novelist and cartoonist. Paul de Zulueta, Daphne's eldest surviving grandchild, has drawn on private family archives, new interviews and his own memories of his grandmother, a woman who profoundly shaped his life. In doing so, he gives us an extraordinary look into the world of Daphne du Maurier with rare closeness and emotional candour, and a moving portrait of one of the great British artistic families of the 19th and 20th centuries.