The road to Manderley

I'm back from Edinburgh -- which must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world -- and all went well. Met lots of nice people, including Cornflower, who was wearing a cornflower in the rain...
In the midst of unpacking, and now packing again, because I'm going away with my younger son for a few days. So while I'm gone, here are some pictures of a footpath I recently discovered near Fowey, which crosses the old Menabilly drive. I'd searched for it in the past, but could never find it --- and here it is at last...

Sunshine and showers...

I'm off to Edinburgh this weekend, to speak at the Book festival on Saturday evening, and very much hoping to meet some of you there (like Cornflower), though by the sound of things, it's going to be horribly soggy in Scotland. Perhaps I need to pack wellies, and wear them with my frock for the event, as at Port Eliot?
Meanwhile, here are some sunshine-y pictures from Cornwall -- of the daymark at the Gribbin Head, just up the hill from Polridmouth Bay and Menabilly. Actually, I say 'just', but it's a steep, steep climb... especially for a dog with short legs.

Visiting the shipwreck at Polridmouth Bay, as 'Daphne' sails to America...

Polridmouth Bay -- as du Maurier fans will know -- is the beach on the edge of the Menabilly estate, along the coastal footpath from Fowey, before it rises up to the Gribbin. It's also recognisable as the beach in 'Rebecca' -- at the end of the path from Manderley to the sea, where Rebecca visits her boat-house, and also where the ship-wreck occurs that plays such a pivotal part in the plot of the novel.
When du Maurier published 'Rebecca' in 1938, she hadn't yet moved into Menabilly -- indeed, as I've already written (in this blog and elsewhere), this was the house that Rebecca rebuilt, in that Daphne used the money she made from the novel in order to lease and restore Menabilly, which was her original inspiration for the story. But she had already seen the wreck at Polridmouth, when she was staying nearby at Ferryside -- subsequently evoked with such drama in 'Rebecca' -- and at low tide, you can still see the remains of that wreck on the rocks. I've been there many times in the past, and seen its bones, like a skeleton only partially submerged in the water -- just like in the opening pages of my book -- but until now, I've never been able to get close enough to touch it.
Polridmouth still feels to me like a slightly melancholy place, especially when the clouds cast shadows over it, but my family disagree (they think I read too much into it; which is perhaps an inevitable consequence of my time researching 'Daphne'). Anyway, here are some pictures...
Oh, and by the way, 'Daphne' is out in America today. Here's a review in the Los Angeles Times. I do hope the book sails peacefully into new waters...

Ferryside

Here are some pictures of Ferryside, taken when I was in Fowey recently. It's the house that Daphne's father, Gerald du Maurier, bought in the 1920s, for family holidays, and where Daphne wrote her first novel, 'The Loving Spirit'. Daphne's son, Kits Browning, lives there now, and it's a wonderful place, with views over the Fowey estuary. The village you can see in the background is Polruan, and Fowey is on the other side of the river. The only way to cross over to here from Fowey is by a little ferry -- hence the name of the house -- unless you've got your own boat. It's here that Daphne learnt to row and sail; here, too, that she felt a kind of liberating freedom that had evaded her in London. You can see why she started writing in this environment -- it's one of the most beautiful and inspiring views I've ever seen, with a big open sky, and light shining on the water. It's peaceful, yet there's also a sense of the wide world beyond, as ships dock at the harbour opposite, before making their journeys out into the open sea.

Catching up...

Here I am with my dog Molly, on the edge of the Menabilly estate in Cornwall. The woods are behind me -- and hidden there is Rebecca's path to the sea. For anyone who's read my book, the little cottage in the woods that my narrator stumbles across is close to this spot -- but again, it's completely hidden by the trees. You'd have to trespass on the estate to find it, and I don't recommend that; though I did stay there legitimately when I was researching the book (I hasten to add!). It also happens to be the cottage where the previous inhabitants were the inspiration for the sisters in 'Don't Look Now' -- a blind psychic and her companion, who lived here when du Maurier was still in residence at Menabilly. It's a beautiful, eerie place...
'Daphne' is being published in the US tomorrow, and there is an interesting piece about it -- and du Maurier herself -- that has just been published in the Wall Street Journal. The writer describes my book as "a spirited but tender fictionalisation of her life" -- which seems to me a very nice thing to say, on all counts.
Speaking of journalism, while I've been in Cornwall, a piece I wrote about J.M Barrie has appeared in the Sunday Telegraph, and a couple of people have posted on the blog, suggested that I do a link to it... Hope you enjoy it.