Daphne

A haunting novel that illuminates the true story of Daphne du Maurier's fascination with the Brontes: a tale of madness, theft, romance, and literary archaeology. Drawing on Justine Picardie's own extensive research into Daphne du Maurier's obsession with the Brontes and the scandal that has haunted the Bronte estate,Daphneis a marvelous story of literary fascination and possession; of stolen manuscripts and forged signatures; of love lost and love found; of the way into imaginary worlds, and the way out again. Written in three entwined parts, the novel follows Daphne du Maurier herself, the beautiful, tomboyish, passionate author of the enormously popular Gothic novelRebecca, at fifty and on the verge of madness; John Alexander Symington, eminent editor and curator of the Brontes' manuscripts, who by 1957 had been dismissed from the Bronte Parsonage Museum in disgrace, and who became Daphne's correspondent; and a nameless modern researcher on the trail of Daphne,Rebecca, Alexander Symington, and the Brontes. Haunting and gorgeously written,Daphneis a breathtaking novel that finally tells, in the most imaginative of ways, what Bronte biographer Juliet Barker has called "the last great untold Bronte storyand perhaps the most intriguing."Picardie, Justine is the author of 'Daphne ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781596913417 and ISBN 159691341X.