Daphne du Maurier
![](/Images/godic/202501/10/Young_Daphne_du_Maurier1245.jpg")
![Daphne (right) with her mother Muriel Beaumont and her sisters Angela (left) and Jeanne (centre), c. 1912.[1]](/Images/godic/202501/10/Mw1746081245.jpg")
![Cannon Hall, Hampstead, drawn by A.R. Quinton, 1911, where Daphne spent much of her childhood.](/Images/godic/202501/10/Cannon_Hall,_A.R._Quinton,_19111245.JPG")
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE (/ˈdæfni duː ˈmɒri.eɪ/; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English author and playwright.
Although classed as a romantic novelist, her stories seldom feature a conventional happy ending, and have been described as ‘moody and resonant’ with overtones of the paranormal. These bestselling works were not at first taken seriously by the critics, but have since earned an enduring reputation for storytelling craft. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now.