Angela du Maurier

Angela du Maurier (1904-2002) was a novelist who had eleven books published in total, including two volumes of autobiography, "It's Only the Sister" (1951) and "Old Maids Remember".

The eldest of three daughters of the famous actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel Beaumont (maternal niece of William Comyns Beaumont). Her grandfather was the author and Punch cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the novel "Trilby". Although three years older than her better known sister Daphne, she outlived her by thirteen years.

Originally aspiring to follow the family tradition of acting, she planned to be an actress and spent two seasons on the stage. She worked on the land in Cornwall during the war and travelled extensively in Europe. She later turned to writing, with the release of her earlier works coinciding with the publication of her sister's "Rebecca" and "Jamaica Inn". Her works of fiction include "The Road to Leenane", "Pilgrims by the Way", "The Perplexed Heart", "Reveille" and "Treveryan". She lived at Ferryside, the family house in Cornwall, for most of her life.