Book description
'The iron of the bridge felt hot under my hand. The sun had been upon
it all day. Gripping hard with my hands I lifted myself on to the bar
and gazed down steadily on the water passing under … I thought of places
I would never see, and women I should never love. A white sea breaking
on a beach, the slow rustle of a shivering tree, the hot scent of grass
… I breathed deeply and I felt as though the waiting water rose up in
front of me and would not let me go' As far as his father, an
accomplished poet, is concerned, Richard will never amount to anything,
and so he decides to take his fate into his own hands. But at the last
moment, he is saved by Jake, who appeals to Richard not to waste his
life. Together they set out for adventure, jumping aboard the the first
ship they see and working their passage to Norway and around Europe,
eventually to bohemian Paris, where Richard meets Hesta, a captivating
music student … Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) was born in London,
educated at home and in Paris, and lived for much of her life in her
beloved Cornwall, the setting for many of her novels. Most of her novels
have been bestsellers and many have been made into films. She is
considered one of the most accomplished novelists of the twentieth
century.
