The House on the Strand

by Daphne du Maurier

Overview

In this haunting tale, Daphne du Maurier takes a fresh approach to time travel. A secret experimental concoction, once imbibed, allows you to return to the fourteenth century. There is only one catch: if you happen to touch anyone while traveling in the past you will be thrust instantaneously to the present.

Magnus Lane, a University of London chemical researcher, asks his friend Richard Young and Young's family to stay at Kilmarth, an ancient house set in the wilds near the Cornish coast. Here, Richard drinks a potion created by Magnus and finds himself at the same spot where he was moments earlier--though it is now the fourteenth century. The effects of the drink wear off after several hours, but it is wildly addictive, and Richard cannot resist traveling back and forth in time. Gradually growing more involved in the lives of the early Cornish manor lords and their ladies, he finds the presence of his wife and stepsons a hindrance to his new-found experience. Richard eventually finds emotional refuge with a beautiful woman of the past trapped in a loveless marriage, but when he attempts to intervene on her behalf the results are brutally terrifying for the present.

Echoing the great fantastic stories of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, The House on the Strand is a masterful yarn of history, romance, horror, and suspense that will grip the reader until the last surprising twist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316252997
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	12/17/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	127,949
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) was born in London, the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of the author and artist George du Maurier. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931, but it would be her fifth novel, Rebecca, that made her one of the most popular authors of her day.

Besides novels, du Maurier wrote plays, biographies, and several collections of short fiction. Many of her works were made into films, including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, My Cousin Rachel, "Don't Look Now," and "The Birds." She lived most of her life in Cornwall, and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1969.

Editorial Reviews

The House on the Strand is prime du Maurier. . . . She holds her characters close to reality; the past she creates is valid, and her skill in finessing the time shifts is enough to make one want to try a little of the brew himself.

New York Times Book Review

A classic yarn of history, romance, horror, suspense, and time travel to the 14th century by the author of curriculum favorite Rebecca. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"The House on the Strand is prime du Maurier. . . . She holds her characters close to reality; the past she creates is valid, and her skill in finessing the time shifts is enough to make one want to try a little of the brew himself."

New York Times

"The House on the Strand is prime du Maurier. . . . She holds her characters close to reality; the past she creates is valid, and her skill in finessing the time shifts is enough to make one want to try a little of the brew himself."—New York Times

From the Publisher

Michael Maloney’s tense reading, punctuated by musical interludes, at first gives this production the feel of a soap opera. But his intensity energizes this bleak, chilly novel of a man unhappy in his own life and obsessed with the past, which he can visit, or view, through an experimental time-travel drug. In a novel filled with unsympathetic characters, Maloney makes protagonist Dick seem more sympathetic than he would otherwise be. He indicates various characters skillfully through small shifts of voice; his American accent for Dick’s wife is flawless. No one could make this novel fun; Maloney makes it involving. A printed insert on the story’s background is helpful but contains many spoilers. W.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

DEC 05/JAN 06 - AudioFile