On this Hallowe’en episode Andy and John are joined by Laura Varnam. Laura is a lecturer in English Literature at University College, Oxford, and she is currently writing a book on Daphne du Maurier. She regularly appears at the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature in Cornwall and was one of the experts consulted on the documentary Daphne du Maurier: In the Footsteps of Rebecca. Also on hand – as is traditional for the Backlisted Hallowe’en festivities – is Andrew Male. Andrew is the senior associate editor of Mojo magazine and writes about books, film, radio and TV for the Guardian, Sight and Sound, and Sunday Times Culture. This is fifth time on the Backlisted (and his fourth at Hallowe’en).

The main book Laura and Andrew are discussing is a collection of stories known as either the The Breaking Point or The Blue Lenses by Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1959 by Gollancz and issued as a Virago Modern Classic in 2009. Before that Andy explores the spooky world of The Usborne World of the Unknown - Ghosts while John explores a strange but affecting tale - Walter J.C. Murray’s Copsford, recently republished by Little Toller with an introduction by Raynor Winn.

Books mentioned:

Daphne du Maurier - The Breaking Point; Rebecca; Don’t Look Now & Other Stories; The House on the Strand; I’ll Never Be Young Again; Rule Britannia; The Infernal World of Bramwell Bronte
Christopher Maynard - The Usborne World of the Unknown - Ghosts
Walter J.C. Murray - Copsford
Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
Margaret Forster - Daphne du Maurier
Tatiana de Rosnay - Manderley Forever: A Life of Daphne du Maurier

Other links:

Daphne du Maurier at Home (Pathé Newsreel)
Interview with Daphne du Maurier (BBC, 1971)
Rebecca - Alfred Hitchcock (1940)
Sheila Bond remembers Daphne du Maurier (Meridian BBC, 1989)
Daphne du Maurier on Desert Island Discs (1977)
Christopher Douglas on Don’t Look Now (A Good Read, 2007)
Don’t Look Now - Nic Roeg (1973)