Publisher Description

Using the cover artwork of our much-loved Virago Modern Classics hardback range, these elegant porcelain mugs celebrate three of our most popular titles: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. They are a must-have for all Virago fans, and are surely the most stylish way to enjoy your morning coffee!

Each mug is presented in a beautiful gift-box with corresponding artwork. The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe.

Rebecca and Excellent Women feature artwork by award-winning textile designer Neisha Crosland:

Valley of the Dolls features artwork by textile designer and founder of Biba, Barbara Hulanicki:

Author Biography

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) was born in London, England. In 1931 her first novel, The Loving Spirit was published. A biography of her father and three other novels followed, but it was the novel Rebecca that launched her into the literary stratosphere and made her one of the most popular authors of her day. In 1932, du Maurier married Major Frederick Browning with whom she had three children.Many of du Maurier's bestselling novels and short stories were adapted into award-winning films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. In 1969, du Maurier was awarded the Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE). She lived most of her life in Cornwall and died there which is the setting for many of her books.

Review

From the opening sentence - "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again" - to the final - "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea" - I was hooked ... Rebecca is one of the underrated classics of the 20th century ... Rebecca is a masterpiece in which du Maurier pulls off several spectacular high-wire acts that many great writers wouldn't attempt * Guardian *
Her masterpiece . . . Seldom has a dead woman exercised such power beyond the grave. Rebecca will live for ever because du Maurier touches a fearful nerve, buried deep in the unconscious * The Times *
It's the perfect winter book, brooding, dangerous and engrossing -- Kit de Waal * Sainsbury's Magazine *
A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each reading
It is the greatest psychological thriller of all time. I see du Maurier as a forerunner to Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, Gillian Flynn: she is the giant whose magnificent shoulders the rest of us stand upon
What she did was build emotional landscapes that can be entered at will, in which difficult and untamable desires were given free rein. Maybe because of her relationship with gender, she was able to make worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable, not as they seem; haunted rooms in which disembodied spirits sometimes dance at absolute liberty * Guardian *
I read this book more than twenty years ago, and must have read it a dozen times since. The characters are incredibly vivid, and the twists superb. It's the book every writer wishes they'd written -- Clare Mackintosh
This 1930s gothic thriller is suspenseful and so well crafted. Its young, nameless heroine marries rich widower Maxim de Winter and returns with him to his mansion, Manderley, only to find the ghost of his first wife, Rebecca, still lingers * Good Housekeeping *

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