Excellent book I enjoyed the preface with all the different authors even some I hadn’t heard of so more fuel in the tbr .

I can faithfully say after reading these short stories I am a Daphne fan for life .
Monte Verita and the blue lenses being my favourite of them all definitely not the kind of stories I associate with Daphne but I enjoyed the cult aspect the creeping dread that ensued and the setting so unique. I’m guessing Michelle Paver is a huge fan of this horror giant .

The blue lenses being her most odd book I didn’t think she would write but it was so enjoyable, I knew from the beginning her husband was a snake but not a literal one inside. Her vision is changed to see people’s true nature reflected as animals her nurse is a cat her husband the viper secretly wanting to take her money .

She doesn’t know who to trust but who can we really trust deep down she human beings hide our nature with a smile or an accent , manners can be key if heading the true motives of folk.

Enjoyed being chilled to the bone off to watch the birds now terrifying.

I love daphne du maurier, she is an excellent suspense story teller. These short stories are a mix of eerie, chilling and psychologically twisted. A great collection of stories for a book lover.

WOW! If this isn't a book to brag about I don't know what is... I started it late last night. Never did I anticipate I would be closing the book at 1am. I’m loving it. Rebecca is a favourite book of mine so we so excited to read these thrilling books. Daphne du maurier books are timeless masterpieces!

Review is more like 4.5/5. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
My only previous read was Rebecca which I loved for its unsettling atmosphere and vivid descriptions. I also wasn't aware that Daphne du Maurier also wrote The Birds which was a very welcome surprise!
I found these stories to be spooky and chilling in their own quiet and resigned manners. Daphne du Maurier had such a signature style to make small events have so much hidden meaning. My particular favourite was The Apple because the depictions of Midge and the apple tree were so compelling.

Overall, an engaging collection of short stories. Perfect for upcoming autumnal rainy weather.

A great collection of Daphne du Maurier's haunting and spooky short stories.

The brilliantly written stories include The Birds and Don't Look Now, both of which were made into excellent films.

Save this book for the upcoming spooky season as it's perfect for dark cosy nights.

Ths stories as you would expect from this fabulous author are dark and chilling and perfectly told.

I loved them all, and found there wasn't one that I thought was not suitable or less brilliant than the others.

perfect reading

Daphne Du Maurier was a fabulous short story writer. I have read many collections ove rthe years of her short stories and there is rarely a dud unlike short story collections by many other writers. This collection contains many stories I have read before, well known ones such as "Don't Look Now" and one of my old favourites, "The Apple Tree," which is almost like a modern fairy tale with a real sting in the tail, that has stayed with me.

This collection of thirteen tales homes in on stories that err towards the dark and eerie side, just right for Autumn and Winter nights. There were stories I had not come across before, such as a very early story "The Doll" written by Du Maurier in her early twenties. The first story in the collection, "Blue Lenses" tells the story of a woman recovering from eye surgery who has been given new lenses, she thinks she is going insane as she sees all the medical staff and her husband with animal heads. Monte Verita and The Breakthrough are other standouts. Really intriguing tales by a master. Fantastic!

This would make a great start for anyone just discovering Daphne du Maurie, it’s a great collection of 13 of her shorts that contain that dark menace that she did so well including The Birds which inspired Hitchcock’s movie of the same name.

Also contained a great intro by Stephen King which I will confess I normally don’t read but was an insightful reminder of the author and the influence she still holds today.

Spooky and unsettling, will be recommending

Really enjoyed these short stories and wish i could read them for the first time again! perfect for a cozy night in.

This collection of short stories is classic du Maurier - dark, atmospheric, and beautifully written. Each tale draws you into a world where the ordinary suddenly feels unsettling and strange, full of mystery and quiet suspense.

I particularly enjoyed The Way of the Cross, where the slow reveal of the protagonist’s obsession with the crucifix creates a haunting sense of inevitability. The way du Maurier explores guilt and faith there really stayed with me. Another standout was The Breakthrough, which cleverly plays with perception and reality - how the main character’s fragile mental state blurs the line between what is real and imagined kept me on edge throughout ( and was slightly terrifying!)

Du Maurier’s skill with mood and detail makes these stories perfect for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers or gothic fiction. It’s not just about the scares, it is the slow-building tension and the complex emotions that really stick with you. A fantastic read for fans of atmospheric storytelling.

Daphne do Maurier is one of those writers I can forget how much I enjoy until I read her again. Thanks to this, I picked up The Glass Blowers today, on a book stall at the village fete, (I really shouldn't be buying more books at the moment, but I am now in the mood for more du Maurier). She is very good at short stories, as well as novels, which is often not the case. I had already read several of these, but had never read Don't Look Now, so very pleased to get to that. The Birds is still my favourite. Some really eerie stories in this collection, and I will be dipping into it again in the autumn, which seems like the perfect time to be reading it.

*Many thanks to Netgally and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

A collection of her thirteen most mesmerising tales where each story exemplifies the author's exquisite writing and singular insight into human frailty, jealousy, and the macabre. A mistress of the sleight of hand and slow-burning menace, often imitated and never, ever surpassed.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞, 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐔𝐊 | 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐮 𝐌𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫

Dark,
Tense,
Twisted,
Tense,

Daphne du Maurier showcases her skills in this collection. Without any spoilers, this book shows how Daphne du Maurier is seen as one of the 'greats'. I want to do a particular shoutout to a few of the first three stories: The Blue Lenses (wtffff???!!!!), Don't Look Now (bro, what?) and The Alibi (seriously creepy).

I am going to be honest I preferred this to Rebecca. I'm not the biggest fan of Rebecca and that shouldn't put you off this collection.

A collection of 13 short stories by Daphne du Maurier, including the classics 'Don't Look Now' and 'The Birds' and some lesser-known gems. My impression is that this will be a beautiful hardback gift edition when released - a perfect present for gothic fiction lovers.

I was looking forward to the lesser-known stories, but in the end it was the classics which I really enjoyed. 'Don't Look Now' is in a league of its own - the characters so believably imperfect, their mercurial emotional states traced mercilessly, and the twist of the tale having a kind of inevitability and bleak humour to it.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

The settings and near constant creepiness that run through these stories is typical Daphne Du Maurier.

I connected with some stories more than others. Some were heavier in plot and others were more character based. Some absorbed me entirely and flew through them: Blue Lenses, Mount Verita, The Birds.

Others I struggled to remain interested and ended up either skipping ahead or plodding through.

13 brilliantly dark tales. I loved this, it was so perfectly dark and spooky!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Wholly Unsettling..
Thirteen of the very darkest tales from Daphne du Maurier, with an apt and interesting introduction from Stephen King, in this perfectly compiled collection of wholly unsettling stories - some well known and some not so - from the downright dark to the terrifying, to the mysterious and to the chilling. A beautifully presented collection.

A new, stunning collection by the brilliant Daphne du Maurier contains thirteen strange and dark stories. Stephen King's introduction is great and serves as a bit of a warning and what this collection holds. From the very well known (and excellent!) 'Don't Look Now' or 'The Birds' to the eerie and new (to me, anyway) discoveries like 'The Blue Lenses', 'The Apple Tree', these stories will grip the readers and might scare them a bit too. Definitely a must-have for the du Maurier fans!

Daphne du Maurier is an author that has always fascinated me. A part of that was her obvious affinity to Cornwall, the county I've always called home, and there was a certain novelty to reading stories set there. A part of it was seeing the adaptations of her work, growing up with moments that are ingrained in pop culture, and realising over time that they all came from the same wonderful source. Many will know her novels, the likes of Rebecca and Jamaica Inn forming towering figures in early 1900s English literature. For those more keen in a nasty sting at the end of a tale, though, her often underappreciated short stories are a must-read.

After Midnight is a new collection of thirteen du Maurier short stories, focusing more on the horror and unnerving sides of her work. These encompass everything from some of her most famous shorts, to the relatively newly discovered The Doll - a story written when she was a young woman in the 1920s, and one that is very ahead of its time. Seasoned fans of the genre will no doubt at least know of The Birds and Don't Look Now, and will have likely seen the film versions, but there are many lesser gems to uncover. The Blue Lenses, The Apple Tree, Monte Verita and The Breakthrough are all standouts to me; likely, you will find our own personal favourites amongst the thirteen.

The book includes a foreword by genre master Stephen King. Anyone expecting a scholarly analysis of du Maurier's career should look elsewhere, this is the effusive praise of a fan, as you may expect. King makes one big mistake, though, which I have tried my best to avoid in my review - he makes clear how much these stories rely on the element of surprise, then ruins a few in his enthusiasm. In many ways, this word be better suited as an afterword, and while I'd recommend reading it I would save it until you've finished the stories. Go in blind, please take that suggestion to heart, and allow one of the greats to unnerve, disgust, and maybe even scare you. This book is an excellent introduction to a true short horror great.