: Elisabeth Gifford
: The Mischief Makers 'As compelling as any of du Maurier's own works' Sunday Times
: Corvus
: 9781838959845
: 1
: CHF 7.60
:
: Erzählende Literatur
: English
: 336
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
'AS COMPELLING AS ANY OF DU MAURIER'S OWN WORKS' SUNDAY TIMES She wrote her stories in his shadow. Now Daphne's past is catching up with her... In a beautiful house in the wilds of Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Tangled in a self-destructive love affair that threatens to unravel her marriage, she is also distracted by worry for the family friend whose shadow looms over her childhood: J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Daphne tries to escape into writing her new book, but the line between fiction and reality blurs dangerously when her own characters start manifesting before her eyes - in particular a woman called Rebecca who looks suspiciously like her husband's alluring ex-girlfriend. Daphne must confront the dark truth that lurks beneath the fantasy of Peter Pan and the secret life that has plagued her since she found fame. Unless she can solve these mysteries and reckon with who she truly is as an artist, her next great work may be lost to history . . . 'Fascinating' Elizabeth Buchan 'Elegant and immersive' Essie Fox 'Glorious' Jane Johnson

Elisabeth Gifford grew up in a vicarage in the industrial Midlands. She studied French literature and world religions at Leeds University. She has a Diploma in Creative Writing from Oxford OUDCE and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway College. She is the author of five previous historical novels, including The Good Doctor of Warsaw and The Lost Lights of St Kilda. She is married with three children, and lives in Kingston upon Thames.

CHAPTER 1


LONDON 1911


Daphne watches Nico tear a bit of paper from thePeter Pan programme and drop it over the edge of the royal box. It twirls down like a tiny feather and lands on the head of a lady below, lodging on her little tiara. Daphne giggles. Nico tears off another bit, gives it to Daphne. She leans over the edge with its ormolu embellishments, ready to drop it on the people in evening dress below, but Michael frowns and shakes his head.

‘You’ll make people look up at us,’ he says.

Daphne takes her hand back. Michael has shrunk down in his seat as if the whole theatre is glaring at them.

Of her five boy cousins, Nico may be nearest to her in age, but it’s Michael with his elfin features and that way he has of seeming to guard a secret from another place that Daphne is most in awe of. She glances behind to see if Mummy has noticed anything but she is chatting with the older cousins, oblivious. The three older boy cousins are almost grown-ups now, George and Peter in white tie and tails, Jack in his naval cadet’s uniform. Peter smiles at her. He’s seen but doesn’t tell Mummy.

Something changes in the air and Daphne realizes that the lights in the theatre are beginning to dim. She feels a prickle of anticipation as the people in the rows below begin to fade away into darkness. The heavy curtains part as if by unseen hands and the brightness of the stage eclipses all else. She can see a nursery spread out below, a large dog very like Uncle Jim’s Porthos trying to herd three children into their beds. She blinks as Daddy comes on to the stage to a round of applause. He’s dressed as if about to go out for the evening but his face has been emphasized with paint, his hair shiny with pomade. He sends Nana the dog off to her kennel outside for barking too much. Daphne’s chest tightens. She knows this is a mistake. Nana can feel that the children are in danger – that Peter Pan is coming. And yet at the same time Daphne’s longing to see him appear.

Her heart gives a jump because there he is, outlined in the window just as the children are falling to sleep. He leaps down into the room in all his brazen glory, dressed in a green tunic and cap, crowing around the nursery because he’s captured his shadow again, then furious and tearful because he can’t stick it back on to the ends of his feet.

Wendy wakes up and helps him sew his shadow back on – as the jealous fairy Tinkerbell rings out angrily in the background. Daphne grips the edge of the box, because the best bit is about to happen. There’s a sprinkling of fairy dust and she’s no longer sure if she’s still sitting in her seat or down on the stage with Peter Pan and the children. She can feel the lightness in her body as her feet leave the stage and she flies through the darkness of the theatre with them, s