This is a fictionalised account of two families – the du Maurier’s and J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan – and is based on real life events although the timings and detail may not be factual. It is after all fiction. What is fascinating about this book is the true story it retells, the impact of JM Barrie on those around him, particularly children and his role in their deaths. Nowadays we might call it some sort of abuse and it shows us clearly how trauma in one generation is often lived out in the next and the next although the roots may have been lost over time.

JM Barrie was devastated by the death of his older brother in an ice skating accident which may have been caused by JM himself. His older brother was the most cherished by his mother and she never recovered despite JM’s attempts to help. At six years old, he was a child rejected by his mother and so traumatised that he never fully physically grew and remained considerably under five feet tall. As an adult he became interested in hypnotism and the art of suggestion which he used on children that he knew, including the five boys he looked after when their parents died. The accusation was that he used ‘suggestion’ or hypnotism to develop ideas for stories but that it put the children in danger and on occasion he couldn’t ‘unhypnotise’ them, leaving them in emotional danger leading eventually to death through suicide.

This is one of the stories that is slowly revealed throughout the book – hinted at for the first three quarters and then more fully explained as you reach the ending. The other story running through is Daphne and Boy Browning’s marriage, his war time work ending in being an equerry to Princess Elizabeth and then falling ill and needing to recover. I suppose Cornwall is also another large part of the book and the house at Menabilly. Clear links have been made to the family life and the darkness of du Maurier’s writing and this is enlightening.

However, the writing is less striking, more romance than dark. Tension in the story telling was lacking even towards the end and reminded me of a not so good romance novel:

As she and Tommy made their vows, Daphne was overcome with a solemn feeling of taking part in something ancient and holy, yet also deeply personal and private. They promised to love each other for the rest of their days, their kiss charged with a sweet significance like no other kiss before it.

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Or how about being hit by a ‘thunderbolt from the blue’ or several other cliches about the affair she had as being ‘a mirage’ and finally being in ‘an oasis of peace’. It’s such a shame but I suspect that I should have read one of the biographies listed in the back of the book about the intertwining of these two families and been more engaged.