An NYRB Original Daphne du Maurier wrote some of the most compelling and creepy novels of the twentieth century. In books likeRebecca,My Cousin Rachel, andJamaica Innshe transformed the small dramas of everyday lifelove, grief, jealousyinto the stuff of nightmares. Less known, though no less powerful, are her short stories, in which she gave free rein to her imagination in narratives of unflagging suspense. Patrick McGrath's revelatory new selection of du Maurier's stories shows her at her most chilling and most psychologically astute: a dead child reappears in the alleyways of Venice; routine eye surgery reveals the beast within to a meek housewife; nature revolts against man's abuse by turning a benign species into an annihilating force; a dalliance with a beautiful stranger offers something more dangerous than a broken heart. McGrath draws on the whole of du Maurier's long career and includes surprising discoveries together with famous stories like "The Birds."Don't Look Nowis a perfect introduction to a peerless storyteller.

Daphne du Maurier (1907—1989), a novelist, playwright, biographer, and short-story writer, was born into an artistic family in London. She began writing short stories and articles in 1928 and in 1931 her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published. Many of her works were adapted into films, including Rebecca, “The Birds,” and “Don’t Look Now.” In June 1969, du Maurier was named a Dame of the British Empire.

Patrick McGrath was born in London in 1950. His works include Blood and Water and Other Tales, The Grotesque, Spider, Dr. Haggard’s Disease, Asylum (which was short-listed for the 1996 Guardian Fiction Prize and made into a feature film), Martha Peake, and Port Mungo. His most recent novel is Trauma (April 2008). He lives in London and New York with his wife, Maria Aitken.