The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
Du Maurier's The Parasites features in Guardian 'Top Ten' books article
We were delighted to see Daphne du Maurier's 1949 novel The Parasites included in novelist Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott's article in the Guardian Books, 'Top 10 Cliques in Fiction'. 'From the droogs in A Clockwork Orange to Donna Tartt's murderous classicists in The Secret History, these intense friendships often involve bullying, rivalry, and obsession', Kelleigh writes.
In the article, Daphne du Maurier's The Parasites features at number 8 and we are very grateful to Kelleigh for sending us the full text of the entry to share with you on the website here:
The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier, chosen by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott:
"The Parasites provides a variation on the clique-as-kin scenario. The Delaneys are a blended family: step-siblings Maria, Niall and Celia, raised by theatrical parents. Narrated by one of the three (which one is cleverly left to conjecture…), theirs is an insular triumvirate. Part Tenenbaums, part Glass family, with a dash of Streatfeild’s Fossils thrown in. A circle closed to friends, husbands and lovers alike. In fact, Maria and Niall share an incestuous romantic bond. It is Maria’s husband who says of their clique, ‘… you prey on each other, living in a world of fantasy…’ Of themselves, the Delaneys concede, ‘We have earned, not always fairly we consider, the reputation of being difficult guests.’"
If you would like to find out more about the novel, you can read Ann Willmore's book review here on the website: The Parasites book review.