The House on the Strand
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''The House on the Strand'' is a novel by
Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...
, first published in the UK in 1969 by
Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Chris ...
, with a jacket illustration by her daughter, Flavia Tower. The US edition was published by Doubleday. Like many of du Maurier's novels, ''The House on the Strand'' has a supernatural element, exploring the ability to mentally travel back in time and experience historical events at first hand - but not to influence them. It has been called a
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
tale, "influenced by writers as diverse as
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
,
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
, and the psychologist
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...
,'' ''in which a sinister potion enables the central character to escape the constraints of his dreary married life by travelling back through time". The narrator agrees to test a drug that transports him back to 14th century
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
and becomes absorbed in the lives of people he meets there, to the extent that the two worlds he is living in start to merge. It is set in and around Kilmarth, where Daphne du Maurier lived from 1967, near the village of
Tywardreath Tywardreath (; kw, Ti War Dreth, meaning "House on the Beach" (or Strand)) is a small hilltop village on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, about north west of Fowey. It is located in a sheltered spot overlooking a silted up ...
, which in Cornish means "House on the Strand".


Plot

The setting for the story is an ancient Cornish house called Kilmarth, which is based on the house the author had recently bought following the death of her husband. After giving up his job the
narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
, Dick Young, is offered the use of Kilmarth by an old university friend,
biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...
Magnus Lane. Dick reluctantly agrees to act as a test subject for a drug that Magnus has secretly developed. On taking it for the first time, he finds that it enables him to enter into the landscape around him as it existed during the early 14th century. He becomes drawn into the lives of the people he sees there and is soon addicted to the experience. Dick finds himself following Roger, who lives at Kilmarth, acts as steward to Sir Henry Champernoune, and is a secret admirer of the beautiful Isolda, wife of Sir Oliver Carminowe. She has been conducting a secret affair with the brother of Sir Henry's wife, Sir Otto Bodrugan, who is waylaid and killed by Oliver's men. Each visit corresponds to a key moment in the story of Isolda and Roger. Each time Dick returns to real time he is more confused; throughout the experience he is unable to interact with the couple. Any attempt to do so brings Dick crashing back to the present in a state of
nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the ...
ted exhaustion. The drug has other dangers in that following Roger means that Dick walks unaware through the modern landscape with all the danger that entails. Dick's American wife Vita and his young stepsons join him at Kilmarth and are worried by his bizarre behaviour. It is made clear that Dick has no passionate feelings for his wife, does not want the new job in the US she has found for him and has no fatherly affection for her two boys—which makes plausible his increasing desire to escape into the past. Magnus intends to join Dick but is killed in what seems like a bizarre accident or suicide—struck by a train whilst straying onto the local railway track. Dick knows that Magnus was under the influence of the drug; this makes the inquest difficult. Dick's penultimate trip ends with him attempting to defend Isolda from Sir Henry's vindictive widow Joanna in the 14th century, but in reality attacking Vita. She and her children hide from him and he contacts a doctor who helps to wean him from his addiction to the drug. Dick explains the power of the drug, and is informed by the doctor that analysis has revealed its extremely dangerous nature. However, Dick's addiction is such that he takes the last remaining dose soon after. Dick's last visit occurs during the Black Death in 1349. A dying Roger confesses his love for Isolda and the fact that she died peacefully from a drug he administered rather than from the plague. After the death of his doppelgänger Roger and the Isolda they both loved, Dick has little incentive to return to the other world, but in any case there is no drug left to allow his passage there. As the book closes, Dick attempts to pick up the phone but suddenly finds he is unable to grip it. Speaking of the novel's unresolved ending, Daphne du Maurier said in an interview: "What about the hero of ''The House on the Strand''? What did it mean when he dropped the telephone at the end of the book? I don’t really know, but I rather think he was going to be paralysed for life. Don’t you?"


Radio versions

* 1973 BBC Radio Saturday Night Theatre - Adapted by Philip Leaver and Kay Patrick, starring
Ian Richardson Ian William Richardson (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish actor. He portrayed the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's '' House of Cards'' (1990–1995) television trilogy. Richardson was also a leading S ...

BBC Genome
* 2008 BBC Radio 7, twelve part reading by
Julian Wadham Julian Neil Rohan Wadham (born 7 August 1958) is an English actor of stage, film and television. He was educated at Ampleforth College and the Central School of Speech and Drama, third son of Rohan Nicholas Wadham DFC and Juliana Wadham, née ...

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References


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:House On The Strand, The 1969 British novels 1969 science fiction novels Novels by Daphne du Maurier Novels about time travel History of Cornwall British historical novels Novels set in Cornwall Novels set in the 14th century Victor Gollancz Ltd books English Gothic novels