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Our New School Read for March 2025 is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier. This is a Spoiler Thread. I hope you enjoy the read and let us know what you think.

I have come into this read blind and it certainly has surprised me. The use of mind-altering drugs placing our MC as an unseen time traveler to 14th C Cornwall. I wondered about his connection to Roger who he is bound to when he moves into that time. Is this a psychic connection that draws him there with the use of the drug? I recently finished a re-read of Octavia Butler's Kindred so that is why I leapt to that sans drug; but as I finished Chap 9, I started to think more about the property at which he was staying that perhaps long-dead people (Roger in particular)had left some sort of psychic imprint that Richard taps into.

I went into this blind also, Chris. I just assume I will like anything by du Maurier.

This wasn't among my favorites by her but it did give a lot of food for thought and I loved the Cornwall setting in the past and present. In the beginning felt like an Edgar Allen Poe story to me.

I think she leaves it vague on purpose. The reader decides what the most likely scenario is. My perspective is it's like you are already bound, but the drug helps access that part of the brain that stores the information. I also believe his unhappy marriage and lack of acceptable job prospects makes him drawn to the past and more susceptible to addiction to the drug.

Sue. I zoomed onto your comment about being susceptible to addiction to the drug. I was thinking he was becoming addicted when it seemed he took risks in taking it once his wife & step kids had arrived. He drops them off at church and the takes his drug-induced trip to the past? He doesn't think he needs to be in the present to pick them after church???! And again, even with family & guests in the house, he sneaks out in the wee hours of the AM to go on another trip to the past. Not thinking straight for sure, so addiction, I think so. Chap 14 he has the telephone call with Magnus who tells him not to "trip" again and he will be there in 3 days. Can Richard hold off?

Finished! There were a couple of twists and also an ending of which the reader can imagine what comes next. Magnus's letter provides an interesting theory of how the drug facilitates the "time travel"

The flyleaf of the 1969 HB edition that I have states that the author was inspired by her own 600 year-old home in Cornwall for the story of this novel.

Like Sue and Chris said, I went into this book blind. I started late because I ordered a copy and it took some time to arrive.

First, I didn't realize it would be about time travel at all. I find a small line in the early chapters about "memories" that a house can hold interesting. Modern "ghost hunters" will talk about vibration being held in a building. It seemed a similar concept.

The name Magnus rang a bell in my mind. I looked up "Alchemists named Magnus". Google says Albertus Magnus was a German Dominican friar and Catholic bishop who lived in the 13th century. He was considered a founder of alchemy and chemistry, but later scholars of course say that is incorrect. (Later scholars seem to make their careers correcting the people that went before.) He is also known as Saint Albert the Great.

Finally, there is a 1973 film version of The House on the Strand that I found on Youtube. I thought it would be fun to watch once I complete the book.

Lynn wrote: The name Magnus rang a bell in my mind. I looked up "Alchemists named Magnus". Google says Albertus Magnus was a German Dominican friar and Catholic bishop who lived in the 13th century. He was considered a founder of alchemy and chemistry
Good pick-up Lynn. When I first read the name & that the character was the developer of the formula, I also remembered a number of fiction books that had Magnus the Alchemist in it. Usually as an evil character. But as I got more into Du Maurier's story, I kind of forgot about it. So thanks for the reminder!

Finished and I loved this book. Here is my review copied and pasted below:

I loved this book. For years I would say Rebecca was my favorite book, but I may like this one better! I definitely thought it was better than Jamaica Inn or My Cousin Rachel. Still that ranking is picking the most perfect out of a selection of wonderful books. This book is Historical Fiction with time travel and a potentially unreliable character. The characters drew me in and Daphne du Maurier masterfully fills her books with suspense.

The story revolves around a narrator named Dick Young, who observes the lives of others. He becomes obsessed with finding out about their lives. In many ways readers can relate to this. If you have ever read a book and couldn't put it down, Dick Young has a similar, albeit stronger, experience. I had to wait a couple of weeks for a physical book to be delivered and then a week or so to find the time to read. I read almost the entire book in a day. The next morning I reached for the book first thing to read the last hour. Great book.

Just finished this one - a month late to the discussion. Du Maurier is a master storyteller.

What always amazes me about du Maurier is how she leaves it to the reader to make some pivotal decisions about what has happened in her stories. She trusts us as readers to both understand and reason and come to our own conclusion. It opens up so much more depth than just being "told" what we are to think. She is an A-list writer!

Sorry I couldn’t join this ine, but it is going on mt TBR.

Terry wrote: "Sorry I couldn’t join this ine, but it is going on mt TBR."

It's well worth it, imo. It's not a simple book, but it is so well constructed it's easy to follow along. She writes suspense so well, that I did not want to put it down.