The House on the Strand

By: Daphne du Maurier

Narrated by: Ron Keith

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as a guinea pig for a new drug that Magnus has discovered in his scientific research.

When Dick samples Magnus' potion, he finds himself doing the impossible: traveling through time while staying in place, thrown all the way back into Medieval Cornwall. The concoction wears off after several hours, but its effects are intoxicating and Dick cannot resist his newfound powers. As his journeys increase, Dick begins to resent the days he must spend in the modern world, longing ever more fervently to get back into his world of centuries before, and the home of the beautiful Lady Isolda....

©2014 Daphne du Maurier (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The House on the Strand is prime du Maurier." ( New York Times)

Amazing story, this is a one of a kind!

Daphne, your imagination never ceases to amaze me. This is such a unique story, very you with all the twist and turns. The ending leaves me still questioning the truth of the Dr. vs the truth of Dick. I would read it again.

Disappointing ending

I read this years ago and remember it as being riveting, unusual and well written. Those recollections were confirmed, but I had not remembered the ending which at least this time around I found a bit unsatisfying. I want to get my old hardback copy out to make sure the audio version didn't miss a chapter!

House on the Strand

Another good Daphne Du Maurier book! Suspenseful, hard to stop, twist and turns. Read and enjoy!

A Perfect Ending

Any additional comments?

Another reviewer was disappointed by the ending, but when listening to that climactic scene in which an unexpected twist reveals a second, deeper meaning, I found myself in tears of wonder, joy, and sorrow. I've rarely experienced a more satisfying ending to a story.

The Ending Was Perfect

I'm surprised so many people didn't like the ending. I found it perfect, satisfying. Science fiction that is plausible, not flashy. Du Maurier is a gripping storyteller, underrated.

Epic.

This book is incredible, and with quite the unexpected plot. If you like Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, you will love this one too.

Du Maurier writes wonderfully mysterious stories!

I read Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel and loved it, so I picked up both Rebecca and The House on the Strand right away. I love this one too! And honestly, the whole time travel aspect was not something I was looking forward to as I am not a fan of science fiction. However this book is intricate and complex and unique. It is partly historical fiction, partly mystery. The characters inspire empathy; they are sometimes likable and often detestable. They are flawed and very real.

But my favorite part of Du Maurier's books are the endings. In both of the books I have read so far she leaves the ending mysterious. The reader is left with questions and wanting to know more. Even the author herself, in later interviews, seems to question exactly what happened next for her characters. It is a lovely cliff-hanger that makes you want to read more by and about the author!

Ron Keith is new to me, but I liked his narration very much. I believed him as Dick Young.

Second reading after 30 years!

Loved this book when I read it in 1977 and was pleasantly surprised by all the details I had forgotten.

Reread

I read this ba k in the 70s enjoyed it then and even more as an audible book.

Wonderful SURPRISE w/ SURPRISE ending!

Perhaps the title of this novel threw me off, as I was not expecting the uniquely absorbing, strange sci-fi / magical realism tale that quickly ravels. Du Maurier's weaving of multiple realities - which at times seem almost precipitously ready to unravel - creates a highly suspenseful push/pull effect.

This laxity at multiple seams, leaves the reader (in my opinion) in a pleasantly tenuous world of a myriad of mysterious possibilities. One in which the final conclusion manages to simultaneously unravel/ravel...dispel, while still mystifying.

The narrator is a little kooky sounding (some name pronunciations r intense) but he reads well & may be an oddly great match for the material.