The House on the Strand

The House on the Strand is narrated in the first person by Dick Young, who is staying at his friend Magnus's house in Cornwall and agrees to become a guinea pig for an incredible experiment. Magnus, a brilliant biochemist, has invented a powerful drug which takes the user back to the early 14th century...at least, in his head. Dick wanders around the past, seeing and experiencing everything with great clarity, while his body remains in the 20th century. He is unable to touch anything in the past, and is invisible to the people he sees. The novel is divided in time between the 1960s and the late 1320s and early 1330s. Dick's 'guide' in the 14th century is Roger Kilmersh, who used to live in the house where Dick is staying, and who is the steward of Lady Joanna Champernoune. All the characters in the fourteenth century, Joanna, Otto Bodrugan, Isolda Carminowe, etc, really existed. Dick becomes increasingly fascinated and obsessed with the people he is watching, their political intrigues, extra-marital affairs and even murder. He lies to his wife Vita in order to take the drug and 'go back' in time to see them, despite the physical side-effects he experiences - intense nausea, vertigo, disorientation, and, increasingly, mental confusion between the past and the present. His eye becomes terribly bloodshot and his hand becomes numb. Also, because he is traversing a 20th century landscape while his head is in the 14th century, he is unaware of dangers such as crossing roads and railway lines, and often ends up trespassing on private property, bruised, soaking wet and cut to pieces by hedges, marshes and so on he is simply unaware of encountering. His friend Magnus suffers a terrible accident on a railway line that simply does not exist in the reality inside his head. As in some of Daphne du Maurier's other novels, the Cornish landscape here is almost a character in its own right, and her descriptions of the differences between the 14th and 20th century landscapes are incredibly vivid. She is almost unsurpassed at creating atmosphere, and Dick's mental and physical deterioration, and overriding obsesssion with Isolda Carminowe and the other 14th century people, is utterly compelling. I've read House on the Strand four times now, and I never get remotely sick of it. Every time, it grabs me right from the first page - the novel begins with one of Dick's trips to the past - and I get utterly caught up with the characters past and present. The 14th century is brilliantly depicted, and like Dick, I'm fascinated by their lives. This novel is crying out to be made into a film! Highly recommended.

The House on the Strand is a less-known book by Daphne DuMaurier, the woman who gave us Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Here she interweaves past and present together in a novel that is just as rich as anything she has ever written. Magnus Lane is a professor at the University of London, who has created a potion that can send you back in time. He uses his friend Dick Young as a "human guinea pig" to test its effects. Dick finds himself thrust back into the days of the 14th century, in the days of Isolda Carminowe and Henry and Otto Bodrugan, who lived in the exact place in which Dick has decided to vacation. Dick follows the knight Roger Kylmerth, and finds himself becoming more and more involved with the manor lords of the 1320's- with an almost disastrous effect upon himself and his family in the present time. It is a novel in which past and present run at parallels with one another, and even almost collide. Its a haunting book, sinister in fact, in which time matters a great deal; a book which points out the fact that sometimes the present time is indistinguishable from the present. Its power will haunt you long after you have closed its covers.

Anyone who has ever read Rebecca knows that Daphne du Maurier was always ahead of her time. Her concern with what we now call Women's Issues was a hallmark in all of her works.In none of her books is that more apparent than in The House on the Strand. Although the viewpoint character is male, the concern for women's rights still shines through.If you have seen the TV miniseries 'The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan' or the motion picture 'Somewhere in Time' you will at first think that both of them somehow got their inspiration from this book when you first start reading it. But this is much deeper than either of those stories. While the major character does indeed flash backwards and forwards in time, his discoveries in the past help him understand his present circumstances. The emphasis then is not on his wanting to 'escape' the present, as in the two movies, but on wanting to understand how the present and the past interrelate.Also, some of the minor characters are historically real, and this adds a lot of interest to the tale. It makes you want to go visit the area in southern England where the story is set, and do a little investigating for yourself.Provides some real food for thought.

I am a Daphne Du Maurier fan. Reading this book has confirmed that all over again. If you like intriguing books this is it. It takes you to 14th century and you become a part of the story. The characters are very distinct and each has it's own personalities. Roger with whom we travel 14th century is so powerful you can feel what he thinks. The author has made a excellent job of relating 14th century events and emotions to Dick's current life. The story stays with you for a long time , even after you have finished the book

I love this book. Daphne DuMaurier has the ability to make the reader feel that he REALLY is back in 14th century England. Have you ever thought what it would be like to have your mind travel back into time, yet at the same time your body is still here? That other people can see you walking blindly along the road and up hills, yet your mind is in another world and you're seeing something totally different? This story is hauntingly real and has several surprising twists to the plot that will keep you mesmerized. I'm a voracious reader, yet this is my favorite book of all time.