Daphne du Maurier embarks on a clandestine affair with a woman destined to be immortalised as Mrs Danvers.

'Daphne du Maurier stole my life.'

Mrs Danowski – known as Danni – is the housekeeper of a grand house on the wild coast of Cornwall. When the writer Daphne du Maurier visits Manderville Hall to research her new novel, she and Danni are drawn into a clandestine affair.

For Danni, it is an all-consuming love; for Daphne a submission to long-suppressed desires. But their secret is vulnerable to prying eyes and destined for heartbreak. When Daphne’s novel launches, Danni is distraught to find herself transformed into a malign and jealous character on the page. She seeks respite from the hurt by telling her own story: The Housekeeper.

Rose Tremain has invented the story of how a novel of the past came into being.