W.F. Howes announces 23 actors for Daphne du Maurier audiobooks

Stellar narrator line-up to feature Johnny Flynn, Hattie Morahan, Ben Allen and Finlay Roberston

W. F. Howes, RBmedia’s U.K. publishing brand, will publish the audiobooks for 17 major works from legendary novelist and playwright Daphne du Maurier’s catalogue, with an all-star line-up of 23 actors cast to bring the treasury of novels, short stories, and memoirs to life.

Publishing for the first time in audio, the collection includes classic novels The Scapegoat, voiced by Johnny Flynn (Ripley, Lovesick, Stardust), and The House on the Strand, narrated by Ben Allen (The Sandman, No Ordinary Boys, Another End). 

Meanwhile, Hattie Morahan (The Golden Compass, The Bank Job, Mr. Holmes) will lift du Maurier’s own voice from the page with stunning readings of the author’s memoir and personal writings Myself When Young and The Rebecca Notebook and Other Stories.

The collection will also feature all of du Maurier’s trademark short story anthologies, such as The Birds, Don’t Look Now, and The Rendezvous. Presented in their original unabridged collections exactly as the author curated them, the short stories will be voiced by a range of high-profile actors, including Luke Thompson (Bridgerton, Transatlantic, In The Club) and Finlay Robertson (Unforgotten, NY-LON, Life Begins).

The casting for the complete audio works of Daphne du Maurier was carried out by W. F. Howes in close collaboration with the author’s estate and Curtis Brown. The Daphne du Maurier estate says: “Giving the complete literary works of Daphne du Maurier a new lease of life in audio was an extremely ambitious undertaking. We are thrilled with the actors Howes has brought on board and for their professional and creative collaboration with the estate. We hope these stunning works will reach an even wider audience and hope listeners enjoy them.”

Laura Smith, Acquisitions Manager at W. F. Howes, added: “We are so delighted to finally be bringing the captivating works and literary genius of one of the world’s most cherished writers to the audio format. From designing striking new jacket images to assembling a talented cast of narrators, the whole project has been a real labour of love for our team from start to finish, but one of the most satisfying projects we have ever had the pleasure of working on. It has been a major career highlight to honour Daphne’s undeniable legacy in this way and I can’t wait to see how listeners respond to these latest audio editions.”

IMAGES:

Top left: Johnny Flynn – credit: Autumn De Wilde

Top right: Hattie Morahan – credit: Michael Shelford

Bottom left: Finlay Robertson – credit: Harry Livingstone

Bottom right: Ben Allen – credit: Yellow Belly Photography