Starred Review. Over the course of what becomes a page-turner, Dudgeon charts the lives of three generations of writers to show how the sins, dark gifts, and obsessions of the famed
Punch illustrator and best-selling novelist du Maurier were visited on the author of
Peter Pan. (
Booklist )
Meticulous and highly provocative... Dudgeon knows what he's doing and builds his case with precision and coolness... It's a gripping read that exposes the dark side to two seemingly innocent activities, writing and loving children... Dudgeon has exposed, in quite a magnificent way, the power and potential for abuse in both. (
The Scotsman )
Dudgeon also portrays Barrie as a dark and troubled man who may have used hypnotism to gain an obsessive control over the Du Maurier boys and their mother. He goes on to look at Barrie's link to the tragic demise of the boys, from the drowning of Michael to the suicide of Peter.... this will appeal most to those with a specific interest in these authors. (
Library Journal )
A history of psychological domination and submission, unnatural family relations, predatory abuse and suicide.
(Michael Dirda -
Washington Post )
Neverland has hot- and cold-running secrets, as well as tentacles that extend out to touch Henry James, D. H. Lawrence, and Arthur Conan Doyle. (Janet Maslin -
The New York Times )
A rattling grisly read... 'May God blast anyone who writes a biography of me,' Barrie warned and his curse was surely aimed at Dudgeon, who goes further than any other biographer... I defy you not to be captivated. (Frances Wilson -
Sunday Times [London] )
Dudgeon...has negotiated the dark back-tracks and by-ways of Barrie's chilling Neverland.... He tells a terrible story without sentimentality, without sensationalism and without undue psychologising... Intelligently and feelingly done. (Brian Morton -
Sunday Herald [London] )
Dudgeon’s portrait of Barrie—as a man who filled the vacuum of his own sexual impotence by a compulsive desire to possess the family who inspired his most famous creation, Peter Pan—will be of interest to anyone who has followed the twists of the du Maurier family history. (Justine Picardie, author of
Daphne )
A fascinating account of the psychological web in which Barrie trapped the tragic du Maurier family. (David Lodge, author of
Author, Author )
A riveting joy. I was literally captivated by this story. Poor scintillating du Mauriers. Poor boys....I felt as if I was living it. (Nina Auerbach, author of
Daphne du Maurier: Haunted Heiress )
Piers Dudgeon worked closely with Daphne du Maurier on her book
Enchanted Cornwall. He began his research on his book
Neverland after learning that Daphne had placed a moratorium on her diaries until fifty years after her death. Piers has worked with authors as diverse as John Fowles, Peter Ackroyd, Shirley Conran and Ted Hughes. He lives in London.
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