Upon reaching puberty, however, du Maurier put "Eric" aside. She later referred to this repressed side of herself as "the boy-in-the-box."
Du Maurier was privately educated at home by governesses. Maud Waddell, nicknamed "Tod," was her favorite. She was one of several older women who served as role models for the young girl and tried to make up for her rather cool and distant biological mother. An avid reader from early childhood, du Maurier was especially fond of the works of Walter Scott, W.M. Thackeray, the Brontë sisters, and Oscar Wilde. Other authors who strongly influenced her include R.L. Stevenson, Katherine Mansfield, Guy de Maupassant, and Somerset Maugham. Du Maurier herself began writing during her adolescence as a way to escape reality and in the process discovered more about herself and what she wanted in life. At the age of 18, she completed her first work, a collection of 15 short stories entitled The Seekers.
Attended Finishing School in France
In early 1925, just before her eighteenth birthday, du Maurier left England to attend finishing school at Camposena, a village near Meudon, outside of Paris, France.
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