''The Birds and Other Stories'' is a collection of stories by the British author

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Gerald du Maurier, Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her gra ...

. It was originally published by Gollancz in the United Kingdom in 1952 as ''The Apple Tree: A Short Novel and Several Long Stories'', and was re-issued by

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

in 1963 under the current title. In the United States an expanded version was published in 1953 under the title ''Kiss Me Again, Stranger: A Collection of Eight Stories, Long and Short '' by

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

including two additional stories, "The Split Second" and "No Motive". One of the stories, " The Birds", was made into a film of the same name by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

in 1963.

Stories

As first published under the title ''The Apple Tree'' in 1952: * "Monte Verità" tells of an isolated mountain, home to a mysterious sect rumoured to be immortal and feared by the local communities from whom it attracts young women who are never heard of again. It is told from the viewpoint of a nameless mountaineer whose best friend's wife disappears on a trip to climb the peak. * " The Birds" is a

horror story Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...

in which a Cornish farmhand, his family, and his community are attacked by flocks of birds. * "The Apple Tree" follows the actions of a man who, following the death of his unloved wife, suspects her spirit inhabits an old apple tree in his garden. He eventually cuts it down, with tragic consequence. * "The Little Photographer" tells of a rich

Marquise A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or wid ...

bored and dissatisfied with her life who attempts to spice up her life by having an affair with a photographer whilst holidaying on the French Mediterranean coast. * "Kiss Me Again, Stranger" relates an episode in which a shy mechanic follows a cinema usherette home from work, and is led to a cemetery. Only later does the mechanic discover the terrible truth about her. * "The Old Man" follows a family history as told by a neighbour who suspects the father of killing one of their children.

Reception

Reviewing the American edition in the May 1953 edition of ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

'', Boucher and McComas noted that while nearly half the work fell into the fantasy genre, some bordering on science fiction, the stories were "largely overlong and not too original."

Adaptations

* "The Birds" has been the subject of many adaptations, including the 1963

film of the same name. * "Kiss Me Again, Stranger" was adapted for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television in 1953. * A BBC radio 4 adaptation of The Apple Tree starring Charles Gray was produced in 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birds and Other Stories 1952 short story collections Short story collections by Daphne du Maurier Victor Gollancz Ltd books