Jamaica Inn (novel) Jamaica Inn (novel) Jamaica Inn is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It was later made into a film, also called "Jamaica Inn", directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is a period piece set in Cornwall in 1820. It was inspired by du Maurier's 1930 stay at the real Jamaica Inn, which still exists and is a pub in the middle of Bodmin Moor. The plot follows a group of murderous wreckers who run ships aground, kill the sailors and steal the cargo. Mary Yellan, twenty years old, was brought up on a farm
Angela du Maurier sister Daphne, she outlived her by thirteen years. Originally aspiring to follow the family tradition of acting, she planned to be an actress and spent two seasons on the stage. She played Wendy Darling alongside both Gladys Cooper and Dorothy Dickson as Peter Pan. She worked on the land in Cornwall during the war and travelled extensively in Europe. She later turned to writing, with the release of her earlier works coinciding with the publication of her sister's "Rebecca" and "Jamaica Inn". Her works of fiction include "The Road to Leenane", "Pilgrims by the Way", "The Perplexed Heart", "Reveille" and