Ill Never Be Young Again

I’ll Never Be Young Again (1975) – Daphne du Maurier
Pan Books | ISBN: 9780330244282
Condition: Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

Youth. That glorious period of life when everything seems possible, experience is regarded as an unnecessary inconvenience, and the prospect of spending one’s remaining years behaving sensibly appears almost unbearably depressing. Unfortunately, youth also comes equipped with an impressive capacity for making disastrous decisions, falling in love with unsuitable people and confusing the pursuit of freedom with the abandonment of common sense.

In I’ll Never Be Young Again, Daphne du Maurier explores the intoxicating business of growing up, escaping expectations and discovering that the world beyond the comfortable confines of home is considerably more complicated than it first appears.

Our protagonist is Richard, a restless young man desperate to escape the suffocating influence of his distinguished father, a celebrated poet whose literary reputation casts an enormous shadow over his son’s ambitions. Richard longs for independence, adventure and the opportunity to become somebody in his own right, preferably somewhere his father’s opinions cannot follow him.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he encounters Jake, a charismatic and experienced young man whose adventurous outlook offers precisely the escape Richard has been seeking. Their friendship becomes the catalyst for a journey away from conventional expectations and towards the unfamiliar pleasures, dangers and emotional complications of adult life.

Together, they embark upon travels that take them beyond England, encountering new places, new experiences and the occasionally uncomfortable discovery that freedom involves rather more responsibility than youthful enthusiasm initially suggests.

The relationship between Richard and Jake forms the emotional heart of the novel, exploring friendship, admiration, dependency and the powerful influence one individual can exert upon another. As Richard gradually begins to understand himself and the world around him, his experiences become increasingly tangled with love, loss and the painful realisation that some choices cannot simply be undone.

Originally published in 1932, this was du Maurier’s second novel, written long before Rebecca established her international reputation. It reveals a younger author exploring themes that would recur throughout her career: identity, obsession, emotional vulnerability and the often destructive consequences of romantic idealism.

There is something wonderfully ironic about the title. Young people generally spend their time desperately wishing to be older, more independent and free from parental interference. Then, having achieved these ambitions, they spend much of their remaining existence wondering where their youth disappeared to and why nobody warned them that adulthood involved so many bills.

Du Maurier captures this contradiction with sensitivity and psychological insight, creating a story about the exhilaration of discovery and the melancholy that accompanies the inevitable loss of innocence.

This 1975 Pan Books paperback, offered in Good condition by Crappy Old Books, is an appealing addition to any Daphne du Maurier collection, particularly for readers interested in her early fiction and the development of her distinctive literary voice.

A thoughtful, atmospheric and emotionally charged novel about friendship, freedom, self-discovery and the painful business of becoming an adult.

Because youth is wasted on the young, as people are so fond of saying.

Although it might be more accurate to suggest that the young simply haven’t yet discovered how expensive their mistakes are going to become.

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