Daphne Du Maurier(1907-1989)

Her most famous novel, "Rebecca", was set in a 70-room manor. The manor actually exists and is called Menabilly, on the Cornwall coast in the extreme southwest of England close to Fowey. She had seen it as a child and was so struck by it that she told everyone she would one day move into the estate. In 1943, after she had become a world-famous and best-selling author, she and her husband actually leased Menabilly for 25 years and moved in. Before her husband died, he was able to sign a contract that enabled her to move to Kilmerth close by. Kilmerth inspired her to write the novel "The House on the Strand".