John and Laura are on holiday in Venice, but it is a dangerous place for them as they are being followed by two old sisters and there is a killer on the loose. "Penguin Readers" is a series of simplified novels, film novelizations and original titles that introduce students at all levels to the pleasures of reading in English. Originally designed for teaching English as a foreign language, the series' combination of high interest level and low reading age makes it suitable for both English-speaking teenagers with limited reading skills and students of English as a second language. Many titles in the series also provide access to the pre-20th century literature strands of the National Curriculum English Orders. "Penguin Readers" are graded at seven levels of difficulty, from "Easystarts" with a 200-word vocabulary, to Level 6 (Advanced) with a 3000-word vocabulary. In addition, titles fall into one of three sub-categories: "Contemporary", "Classics" or "Originals". At the end of each book there is a section of enjoyable exercises focusing on vocabulary building, comprehension, discussion and writing. Some titles in the series are available with an accompanying audio cassette, or in a book and cassette pack. Additionally, selected titles have free accompanying "Penguin Readers Factsheets" which provide stimulating exercise material for students, as well as suggestions for teachers on how to exploit the Readers in class.

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3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Twists & Turns at each Stop, Mar 26 2004

By	Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Don't Look Now. (Hardcover)

Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now" is an exceptional collection of short stories. My favorite is "A Border-Line Case." The sense of place of the small island on which Ballyfane Castle in Ireland is located is exquisitely described. Also, the plot unfolds at a boiler pace and doesn't let down until the final reversal. Shelagh starts the story with her father's odd death. Obviously closer to her dad than her mom, she seeks to uncover a bit about his past before beginning her role with the theatre company. This leads her to seek out Commander Nicolas Barry. She is taken almost forcefully in the dead of night in a boat over to the island, her belongings are fetched from the Kilmore Arms hotel, and she finds herself a guest of the unusual Commander Nicolas Barry almost against her will. Add to this the strangeness of seeing her parents' wedding picture in his living room with Barry's head superimposed over where her father's head should be. From there she tries to figure out what is going on here as this woman-less band of 12 men populate the island. Thinking they might possibly be homosexuals, she finds herself as they are digging at an excavation on the island. Finally, the novel speeds to its climax as we suddenly find ourselves square in the middle of Irish Republican Army bombings. The final reversal at the end caps off an incredible short story.

It was "Don't Look Now" that was made into the great 70s film with Donald Sutherland & Julie Christie. This is also a marvelous tale of intrigue as a couple tries to adjust to the loss of a child. Add to this the flare of Venice with its canals and travel by boat, two strange sisters with psychic ability who claim the dead child is trying to communicate, and we come up with another tremendously satisfying story.

"The Breakthrough" with its emphasis on science and trying to have a computer capture a living essence at the moment of death is rather like H.G. Wells' science fiction. "Not After Midnight" also has a tremendous sense of place as an English tutor holidays in Greece. I was a bit confused at the end as to why the story began with him resigning his post, but the story is populated with great characters. The final story "The Way of the Cross" works somewhat less well with quite a huge cast of characters to shuffle through 70 pages, which kept me trying to figure out who went with whom.

All in all, this is an excellent collection of short stories by a great writer. Enjoy!

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4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars because I did enjoy reading it even though..., Dec 5 2003

By	Tiffany "feverchant" (Chicago, Il) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Look Now. (Hardcover)

... I was really expecting a lot more from this book. I purchased it for the story "Don't Look Now", which is often said is a mere shadow of what I think is a great film(even though the book came first). I felt that all of the stories pulled you in to begin with, but the endings were just flat? "Not after Midnight" was pretty good but again the ending did no justice. "The Way of the Cross" was also interesting, great character development from the little boy "Robin" way too wise for his age and "Rev. Babcock" talk about conflicted! But again the ending just left you empty? Not that I wanted blood and ghastliness, but just a bit more force or painful irony,
� la "The Twilight Zone"

This is a good book to read to and from work (if you take the train or bus of course!)

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3.0 out of 5 stars a mixed bag of goodies from the great Daphne Du Maurier, Nov 25 2003

By	lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Look Now (Paperback)

Daphne Du Maurier is one of my favorite authors. Her prose is always elegant. Unfortunately her shorter novels have a tendency to clash with her style; characterizations are not well-developed, the outcome somewhat forced. This is generally true also with this collection of short novels written by Du Maurier late in her career. "Don't Look Now" and "Not After Midnight" are the better of the bunch, but none are enthralling ... certainly not when compared to her best short novel "The Birds" (yes, the story from which the film is loosely based on).

Bottom line: go for the author's novels (eg, "The Scapegoat" or "Rebecca") instead of these stories. Still, this book is overall a satisfactory read.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Look Now - Classic du Maurier
Don't Look Now is a collection of 5 short stories by Dame du Maurier, also published as Not After Midnight by a different publisher. Read more

Published on April 7 2001 by Linden R. Gibson