The books of the English writer Daphne Du Maurier (1907–1989) have become classics of 20th-century literature. A master of a subtle psychological portrait and a virtuoso of intrigue, Du Maurier, like no one else, knows how to keep the reader in suspense. It is not for nothing that one of the admirers of her talent was film director Alfred Hitchcock, who based famous film thrillers on her works: “Rebecca”, “The Birds”, “Jamaica Inn”... The novel “The Pursuit of Happiness, or Mary Anne”, published between the famous books My Cousin Rachel and The Scapegoat, when the writer was at the top of her form, was considered one of Daphne du Maurier's best books. Plunging into the atmosphere of 19th century England, the author recreates the image of his extravagant great-great-grandmother and tells the story of her truly amazing life, full of ups and downs. Mary Anne had an incredible destiny and an incredible character, which combined prudence and recklessness, gullibility and cunning, causticity and good nature, fearlessness and debauchery... She managed to get out of the squalid London slums, becoming a famous courtesan and mistress of the Duke of York, brother of King George III , reach the heights of power, and then, getting involved in a loud corruption scandal and political intrigue, she put her future and her life on the line...