Rebecca (VMC) by Daphne Du Maurier (30-Jan-2003) Paperback Paperback – 1 Jan. 1702

Fantastic mystery story. I enjoyed re-reading this wonderful book. Daphne called it a 'Study in Jealousy' and it is based on her own jealous feelings towards her husband's former fiancee, a beautiful socialite named Jan Ricardo. Daphne found some love letters from her all signed with a distinctive 'R', the same motif that the second Mrs de Winter keeps finding at Manderley and which makes her feel inferior. She really gets inside the mind of the second Mrs de Winter (who is never named) and as the story unfolds, the mystery surrounding Rebecca's death deepens, and the pace quickens at the end with brilliant suspense. Manderley is Menabilly, Daphne's Cornish home, and Mrs de Winter's dream in the first chapter is actually a description of how Daphne and her sister first found the uninhabited Menabilly along the 3-mile drive overgrown with trees and bushes.Love it - love Maxim de Winter, Manderley and the evil Mrs Danvers.

Perfect condition and lovely “feel” about the paperback version. For me this is a re-read I am now 42 and I originally read it in my teens so I am excited to now see Rebecca in a different light with maturity and a personal experience of ‘gaslighting’

LOVE this book, read it for Uni & reordered a blank copy for hols. Speedy delivery, thanks 😬

An amazing book, so beautifully written and kept me guessing right up until the end. Would thoroughly recommend.

Review 5 starsThis was a classic that I thought I had read, but I hadn’t. Now I’m glad I did as it’s memorable and worthy of multiple reads.Although the novel is described as gothic – and by some as a romance – for me it was also a mystery. Its style by today’s standards might be called dated and yet it was ahead of its time – as was the author.Much of the narration is as chunks of description mixed with reflection and conjecture by the un-named protagonist living in the shadow of Rebecca. In comparison with the title character, this new Mrs de Winter seems naïve, powerless and at the mercy of others. At first, it would be easy to dismiss her – even the novel – without giving either a chance…without understanding the heroine or the shy author.I grew up in a world not dissimilar to Manderley, albeit one that had lost its glitter but not its attitudes. I felt myself intimidated by scary and overbearing people – especially when I did something wrong. Society and doing the right thing frightened me.Especially when such amazing people as Rebecca were being fawned over.Rebecca may be the deceased wife of Maxim de Winter, but she pervades the story, the house and the grounds. She’s on everyone’s lips. It’s a clever device making her so dominant, giving the novel her name, and naming her, not the protagonist. And it works. The reader is fooled along with the new Mrs de Winter into believing the myth – until the doubts appear.Mrs Danvers, doth protest too much, methinks. She is the archetypal retainer that creates fear and doubts. Rebecca haunts Manderley in one way, Mrs Danvers in another – a brilliant creation, reminiscent of other classic scary presences. A living vampire?All the characters are distinctive. All reminded me of people I had met – even worked with. The mannerisms felt familiar, whether Beatrice, the loquacious sister, or Frank Cawley, the faithful agent for Manderley. Even Maxim de Winter was real with all his faults and guilt buried.If I had to befriend just one, it would be Jasper. The dog? Yes, the faithful exuberant spaniel.One other character enfolds the novel – Manderley. The house becomes character, atmosphere and setting. At first magnificent and untouchable with buried secrets. Manderley fills the narrator’s thoughts, not just the house but the gardens and the sea coves. As the protagonist’s thoughts change so do the descriptions of setting, of home, of the weather, of the vegetation. Or is it vice versa? The weather changes and then her thoughts?But they are all one, interacting as the plot unfolds – setting and thought and events. The past even before Rebecca. Even before Manderley. The sea and the fog.Cliffhanging language that I need to immerse myself in again.Story – five starsSetting/World-building – five starsCharacters – five starsAuthenticity – five starsStructure – five starsReadability – five starsEditing – five stars

Doesn't get better than that. Great classic novel!

I first read Rebecca years and years ago, and I read it as a love story between the strong, masculine, Maxim de Winter and his new, young wife. Their story was a romantic one, culminating in a whirlwind marriage and a move from Monte Carlo to Manderley, which is as much a character in this book, as it's human counterparts. I found de Winter's late wife, the raven haired temptress, Rebecca, to be a nasty, horrid woman who married for money and status. Nothing more. Nothing less.This time round, I found no romance in the pages of this book. It's a love story, that's for sure, but it's dark, strange and twisted. This time round, I found Maxim's new wife, the narrator, to be dull, plain, and unworthy of her husband, as opposed to her predecessor, the beautiful, beguiling, strong, seductive, Rebecca.We never find out the narrators name. We know she is as much as a lapdog to Maxim as the family pet, Jasper is. If Maxim says jump, she'll ask how high.Rebecca rules Manderley, even in death. Her memory if kept alive by the ever present, and deeply chilling, Mrs Danvers, along with a host of butlers, maids, and family members, who openly revel in all things Rebecca.It's an ambiguous piece which allows the reader to choose - is it a love story? A story of a young woman developing in maturity, and marrying the love of her life? Or is it all about a woman (Rebecca) scorned, who sees nothing wrong with bringing everyone down with her? You could read it as neither, and form an altogether different opinion. That's how well written this book is. It's dark, haunting, unnerving, and just when you think you've got it, when you're sure you know what's going on, it pushes you deeper under its seemingly calm surface, into black, choppy waters.I haven't read anything like Rebecca before, and I doubt I'll read anything quite like it again.