Will I love Rebecca?

It starts with arguably the most famous first line any novelist has ever written, and I certainly couldn’t stop reading once I had absorbed that.

Rebecca is a classic for all sorts of great reasons. For me, the house is a character here. Manderley is as Gothic as I could ever wish for (and I LOVE Gothic).

Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, is one of the most sinister characters ever written. When this novel was first published (1938), certain subjects were pretty much taboo. In the light of today's increased awareness of people’s differing sexualities, I think it’s probably easier to… show more.

This haunting, gothic masterpiece was also an immersive read for me for another reason.

A couple of years back, I was fortunate to be able to travel to Cornwall. I was in duMaurier country in the exact setting that inspired the author to pen Rebecca. I could even catch a glimpse in the distance of Menabilly, the real-life Manderley, in addition to walking the cove where Rebecca and her boat, Je reviens, vanished.

So, a fully immersive experience for me, along with relishing the gothic mastery that duMaurier brings to a reader. If you haven't read it yet...you should.

This is the first novel I ever loved.

I initially read the story in sixth grade, then again in high school, both as assignments. At the time, I didn’t consider why I loved the book. I only marveled that a novel could be enjoyable. Until then, they’d been homework (emphasis on work) to slog through, mountains to climb to make sure I got an A.

I’ve read Rebecca many times since. What I can see now is that this story speaks painful truths that, as a child, I was living: that poison can lurk behind a beautiful face and within… show more.

Like many people, I’d heard so much about this classic that I was braced for disappointment the first time I read it.

But no, du Maurier’s rich, atmospheric prose gripped me from that famous first line. While I agree about the power of the iconic cast, such as the infamous Mrs. Danvers, I feel that the setting itself is just as powerful a character. I especially love du Maurier’s way of personifying the setting, so that things such as trees, and plants, and buildings come alive with malevolence.

The opening pages, for example, immediately fill you with unease despite the… show more.

This book has haunted me for decades. 

So much so that I’ve read it several times since I first encountered it as a teenager. (Plus watched both movie versions, twice each.)

The first line, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," drew me in and refused to let go. I wanted to return to Manderley. I wanted to find out what dark secrets would be revealed there. The unnamed, naive young heroine is haunted by the all-pervading presence of her husband’s first wife, Rebecca… and so was I.

And although some of the social attitudes are jarring to… show more.

From the famous opening dream sequence onwards, it’s impossible to come away from Rebecca without a vivid picture of Manderley in your mind.

Last summer, thanks to a fortuitous Airbnb mix-up, I ended up spending a holiday in a cottage on the Cornish estate where Daphne de Maurier lived, and which she used as the basis for Manderley. I can’t speak for the house itself, but I’m happy to report that the gardens – from the blue hydrangeas, to the rhododendrons and azaleas of Happy Valley, to the cove where Rebecca kept her boat – entirely lived up to what… show more.

Continuing with the Gothic theme, I have to mention one of my all-time favorite books. The estate of Manderley is almost another character in this novel, looming large over the story along with the legacy of its dead mistress. And the community poses an immediate threat to the book’s unnamed narrator, the new wife of the estate’s owner, when she comes in as an outsider and gets the cold shoulder from Manderley’s staff. Her desperate attempts to win everybody over lead to some gloriously nail-biting moments.

But what I adore about this novel is how it slowly reveals that the… show more.

Gorgeous. The prose is stunning, and the story slowly wraps itself around you in such a gentle way that you don't realize you've become obsessed until it's much too late.

I will be dreaming of Manderley for a long time.

Rebecca is unsettling and gothic, perfectly paced with excellent dialogue and a protagonist who is both unreliable and compelling.

This is a Gothic suspense classic, but the suspense is gradual in the most delicious way. The book begins with a 1930s meet-cute in which a young paid companion to a rich and unpleasant woman meets a wealthy, unhappy widower at a resort. The young woman befriends the man while her employer is bedridden with a cold, and the two share some funny and touching moments.

The Gothic part comes when he unexpectedly proposes marriage, and they return to his gargantuan family estate, Manderley, which was formerly run by his late wife, Rebecca. Now, the spookiness permeates the story, from… show more.