Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.

When I began this book, I was immediately pulled into the world of Maxim and Mrs. de Winter. (I found it interesting that we are never told Mrs. de Winter's name, and only two references are ever made to it: first, when she receives a note from Maxim and says "my name was on the envelope, and spelt correctly, an unusual thing," and secondly when she meets up with Maxim and he says "You have a very lovely and unusual name." I really wanted to know what her name was; though it wouldn't have added anything to the story, it would definitely have satisfied my curiosity!)

Throughout the last 150 or so pages -- and after I had finished -- I wondered to myself why Rebecca wasn't on the list of the 100 Greatest Novels that I had found. It has been called "the unsurpassed modern masterpiece of romantic suspense," and while I myself am no judge as to whether or not that's true, I can say that I think it's an incredible novel, one that I had a hard time putting down.

4.75/5