‘ Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again.’ I read this famous first line as a young boy aged 12 whilst lying in my sick bed bored and in desperate need of entertainment. I sighed at what to a child appeared to be a tome at just over 400 pages and began to read my first adult novel. Within a short time Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca had transported a young lad from his dull bedroom to the enticing, mysterious world of Manderley and its surroundings.
The tale of Rebecca begins in the dazzling sunshine of the French Riviera where the protagonist and narrator, a nameless young woman of indeterminate age, attracts the attention of the much older and more worldly-wise Maxim de Winter, a wealthy widower who holds some standing in society, that is according to the gossipy Mrs Van Hopper who has hired the young woman as her companion. They fall madly in love, marry and, after a luxurious honeymoon in Italy, return to Maxim’s country pile nestled on the coast of Cornwall. And so it would be easy for the reader to be fooled into believing that they can settle down now to a cosy romance story, if it wasn’t for those first few pages that has left a rather niggling, unsettled feeling in the dark recesses of the mind. Du Maurier is a master at foreshadowing, planting those little time bombs in the reader’s mind that are primed to explode at just the right moment later in the story.
It’s no surprise that Rebecca has sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide, but despite this, or maybe, in spite of this, the acclaim of the critics that du Maurier so desperately sought was never realised in her lifetime. They insisted in labelling her a Gothic Romance novelist, which is plain lazy. That’s like describing ‘Jaws’ as a book about three blokes going on a fishing trip. Du Maurier defied classification and it’s no surprise that Alfred Hitchcock, the well-renowned director and ‘master of suspense’, took on the challenge of transposing the narrative into a dark, ominous film using his trademark style.
I strongly urge you to read this book if you haven’t yet, and if you have, read it again. If you would like to find out more about du Maurier’s life then visit her website at www.dumaurier.org and/or read the biography by Tatiana de Rosnay, a beautifully-written tribute by a true fan. It was Rebecca’s 80th anniversary last year and the filming of a new adaptation of the book begins in May with Lily James and Armie Hammer. My review, a nostalgic and laudatory 10/10.
Thank you for reading my review. Your book buddy, Charles Whitmore.
Our suspicions are realised as we enter the imposing edifice of Manderley alongside the narrator and meet the cold, inscrutable black-clad Mrs Danvers, the head housekeeper, and it slowly dawns on us that our cosy, romantic illusions have been shattered and a much more sinister and enticing journey lies ahead. And thank God for that I can hear my 12-year old self cry inwardly.
Thereafter the story unfolds through the insecure eyes of the new Mrs de Winter as she slowly but surely succumbs to the shadowy darkness of the spirit of the old Mrs de Winter, the wild and beautiful Rebecca, the jealous trickery of Mrs Danvers, the unpredictable moods of Maxim, and the heavy burden of running Manderley.
There are plenty of unanswered questions too to keep the reader turning the pages. How did Rebecca die? What was the relationship between Mrs Danvers and Rebecca? For that matter, between Maxim and Rebecca? Will Maxim’s and the narrator’s relationship survive? And so on. All will be revealed, fear not, in the author’s own sweet time and in ways unimagined. Du Maurier shows real literary craftsmanship in handling the plot, characters and narrative. The story is paced perfectly with small climaxes, red herrings, twists and misconceptions to keep the easily bored engaged. The first person narrative is used to clever effect to lead the reader down gaping rabbit warrens and dead ends. There is murder, a shipwreck, blackmail, attempted murder and arson. And the twist at the end is a revelation. Forty or so years on and having finished it again for the umpteenth time, it still has the ability to cast its spell over me.
Thereafter the story unfolds through the insecure eyes of the new Mrs de Winter as she slowly but surely succumbs to the shadowy darkness of the spirit of the old Mrs de Winter, the wild and beautiful Rebecca, the jealous trickery of Mrs Danvers, the unpredictable moods of Maxim, and the heavy burden of running Manderley.
There are plenty of unanswered questions too to keep the reader turning the pages. How did Rebecca die? What was the relationship between Mrs Danvers and Rebecca? For that matter, between Maxim and Rebecca? Will Maxim’s and the narrator’s relationship survive? And so on. All will be revealed, fear not, in the author’s own sweet time and in ways unimagined. Du Maurier shows real literary craftsmanship in handling the plot, characters and narrative. The story is paced perfectly with small climaxes, red herrings, twists and misconceptions to keep the easily bored engaged. The first person narrative is used to clever effect to lead the reader down gaping rabbit warrens and dead ends. There is murder, a shipwreck, blackmail, attempted murder and arson. And the twist at the end is a revelation. Forty or so years on and having finished it again for the umpteenth time, it still has the ability to cast its spell over me.
It’s no surprise that Rebecca has sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide, but despite this, or maybe, in spite of this, the acclaim of the critics that du Maurier so desperately sought was never realised in her lifetime. They insisted in labelling her a Gothic Romance novelist, which is plain lazy. That’s like describing ‘Jaws’ as a book about three blokes going on a fishing trip. Du Maurier defied classification and it’s no surprise that Alfred Hitchcock, the well-renowned director and ‘master of suspense’, took on the challenge of transposing the narrative into a dark, ominous film using his trademark style. I strongly urge you to read this book if you haven’t yet, and if you have, read it again. If you would like to find out more about du Maurier’s life then visit her website at www.dumaurier.org and/or read the biography by Tatiana de Rosnay, a beautifully-written tribute by a true fan. It was Rebecca’s 80th anniversary last year and the filming of a new adaptation of the book begins in May with Lily James and Armie Hammer. My review, a nostalgic and laudatory 10/10.
Thank you for reading my review. Your book buddy, Charles Whitmore.
Have you read "Jamaica Inn"?
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