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[Flashback] Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Chris Well

“Daphne du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings.”—Stephen King

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...”

Daphne du Maurier’s classic suspense 1938 novel Rebecca revolves around a young woman who marries a rich widower and moves into a house haunted by the ghost of his ex-wife. The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage.

Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives—presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

Exploring the legacy of Rebecca, The Guardian says the author recognized the bleakness of her novel: “It’s a bit on the gloomy side,” she said. “The ending is a bit brief and a bit grim.”

Du Maurier expected the book to have poor sales, but she was very wrong. Rebecca has been a bestseller for decades and been adapted numerous times for stage and screen, including a 1939 play by du Maurier herself, the 1940 film Rebecca directed by Alfred Hitchcock (which won the Oscar for Best Picture), and the 2020 remake directed by Ben Wheatley for Netflix.

“Rebecca is a work of Gothic suspense that is told in a mesmerising prose and makes for an enthralling and evocative read.”—(Luce [Is Reading])

Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier
Little, Brown and Company
Category: Psychological Fiction

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Rebecca book ending explained

“The novel is a ghostly thriller that explores justice, female sexuality, the uncanny, and class through a chilling lens, and the movie version is set to do the same, adding lush scenery and lavish costumes to the mix.” (PopSugar)

“Like so many of the images in Rebecca, this one is very much in the gothic tradition, presenting us with a picture that is both beautiful and terrible in the same moment. Of course it’s not explicit, but we can assume that Manderley is burning (and that Mrs. Danvers had a hand in it). Mrs. de Winter even sees the blaze as a metaphor for Rebecca’s spilled blood: the fire is the spilled blood of Manderley. Revenge.” (Schmoop)

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