Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .
With these words a reader is swept up into a world of secrets and lies; one of the most passionate,psychologically twisting and complex stories of all-time.
Working as a lady's companion,the orphaned heroine ofRebeccalearns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until,on a trip to the South of France,she meets Maxim de Winter,a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. Whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to his brooding estate,Manderley,on the Cornish Coast,the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers . . .
Not sinceJane Eyrehas a heroine faced such difficulty with the'Other Woman'. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print,Rebeccais the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.
You always feel that we're on the verge of aDaphne du Maurierrenaissance. Known of course forRebeccaandJamaica Inn- largely regarded,and sometimes overlooked,as'classics'- du Maurier was far more a properly contemporary novelist,equipped with a tremendously dark imagination: this was,after all,the writer who penned the terrifying short taleDon't Look Now.
Publisher: Little,Brown Book GroupISBN: 9781844088799Number of pages: 448Weight: 595 gDimensions: 206 x 171 x 37 mm
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From the opening sentence - "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again" - to the final - "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea" - I was hooked...Rebecca is one of the underrated classics of the 20th century...Rebecca is a masterpiece in which du Maurier pulls off several spectacular high-wire acts that many great writers wouldn't attemptOne of the most influential novels of the twentieth century,Rebecca has woven its way into the fabric of our culture with all the troubling power of myth or dream. A stunning bookWith one of the most evocative first lines ever,Daphne du Maurier's fifth novel has everything a reader could ask for...Psychologically astute and disturbingly romantic,Rebecca was an immediate bestseller on publication in 1938 and has cast a sinister spell ever sinceHer masterpiece...Seldom has a dead woman exercised such power beyond the grave. Rebecca will live for ever because du Maurier touches a fearful nerve,buried deep in the unconsciousIt's the perfect winter book,brooding,dangerous and engrossingAddictive and breathtaking. Its blending of melodrama and subtlety is ingenious. The Cornish setting never quite leaves the imaginationA brilliantly constructed novel - the ultimate in psychological suspense,instantly gripping and haunting,Rebecca will stay with you for ever.A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each readingIt is the greatest psychological thriller of all time. I see du Maurier as a forerunner to Patricia Highsmith,Ruth Rendell,Gillian Flynn: she is the giant whose magnificent shoulders the rest of us stand uponWhat she did was build emotional landscapes that can be entered at will,in which difficult and untamable desires were given free rein. Maybe because of her relationship with gender,she was able to make worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable,not as they seem; haunted rooms in which disembodied spirits sometimes dance at absolute libertyI read this book more than twenty years ago,and must have read it a dozen times since. The characters are incredibly vivid,and the twists superb. It's the book every writer wishes they'd writtenThis 1930s gothic thriller is suspenseful and so well crafted. Its young,nameless heroine marries rich widower Maxim de Winter and returns with him to his mansion,Manderley,only to find the ghost of his first wife,Rebecca,still lingers
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