From the exclusive beaches of Monte Carlo to the verdant grounds of Maxim de Winter’s stately home Manderley, Daphne du Maurier’s gothic classic transports the reader into a social and psychological world of creeping menace and dark desires.
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 of Rebecca learns 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 since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the 'Other Woman'. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is 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 a Daphne du Maurier renaissance. Known of course for Rebecca and Jamaica 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 tale Don’t Look Now.
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9781844080380
Number of pages: 448
Weight: 352 g
Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 36 mm
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 attempt - Guardian
One 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 book
With 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 since - Marie Claire
Her 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 unconscious - The Times
It's the perfect winter book, brooding, dangerous and engrossing - Kit de Waal, Sainsbury's Magazine
Addictive and breathtaking. Its blending of melodrama and subtlety is ingenious. The Cornish setting never quite leaves the imagination - Independent
A brilliantly constructed novel - the ultimate in psychological suspense, instantly gripping and haunting, Rebecca will stay with you for ever. - Psychologies
A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each reading
It 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 upon
What 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 liberty - Guardian
I 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 written - Clare Mackintosh
This 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 - Good Housekeeping
I am reminded of how profoundly du Maurier changed the way I felt about myself, how she engaged and excited me with her writing. - Julie Myerson
The DAILY TELEGRAPH - ‘As a new generation of readers are introduced to the wicked housekeeper Mrs Danvers and learn Maxim de Winter’s terrible secret, this chilling, suspenseful tale is as fresh and readable as i
Excellent entertainment . . . du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings. - Stephen King
This novel starts slow but gains momentum into an explosive ending. I knew very little about this novel so the whole thing took me by surprise. Beautifully written, it’s a lovely letter to the countryside and nature.... More
This is the perfect book to sit with on the sofa, a fire burning, and lots of chocolate. As soon I read the oh-so-familliar opening line of "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again", I'm hooked on... More
Rebecca was full of surprises and is a haunting read. A book identified when chatting about Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, it certainly lives up to the hype. Possibly even betters Bronte! Like Jane Eyre, Du... More
Please sign in to write a review
Would you like to proceed to the App store to download the Waterstones App?
