Tabs & Twists
Rebecca
The timid new wife of the wealthy Maxim de Winter is haunted at Manderley by the memory of his first wife, Rebecca.
- Subgenre
- GothicPsychological drama
- Setting / Period
- English country house
- First published
- 1938
- Pages
- 449
- Language
- English
Review
A young woman marries the widower Maxim de Winter after a whirlwind romance and moves into Manderley, his grand house on the Cornish coast. There she finds that everyone, especially the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, still reveres the dead Rebecca.
Du Maurier builds suspense through atmosphere rather than action. The nameless narrator's insecurity makes every corridor feel menacing, and the book is brilliant at showing how the past can poison a house.
A late twist changes everything, and the final chapters turn the novel from a gothic romance into a darker, more complicated study of obsession and class. It remains a masterclass in slow-burn tension.
