In 2019, the BBC named it one of the most inspiring novels ever. In 2017, WHSmith revealed Rebecca was the UK’s favourite book of the past 225 years. Rebecca is a bestseller which has never gone out of print and is one of the most important books in modern English literature.
How did Daphne Du Maurier do it? A page-turner like the novel Rebecca doesn’t happen by accident.ĭescribed by Sarah Waters as one of the most influential novels of all time, the famous opening line of Rebecca (1939) has wooed millions of readers: ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again’. The brooding estate of Manderley is inspired by du Maurier’s home at Menabilly on the Cornish Coast, just outside of Fowey.Obsessed with Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca? So are we. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. When she fails to come between the newly weds, she apparantly burns Mandereley to the ground to stop our heroine from becoming mistress there. Her loyal childhood maid, the indomitable Mrs Danvers, keeps Rebecca’s memory very much alive and is determined to stop our heroine from taking Rebecca’s place at Manderley. She tormented Maxim with vivid details of her numerous affairs and manipulated husband and staff without remorse. Beautiful and charming, she dominates everyone at Manderley as much in death as she did in life. Rebecca de Winter haunts the story as Maxim’s first wife who died less than a year before he meets our heroine. But we are never told what her name is, other than Mrs de Winter after she marries Maxim. When she receives a letter she remarks that her name is spelled correctly, “an unusual thing.” Maxim de Winter compliments her on her “lovely and unusual name” during his whirlwind courtship of her. Alfred Hitchcock adapted the book for his film, Rebecca, in 1940 which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.īut our heroine is not Rebecca.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was published in 1938 and sold nearly 3 million copies between its publication and 1965.
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