One of the most famous novels of the 20th century, available in a beautiful new hardback VMC set of Daphne du Maurier classics.
'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...'
Working as a lady's companion, our heroine's outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the brooding house Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is for ever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper Mrs Danvers...
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.
About the Author
Daphne du Maurier (1907-89) was born in London, educated at home and in Paris, and lived for much of her life in her beloved Cornwall, the setting for many of her novels. Most of her novels have been bestsellers and many have been made into films. She is considered one of the most accomplished novelists of the twentieth century.
Industry Reviews
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 -- Sarah Waters
Addictive and breathtaking. Its blending of melodrama and subtlety is ingenious. The Cornish setting never quite leaves the imagination * Independent *
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 *
A brilliantly constructed novel - the ultimate in psychological suspense, instantly gripping and haunting, Rebecca will stay with you for ever. -- Alex Barclay * Psychologies *
A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each reading -- Helen Dunmore
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 -- Jim Crace * Guardian *
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 -- Kate Saunders * The Times *
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 -- Erin Kelly
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 -- Olivia Laing * 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 *
