Reviewed by Kristin
Rebecca has been one of my favorite novels since I was a
teenager. “Last night I dreamt I went to
Manderley again…” remains one of the most memorable first lines ever
written. When I graduated from the young
adult series featuring Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and Cherry Ames up to the
dusty aisles of adult fiction at my hometown library, I found Elisabeth Oglivie,
Mary Stewart, Eugenia Price, and Daphne du Maurier. Characters who were often moodily walking
across bracken filled moors or strolling on sun-dappled beaches were appealing
to the landlocked Midwesterner that I was.
I’m sure I didn’t know what a moor was (until I looked it up in the
encyclopedia) but it seemed to be a fine place to take brisk walks with the
wind whipping across my face.
Rebecca is perhaps the best known of du Maurier’s novels,
selling almost 3 million copies in the first three decades after its 1938
publication. The unnamed narrator is the
second Mrs. de Winter, the first being Rebecca—the dead first wife whose
presence overshadows the Manderley estate.
Maxim de Winter and his young second wife return home to Cornwall after
meeting and marrying abroad in Monte Carlo.
The narrator is fearful of not living up to the elegance and
sophistication of Rebecca, a fear strongly reinforced by housekeeper Mrs.
Danvers. Not surprisingly, not all is as
it seems. What kind of gothic suspense
would this be if it was predictable?
Events unfold and rise to a crescendo, teasing and tantalizing readers
from the original publication to today.
Alfred Hitchcock directed the film rendition of Rebecca in
1940, which won two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Cinematography. Featuring Sir Laurence Olivier, Joan
Fontaine, and Dame Judith Anderson, the movie remains a classic well worth
remembering.
Mysterious, complicated women seemed to be a favorite of du
Maurier. Recently I decided to pick up
another of her titles: My Cousin
Rachel. Confirmed bachelor Ambrose
Ashley lives on a Cornwall estate and has raised his young cousin Philip as a
son and heir. Ambrose goes abroad for
his health and meets Rachel, a young widow in Italy, falling in love and
marrying her. When Ambrose falls
suddenly ill and dies, Philip is prepared to intensely dislike his cousin’s
bride. Rachel comes to visit the Ashley
estate; Philip holds his distance as long as he is able, but soon becomes
captivated by her charms. Is Rachel what
she seems? Du Maurier is a grand dame of
drawing out the suspense as the characters take actions which will change their
lives forever.
What’s next? I
certainly have my choice of several novels as well as works of non-fiction set
in du Maurier’s beloved Cornwall. Her
works have inspired other novelists to imagine sequels to Rebecca, including
Mrs. de Winter by Susan Hill and Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman. Du Maurier’s works remain relevant today,
with devotees maintaining a website at dumaurier.org and a Twitter account
@D_DuMaurier. Who says I can’t have one
foot on those Cornish moors while I also browse the internet in search of more
to read?
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