“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”
Rebecca – the blurb
On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband’s home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow.
***Our Big Reviews are written from the point of view that you have read the book. If this is not yet you, bookmark the page and come back once you have***
Just Jane Eyre
My initial thoughts having not read Rebecca before was (naively) that it was just Jane Eyre in a more modern setting (1930s). How wrong was I?!?!?! Yes there is a naive girl and a brooding man with a supposed dead wife but that is where the similarities end. You are told the end at the beginning, yet how the two characters get there is drawn out in the most fascinating, nail biting way possible. This is Jane Eyre with bells, ribbons, and a full scale Morris band accompaniment.
Mrs De Winter
Why does the second Mrs De Winter not have a name? Oh how the feminists have chewed over this one! As someones wife is she not worthy enough to have one? Is she so overcast by Rebecca that nothing could compare? Is it to emphasize that she is in fact Maxim’s wife now and not Rebecca? There is a whole book club of discussion just there!
And what about the first Mrs De Winter? Was she a heinous harlot as the second Mrs De Winter describes her? Remember we only have the second wife’s version of events -the woman willing to cover up the murder of the first wife by her now husband. The affair with Rebecca’s cousin is revealed by a man broken by her death, drunk and knowing he is up against the band of brothers that is white upper class men. Rebecca was after all loved by everyone, even Maxim’s grandmother in the grips of dementia. Could it be that Rebecca was in fact wronged by murderous Maxim?
Maxim the murderer
We entered risky ground when Maxim admits he murdered Rebecca. Not only that but he did it when he believed she was pregnant. Du Maurier backtracks somewhat from this by revealing that Rebecca was in fact dying: oh well it’s OK then for him to murder her, its what she would have wanted. I have to admit I did raise an eyebrow at this point. Du Maurier was bold enough to make Maxim a murderer but felt she needed to give her hero a gentlemanly way out…..
Mrs Danvers
What about Mrs Danvers? Was she a cold calculated woman deranged and intent on enticing the second Mrs De Winters to her death? Was she a caring servant to Rebecca who was merely encased in grief and upscuttled by the master bringing home some lowlife youngster that he had only just met? I did get slightly annoyed at the constant reference to Mrs De Winter’s youth – what was she, 13?!?
The ending is also something that MUST be discussed. How deliciously ambiguous? Was Manderley on fire? If it was, was it Mrs Danvers? That seems to be the inevitable conclusion but what if it wasn’t? Could Frank have been tipped too far? I really didn’t expect the ending to shock me given that we were aware from the get go that Mr and Mrs De Winter were together pootling around Europe post Manderley. But what a shock I got and I loved the book even more for it.
The road to Manderley
How much do I want to see Manderley? Its gardens, Happy Valley, the buttered crumpets in the library? Rebecca was just as much a love story to the house than to anything else. The actual house doesn’t exist but it’s rumoured to be based on an estate in Cornwall called Menabilly. This summers holiday perhaps?
The book was an absolute delight. So often classics are boring and predictable yet this was neither. It was tense, shocking and Du Maurier created a world I just wanted to jump straight in to. FAB U LOUS.
Book of the Month
If you would like to get involved with our book of the month try answering our book club questions published every month. Just search in our footnotes section for the ‘Get Involved’ articles. We review a new book every month so keep your eyes peeled for the Lowdown on February’s book of the month soon.
