I have read this book a few times as am sure many fiction lovers have. A few days back, I was browsing through my Kindle library looking for the next book to read after the delicious “Gentleman in Moscow” and Rebecca popped up !
I re-read it and even though I knew the plot and several scenes, the book was still gripping. That’s why its a classic I guess. I haven’t read any other book by Daphne Du Maurier. Maybe now I will. Its unfair not to read her other works, just because Rebecca is so gripping.
A quick recap –
Rebecca is the story of an unnamed young lady who meets a handsome, much older gentleman, Maxim de Winter, in Monte Carlo. Maxim’s wife was recently deceased in a boat accident and almost everyone knew about it because Maxim owned the famous estate called “Manderley”. Maxim and the young lady fall in love and enter into a whirlwind marriage despite Maxim’s troubled past. On arriving at Maxim’s estate “Manderley” after their honeymoon, the young lady faces a huge struggle with (late) Rebecca, whose presence at Manderley remains overbearing. She is constantly compared to Rebecca, who was loved and admired by all, and faces hostility from Mrs Danvers, Rebecca’s old maid. The young lady struggles to adjust to Maxim’s more privileged way of life and to find her own identity. As the story unfolds though, it becomes clear that Rebecca was not as angelic as people had believed her to be and her death is not as tragically accidental as it would seem…
Want to know more ? Well, read the book if you haven’t :).
Some classic statements from the book –
“I believe there is a theory that men and women emerge finer and stronger after suffering, and that to advance in this or any world we must endure ordeal by fire.”
“Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.”
Enjoyed re-reading it and definitely recommend it !!