Rebecca is a romantic suspense novel written in
1938. Two years later it was turned into a movie directed by
Alfred Hitchcock staring Lawrence Oliver and Joan Fontain. The
book starts off with a famous description of the house and estate of
Manderly. The story begins with our speaker working as a hired
companion to a Mrs. Van Hopper, living in a hotel in Monte Carlo.
While staying there she meets Maxim DeWinter, a middle aged socialite
who was recently widowed. The two develop a friendship which,
within a matter of weeks, becomes an offbeat romance. The
peculiar thing about the relationship is the enormous age
difference. Our protagonist is somewhere around eighteen, while
Maxim is insinuated to be around 42. Another oddity is that Du
Maurier never gives our main character a name. All we know is
that her name is exotic and unisex.
When the time comes for Mrs. Van Hopper to leave
Monte Carlo, Maxim proposes and whisks the new Mrs. DeWinter off to
Manderly to live with him. When they arrive, they are greeted by the
entire
staff, including Mrs. Danvers, the eery head of the staff who
constantly compares her to Rebecca, Maxim’s previous wife.
Rebecca’s presence is immediately noticable, as when she was alive, she
dominated the
household and everything she involved herself in.
As the book continues, Rebecca’s presence becomes more and more
apparent, but not without the help of Mrs. Danvers, who constantly
plays games with Mrs. DeWinter, making her consistantly nervous and
worried about her status in the household.
Questions arise as to the fate of Rebecca, and foul
play is suspected. When a boat crashes onto the beaches of
Manderly, divers find the boat that Rebecca was in when she died, with
the body still trapped inside. Maxim becomes an immediate suspect
and it is revealed that he was responsible for her death. He
escapes much jail time, but still loses the respect of the
community. While he stands trial, Mrs. Danvers enthusiastically
tries to persuade Mrs. DeWinter to commit suicide, and when she does
not, Mrs. Danvers burns Manderly to the ground. While the book
ends on the sour note of the house burning down, the couple survives
and is free to live out their marriage in peace.