REBECCA

                   REBECCA BY DAPHNE DU MAURIER-  A REVIEW

Rebecca, the classical novel written by Daphne du Maurier has been hailed as a brilliant novel of an unforgettable wife. Written before the second world war, Rebecca  has been in the best seller list  ever since it was published in September 1938 by Doubleday and Company Inc. The simple cover page depicting a red carpeted staircase and two characters does not give us an inkling of  the world of paranoia that opens up before us as we turn the pages.

     The Rebecca of the title is dead, presumably killed in a sailing accident . Her millionaire husband, Maxmillian de Winter , the debonair, courteous gentleman  with perfect manners makes a deep impression upon the naïve young girl who is the narrator of the tale. Everything is seen and reported from the point of view of  this girl, the diffident, nervous and unusually sensitive second wife of Maxim, whose name is not revealed till the end, much to the chagrin of the reader.

    After a hasty marriage, the de Winters return to Maxim’s country estate, Manderley. ‘We came to Manderley in early May’, says the narrator, ‘arriving ,so Maxim said, with the first swallows and  the bluebells’. The powerful language of Daphne de Maurier gives us an entrancing description of the wonders of the picturesque countryside villa with the valley of azaleas and the blood red rhododendrons in full bloom. Manderley is described as  a thing of grace and beauty, exquisite and faultless, built in its hollow of smooth grassland and mossy lawns, with its terraces sloping to the garden and the garden to the sea. Manderley is  flanked by a wall of blood red rhododendrons which  startles the narrator by their crimson faces, massed one upon the other in incredible profusion, showing no leaf, no twig, nothing but the slaughterous red, luscious and fantastic.

       The fabulous country and the palatial mansion leads  the young bride  to believe that she has married above her station. She is unnerved by the belief that she is no match to Maxim’s first wife, the seemingly perfect former mistress of the house. The spirit of the capricious, vivacious Rebecca seems to haunt the house. Soon we are plunged into the mystery of the mansion, ridden by intrigue. A gallery of characters opens before our eyes, the most prominent of them being Mrs. Danvers, the governess, tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black, with prominent cheek bones and  hollow eyes which gives her parchment white face, the look of a skull.  She keeps the house and the staff under her thumb with meticulous care. There is instant hostility between the governess and the new Mrs. De Winter. Gradually, through the frightful eyes of the narrator, who explores and unravels the mystery of Manderley, we come to know of Rebecca as she really was. We realize with horror the power she holds over Manderley even in death. As the diffident, shy second wife explores the new house and the surroundings, we discover, along with her, a tale of deceit, disloyalty, adultery and murder.

    Rebecca is not the tale of the eponymous first wife, it is the tale of Maxim’s second wife who gains courage and grace and rises in esteem and stature  before our eyes . It is the story of Manderley. It is an unforgettable experience set in a mysterious . palatial mansion which ultimately goes up in flames .

     Daphne de Maurier enchants us with the power of her language and holds us spell bound from the beginning to the end. Rebecca is a revelation, it is a shattering experience , it is a magical spell that binds us in mystery and suspense from the very first word. It is a must read for every book lover. Don’t miss it.