Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

A shy and reserved young woman who is alone in the world, no friends or family, arrives at an isolated mansion. The owner of the estate is considerably older than the young woman.  He is handsome, brooding and mysterious. There is a secret about his first wife which the young woman will discover and at that point she will have a decision to make.  

Charlotte Bronte made this storyline immortal in Jane Eyre and almost one hundred years later Daphne DuMaurier gave this tale her own twist in Rebecca published 1938 which I decided to go with for the 2022 Back to the Classics Category - choose a 20th century classic.

It is my first time reading Rebecca and I went in thinking I knew the novel better than I did.  But I soon discovered that the book is significantly different than Jane Eyre in key aspects.  And nowhere is that more true in my opinion than in the different way Jane Eyre and the second Mrs DeWinter respond when a major revelation about the men they love occurs later in the book.  Their opposite response shows that despite some biographical similarities they are very different women.

But since I am here to review Rebecca let me get started. Rebecca is set in the 1930's and narrated by the second Mrs. DeWinter.  We never learn her first name but we do learn how she came to meet her husband, Maxim DeWinter.  She was twenty and staying in Monte Carlo working as a companion to a wealthy older woman by the name of Mrs Van. Hopper.  Mrs. Van Hopper is a busybody and thrilled to discover that the wealthy widower Maxim DeWinter, owner of the magnificent  Manderley Estate in Cornwall, is vacationing at their hotel.   

In true Cinderella fashion Maxim is interested in Mrs. Van Hopper' shy young companion and within weeks they are married.  After the honeymoon the DeWinters arrive at Manderly ready to begin their new lives but Mrs DeWinter is a fish out of water.  The servants are reserved and not very friendly.  And Mrs Danvers the unbalanced housekeeper who was very close to Maxim DeWinter's first wife Rebecca makes it clear that she regards the new Mrs. DeWinter as an unwanted intruder, not fit to touch any of Rebecca's things.  

Maxim has also changed since returning to Manderley.  He has become withdrawn, short- tempered.  Maxim's friends and neighbors are eager to call on the the new Mrs. DeWinter. But she tries to avoid these lunches sure that they will be comparing her to the beautiful Rebecca who died a year ago in a boating accident as she has been told and who she fears Maxim is still in love with.  

Mrs. DeWinter finally decides to throw a costume ball.  But the evening ends in disaster when Mrs Danvers in an attempt to sabatoge Mrs DeWinter picks out a ball gown which Rebecca used to wear.   Mrs DeWinter doesn't know this and as she descends the staircase at Manderly wearing Rebecca's dress the guests are shocked and Maxim is furious demanding she change her outfit.  Mrs DeWinter in tears runs back to her bedroom.  Maxim's sister Beatrice tries to comfort her but it does no good.  Mrs DeWinter is a young woman with not much confidence and she compares herself harshly to Maxim's sister Beatrice: 

"She belonged to another breed of men and women, another race than I. They had guts, the women of her race. They were not like me. If it had been Beatrice who had done this thing instead of me she would have put on her other dress and gone down again to welcome her guests. She would have stood by Giles’s side, and shaken hands with people, a smile on her face. I could not do that. I had not the pride, I had not the guts. I was badly bred."

Can you imagine Jane Eyre talking about herself like this?  I can't. Jane was shy and reserved but there was also an inner strength and toughness in Jane which is missing from Mrs. DeWinter who is constantly imagining the worst with regard to what everyone is thinking about her and believing it as well.

But then a significant event happens at Manderley which I can't go into but the pace of the novel really picks up and I was very eager to know how it would play out.  It is also because of this event that Mrs. DeWinter finds her strength so that she can stand up for herself, be a supportive spouse to Maxim and run Manderley with confidence.  And that was a problem for me because this is not the lesson in my opinion Mrs DeWinter should have drawn from what is revealed.  Standing by your spouse is a good thing  but there should be limits and Mrs. DeWinter doesn't see those limits.  Jane Eyre would have.

I finished Rebecca therefore with a new respect for Jane Eyre and for Mr. Rochester.  But I also enjoyed Rebecca which is very well written and the suspence builds which is what I like in a mystery.  I can see why after finishing Rebecca many readers go on to Daphne DuMaurier's other novels, Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel to name two.