Baba's Reviews > Rebecca

An unnamed woman recounts her past, looking back at when she first fell in love, as a young woman, almost still a girl. She was a shy young women, working as a companion to an older women in Monte Carlo, when she came across, and fell for, the well known, upper class Maxim de Winter, a recent widow and owner/occupier of the legendary English home, Manderley. The mighty Manderley itself, is a key player in this magnificent gothic mystery romance. There's the combative head housekeeper Miss Danvers to overcome, and even more so the legacy of Maxim's well loved and adored first wife, Rebecca. Chapter by chapter the narrator documents her tale of secrets, lies, love and hate, manipulation and disinformation, of masks and of facades.

From the opening line - "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again", I knew I was reading something special. This is one of those books, that after the first few pages I already knew I was reading a Five Star read. Yet as I progressed through the book, I began searching in vain for a Six Star rating, absorbed with how the mix of the almost irreverent gothic romantic spiel of the narrator in her youth, is counterbalanced by the aloof, mature, and yet selective and secretive De Winter - it is/was all so compelling! The supporting cast are a joy, from the dark and distraught Danvers, through the the sister who says what she thinks! The key driver for me, for most reads is the story, and yet again du Maurier BRINGS IT ON! 10 out of 12. Five Star Read!

My two fave writers of all time are Margaret Atwood and Donna Tartt, and it looks like this list has just got one author longer.