Rebecca (1938) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Write a summary of the plot or a synopsis of this book.

Characters edit see section history

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• Mrs. de Winter: The novel's narrator and protagonist, whose first name is never revealed. While in Monte Carlo as a paid companion to Mrs. Van Hopper, she meets Maxim de Winter, an older, wealthy man, whom she falls in love with and marries quickly.
• Maxim de Winter: Maxim is an smart, wealthy, older man and the owner of the mansion Manderley. He has recently lost his beautiful, accomplished wife in a drowning incident when he meets the narrator. He seems to be very troubled by this incident.
• Rebecca: While alive, Rebecca was the gorgeous, accomplished, and admired first wife of Maxim de Winter. As a ghost, she haunts the mansion, pressing the narrator into depression and feeling like she will never be able to take Rebecca's place.
• Mrs. Danvers: The sinister and evil housekeeper of the mansion of Manderley. She was completely devoted to Rebecca, and she absolutely hates that the narrator took her place. She does all she can to make the narrator embarrassed and uncomfortable.
• Frank Crawley: Overseer of Manderley.
• Jack Favell: Rebecca's cousin.
• Clarice: Mrs. de Winter's maid.
• Baker: a doctor
• Frith: Head Butler.
• Lady Crowan: Local noblewoman.
• Ben: Half-wit who roams the property
• Jasper: Maxim de Winter's dog (spaniel). Has soulful eyes and great, sagging jowl.
• Beatrice: Maxim's social and friendly sister. He describes her as to-the-point: if she doesn't like someone she'll come right out and say it.
• Mrs. Van Hopper: An old, wealthy American who paid Mrs. de Winter to be her companion before she got married to Mr. de Winter. Her short body ill balanced upon tottering high heels, her fussy, freely blouse a complement to her large bosom and swinging hips, her new hat pierced with a monster quill aslant upon her head, exposing a wide expanse of forehead bare as a schoolboy's knee. One hand carried a gigantic bag, the kind that holds passports, engagement diaries, and bridge scores, while the other hand toyed with that inevitable lorgnette, the enemy of other people's privacy.
• Robert: Footman
• Colonel Julyan: Magistrate who investigates the death of Rebecca.
• Giles: Husband of Beatrice.
• Captain Searle: The harbormaster of Kerrith.
• Alice: Housemaid.
• Norah: The parlor-maid for Maxim's grandmother.
• James Tabb: The shipbuilder who built and maintained Rebecca's boat. At the inquest, he testifies that the ship sank because of holes drilled in the bottom.
• Roger: Son of Beatrice and Giles, Maxim's nephew
• Gran: Maxim's grandmother.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “The papers were full of it of course. They say he never talks about it, never mentions her name. She was drowned you know, in a bay near Manderley ...”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “If only there could be an invention...that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say.”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “Though two nights only have been spent beneath a roof, yet we leave something of ourselves behind. Nothing material, not a hairpin on a dressing table, not an empty bottle of aspirin tablets, not a handkerchief beneath a pillow, but something indefinable, a moment of our lives, a thought, a mood.”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “Come and see us if you feel like it,' she said. 'I always expect people to ask themselves. Life is too short to send out invitations.”

  Beatrice

• “That's what I do to Jasper," I thought. "I'm being like Jasper now, leaning against him. He pats me now and again, when he remembers, and I'm pleased, I get closer to him for a moment. He likes me in the way I like Jasper.”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “The word lingered in the air once I had uttered it, Dancing before me, and because he received it silently, making no comment, the word magnified itself into something hideous and appalling, a forbidden word, unnatural to the tongue. And I could not call it back, it could never be unsaid.”

  Mrs. de Winter

• “If I told you I was thinking about Surrey and Middlesex, I was thinking about Surrey and Middlesex. Men are simpler than you imagine, my sweet child. But what goes in the twisted tortuous minds of women would baffle anyone.”

  Maxim de Winter

• “My lad is different altogether. No earthly use at games. Always writing poetry. I suppose he'll grow out of it.”

  Colonel Julyan

• “We all of us have our particular devil who rides with us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end. We have conquered ours, or so we believe.”

  Mrs. de Winter

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Manderley: The de Winter family estate.
• London
• Kerrith
• Monte Carlo, hotel Côte d'Azur: where Mrs. de Winter and Maxim meet
• Italy
• Happy Valley
• England
• France
• New York
• Edgecoombe
• Cornwall
• Paris
• Switzerland
• Venice
• Dresden

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Mullioned: A slender vertical member that forms a division between units of a window, door, or screen or is used decoratively

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• The letter "R": The letter "R" makes its appearance over and over throughout the novel. Obviously, the R represents Rebecca herself. Bit it always makes its appearance just as the new Mrs. DeWinter begins to become a little comfortable in her position as lady of the house. It serves to undermine her minimal confidence and her state of mind.
• The nameless "Mrs. DeWinter: The new Mrs. DeWinter is never actually named. This lack of a name symbolizes her lack of social standing, her lack of confidence, and really her lack of self.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Old Man and the Sea, and followed by A Clockwork Orange.

Preceded by The Day of the Jackal, and followed by Eye of the Needle.

Preceded by All This, and Heaven Too, and followed by Wickford Point.

Preceded by My Son My Son, and followed by Northwest Passage.

Preceded by The Big Sleep, and followed by And Then There Were None.

Preceded by The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and followed by Farewell, My Lovely.

Preceded by Nausea, and followed by Cause for Alarm.

Preceded by The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, and followed by The Hobbit.

Preceded by Birdsong, and followed by The Catcher in the Rye.

Preceded by Love in the Time of Cholera, and followed by The Remains of the Day.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Daphne du Maurier (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #14)
• Anthony (2000: Best Novel of the Century, winner)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PN2093 .C64 1995
• Dewey: 823.912

Notes for Parents edit see section history

While this book can be a little dark, it is eminently accessible. It would be a great way to introduce a young reader to the classics. I read it when I was twelve, and it has been a favorite ever since.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Romance › Romantic Suspense
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Du Maurier's Rebecca: An online review of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca by Ann Wilmore
• Wikipedia: Wikipedia page of du Maurier's Rebecca

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Rebecca (IMDb): 1940
• Rebecca (IMDb): 1997 (TV)
• Rebecca (IMDb): 1947 (TV)

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history