During the ‘final’ explanation she details in incisive precision the motivations and circumstances that can lead ‘ordinary’ individuals to commit a major crime. Her namelessness also reinforces her sense of inadequacy-that is of being less, not enough, simply unequal to Rebecca-and her anxiety regarding herself and others.ĭaphne du Maurier untangles the mystery at the heart of her novel in a slow yet utterly compelling way. It suggests that this novel is indeed not about her, but about Rebecca (after all the novel is titled after her).

The narrator’s namelessness is incredibly effective. While the cast of characters do have attributes that bring to mind Jane Eyre (not only is du Maurier’s narrator a ‘plain Jane’ but one of her few hobbies happens to be ‘drawing’) they also possess qualities that reflect their own period. Yet, rather than relying wholly on its precursors (such as Bluebeard and Jane Eyre) Rebecca presents us with a more self-aware take on these otherwise tired dynamics and scenarios.

In many ways Rebecca-its story, its characters, its use of Gothic elements-is not incredibly original. This may be because of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca film or thanks to the hilarious sketch by That Mitchell and Webb Look. While reading Rebecca I realised that I was already familiar with its opening lines and some of the novel’s key scenes. “Colour and scent and sound, rain and the lapping of water, even the mists of autumn and the smell of the flood tide, these are memories of Manderley that will not be denied.” Rebecca is a work of Gothic suspense that is told in a mesmerising prose and makes for an enthralling and evocative read.

Rebecca daphne