When Maxim de Winter brings his shy new bride to his beautiful stately home on the Cornwall coast, it seems like all her dreams have come true. But she soon finds that Manderley is haunted by the shadow of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who died the year before. As the hot summer fades, the mystery of Rebecca's death grows, weaving a spell of fear and foreboding. In a series of climactic revelations, Rebecca's memory is finally laid to rest, but at what cost?
"Wow, this book made me feel interested! Books usually take me over 2 months to finish, but this book made not leave it at any sight! Even if I have my Mid-Years now, I still can't leave my book alone! The story is based on a young girl, called Rebecca. Rebecca's narrative takes the form of a flashback. The heroine lives in Europe with her husband, Maxim de Winter, traveling from hotel to hotel, harboring memories of a beautiful home called Manderley, which, we learn, has been destroyed by fire. The story begins with her memories of how she and Maxim first met, in Monte Carlo, years before. In her flashback, the heroine is working as the young traveling companion to a wealthy American named Mrs. Van Hopper. In her flashback, Maxim is staying at the same hotel as the heroine and her employer, and after knowing the heroine for only a few weeks, he proposes marriage. She accepts, and he marries her and takes her back to his ancestral estate of Manderley. But a dark cloud hangs over their marriage: Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, drowned in a cove near Manderley the previous year, and her ghost haunts the newlyweds' home. Rebecca's devoted housekeeper, the sinister Mrs. Danvers, is still in charge of Manderley, and she frightens and intimidates her new mistress. Despite the encouragement of the house overseer, Frank Crawley, and Maxim's sister, Beatrice, the heroine struggles in her new life at Manderley. She feels that she can never compare favorably to Rebecca, who was beautiful, talented, and brilliant--or so everyone says--and soon she feels that Maxim is still in love with his dead wife. There's so much more to describe about this book! It's so far the best novel I've read for the beginning of 2013!"
—
Elio (4 out of 5 stars)