Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier, reviewed by Megha Nanda

Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier

Reviewed by
Name: Megha Nanda
School: Gyan Mandir Public School

“While on holiday as a paid companion to a wealthy American, a young woman meets and falls in love with Max de Winter, the famous rich heir who tragically lost his wife in a mysterious boating accident. They get married and move to Max’s family mansion. Mandelay, where the new Mrs. de Winter struggles to fit in. Coming from a modest background, Mrs. de Winter is plagued by insecurities and self-doubt and finds her new role as lady of the house rather daunting. Max can’t understand why she is such a wise and is rather hard on her. On top of all this, the head servant, Ms. Danvers, can’t stand her and wants to run her off. Ms. Danvers has an unnatural fixation with the former Ms. de Winter, Rebecca, and does her best to convince the new Mrs. de Winter, that she does not belong to at Mandelay, and that the Mrs. de Winter, i.e. Rebecca, is still hanging around. Ms. Danvers hounds Ms. De Winter and mentally abuses her until she nearly commits suicide, but finally Ms. de Winter grows a spine. Ten out of the blue she finds out that Rebecca’s death was not accidental, but that she was murdered by Max. Max tells her that Rebecca was an evil gold digger, and Ms. De Winter buys it. The rest of the book focuses on the court battle to determine if Max is guilty of murder. Then there’s the suspenseful finale when Ms. Danvers goes ballistic and starts up a bonfire in Rebecca’s old room.”