18 of 1001 Books: Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

I remember seeing Rebecca in my middle school library when I was a kid, but I am now reading the book at 25. I might have never read the book had I not found it on my list. Why Rebecca was in a library for kids 12-14 I don't know. It's a great book, but I certainly don't believe I would have been compelled by it at that age. What's interesting about Maurier is that she also wrote the short story The Birds, which is what the Alfred Hitchcock movie would be based on when he filmed it in the 60's. Rebecca takes a bit to get interesting, but once the book gets rolling it's a riveting suspense.

Summary: The unnamed lead character takes us inside Manderly. She narrates the story, and we are introduced to her as a companion for a wealthy woman, Ms. Van Hooper. When the mysterious Maxim De Winter catchers her eye she begins to fall for him, and marries him, and is able to leave her life as a companion. Once arriving to Manderly she is welcomed by servants like Frank, but others like Ms. Danvers seem to be uninviting to her appearance so soon after the death of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife. The longer she is married to Maxim the more she sees how Rebecca's is still very much alive at Manderly despite having been dead a year.