"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . ."
I was always intrigued by this sentence, having come across it in the numerous quizes I've taken on GoodReads about first sentences of books! I finally got down to reading this book last week. It is supposed to be a "Gothic romance", and one of the few novels I've read in this genre, the others being classics like Jane Eyre & Wuthering Heights which I really loved.
It has a slow start and doesn't really get interesting until about mid-way which is when the major plot twist takes place. I'm usually good at guessing what happens next in movies (I guessed nearly all the twists in Race!!) and most books, but I must say I really did not see that one coming! Shocking!
The book starts off with the narrator, a young girl of limited means, meeting the much older Maxim de Winter. He is a rich widower still grieving the sudden accidental death of his charismatic and much-loved wife Rebecca. They spend time with each other and when she's about to leave, he proposes and they get married.
After a short honeymoon, Maxim and the new Mrs. De Winter (Her name is never revealed in the entire book) go home to Manderley, his country estate managed by a large staff, including the creepy housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.
I expected Manderley to be actually haunted by Rebecca's ghost or spirit or whatever, but isn't so. It is haunted, but not in the literal sense, its more the way nothing has changed since Rebecca's death, and everything in the house is as she liked it to be. Her rooms are cleaned daily, her clothes are laid out, her favorite flowers are in vases, even the food she liked is still served. All done by the devoted Mrs. Danvers. Creepy!!
However everything changes when the boat Rebecca was in when she died is found at the bottom of the sea.
What was initially considered to be an accident is now revealed to be either a suicide or a murder!!
We then learn the truth about Rebecca and Maxim and their life at Manderley.
The book ends somewhat ambiguously with many unanswered questions, some of which were answered thanks to Google! Others I leave for the next time I read this book.
Wonderfully written, lots of suspense and drama. Loved the book!!
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