"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." So begins one of the most subtlely suspenseful and dramatic mystery novels of the 20th century.

Among all the books I have read (actually it is a small amount of books), Rebecca has always been my favorite.

The story takes place at Manderley in Cornwall, England in1938.

" Rebecca begins in the South of France, 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's such a wuss 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 unatural fixation with the former Ms. de Winter, Rebecca, and does her best to convince the New Mrs. de Winter that she doesn't belong at Mandelay and that the true Mrs. de Winter, i.e., Rebecca, is still hanging around. Ms. Danvers hounds Ms. De Winter and mentally abuses her until she nearly commits sucide, but finally Ms. de Winter grows a spine. Then 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

suspenceful finale when Ms. Danvers goes ballistic and starts up a bonfire in Rebecca's old room." 

I admire Daphne’s writing skills. There are three things impressing me the most.

First one is that she uses first person to narrate the whole story. It proves to be a very effective way of making the character appear to be a inferior person to Rebecca, so that she is less confident, less capable, less attractive to Maxim, not even a significant enough person to be named. Over the years many people have asked why the second Mrs. de Winter does not have a name. Daphne’s reply to this is that she could not think of one and it became a challenge in technique to write the whole story without naming her. It also appears a good way to arouse interest of the readers.

Second is that although Rebecca --- the central role hasn’t shown up through the whole twisted tale, she still can let the readers feel her power everywhere. This figure is created perfect but only in readers’ imagination. Daphne doesn’t use details to describe her but does leave her for the readers to imagine instead. Rebecca’s appearance, expression, action and experience are just like the Venus’s arm, a room for our own imagination. We can only know Rebecca through the others’ words. Just like what Frank says: “She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.” And Mrs. Danvers says: “Everything is kept just as Mrs. de Winter liked it. … Everyone loved her.” We become to know she is beautiful, smart and tasteful.

Finally, here comes the language. Daphne is an expert of using language skills, especially describing view. I realize that as soon as I open the book. The first few pages are filled with vivid and detailed description of a dream the heroine. Here are some quotes from the first few pages. “The drive wound away in front of me, twisting and turning as it had always done. … A cloud came upon the moon and hovered an instant like a dark hand before a face.” All these seems to paint a picture of Manderley for the readers, not to mention the famous line --- “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

However, Rebecca is classic, mysterious and superficial. It is only a tale but worth reading.