1st ed., Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938, Doubleday)
Published by Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., New York
457 pp
15 x 20,5 x 3 cm
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, DBE (/du? 'm?rie?/; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989), was an English novelist, biographer and playwright.
Although she is classed as a romantic novelist, her stories have been described as "moody and resonant" with overtones of the paranormal. Her bestselling works were not at first taken seriously by critics, but have since earned an enduring reputation for narrative craft. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now".
Du Maurier spent much of her life in Cornwall, where most of her works are set. As her fame increased, she became more reclusive
Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel written by English author Daphne du Maurier. The novel depicts an unnamed young woman who impetuously marries a wealthy widower, before discovering that both he and his household are haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the title character.
A bestseller which has never gone out of print, Rebecca sold 2.8 million copies between its publication in 1938 and 1965. It has been adapted numerous times for stage and screen, including a 1939 play by du Maurier herself, the film Rebecca (1940), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the 2020 remake directed by Ben Wheatley for Netflix.
The novel is remembered especially for the character Mrs. Danvers, the West Country estate Manderley, and its opening line: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."