 REBECCA
by Daphne du Maurier
July is the month of the Romance Writers's of American's National Conference and this year it will be held in New York City. At that conference, the winner's of this year's Daphne du Maurier Contest will be announced. So let's get back to the classics. Daphne du Maurier novel, REBECCA.
Daphne du Maurier is the grandmother of today's romantic suspense. She was writing strong heroines in intense situations back in the 30's and 40's, when the idea of strong willed heroine–like Ellen Ripley of the movie ALIENS–was ... well alien.
In REBECCA, we have a story told through the eyes the second Mrs. de Winter, a heroine whose full appearance and first name are never revealed. And it works. du Maurier pulls this technique off flawlessly.
Rebecca was the first Mrs. de Winter, who drowned in a boating accident. When the new Mrs. De Winter comes home to the family's ancestral estate, she is faced with the lingering shadow of Rebecca everywhere she looks. Stationary in the drawer, a room that was never changed, with the clothes Rebecca planned to wear still laid out; and a staff of servants who refuse to accept their new employer: a mild mannered young girl who has no clue of the suspense and intrigue she has just walked into.
REBECCA is one of my all time favorite novels (also a great movie starring Laurence Oliver and Joan Fontaine), followed extremely closely by two other du Maurier books, THE FRENCHMAN'S CREEK and JAMAICA INN. All of them full of romance and intrigue. In short, they are all just great reads!
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