book / 1938
Rebecca
A young wife enters Manderley and finds her marriage overshadowed by Rebecca, the dead first wife whose presence still controls the house.
Verified facts
- Author
- Daphne du Maurier
- Published
- 1938
- Language
- English
PlotGeeks explainer signals
Why read this explainer
The unnamed narrator knows Rebecca through other people's loyalties and Manderley's routines. Her insecurity shapes the account before Maxim changes it.
PlotGeeks note
Belonging at Manderley first means measuring up to a woman the narrator never knew. Maxim's revelation changes what acceptance within that marriage requires.
Connected knowledge
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- Part of Rebecca on screen
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- Compare with Rebecca (1940 film)
Compare what changes between the 1938 book and the 1940 film.
- Explore Memory
Remembering and forgetting affect what characters accept as evidence, how they experience loss, and the versions of the past they can live with.
- Explore Identity
Discovering or revealing an identity can change a character's relationships, status, or chances of survival.
Timeline
Major events
- The narrator marries Maxim and enters Manderley
She measures herself against the first wife whose household presence Mrs Danvers maintains.
- The costume ball deepens her insecurity
Danvers's advice leads her to reproduce Rebecca's earlier costume and horrifies Maxim.
- The recovered boat prompts Maxim's confession
The narrator learns that he killed Rebecca rather than losing her in an accident.
- Medical evidence ends the immediate threat of prosecution
The return from the inquiry brings the couple to a burning Manderley and their later exile.
Story in 60 Seconds
The short version
An unnamed young companion meets the widowed Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo, marries him, and moves to his estate, Manderley. There she struggles with unfamiliar expectations and the memory of Rebecca, his apparently accomplished first wife. Housekeeper Mrs Danvers preserves Rebecca's belongings and intimidates the newcomer, who assumes Maxim still loves the dead woman. A costume ball deepens her humiliation when Danvers recommends an outfit Rebecca once wore. Soon afterward, a grounded ship leads divers to Rebecca's sunken boat, reopening questions about the death Maxim had claimed to identify.
Spoiler sectionEnding ExplainedShow ending detailsHide ending details
Maxim admits that he shot Rebecca and sank her body in the boat. The narrator supports him, relieved that he did not love his first wife. A doctor's evidence that Rebecca had cancer and could not have been pregnant undermines the case against him by supporting a suicide explanation. Returning home after the inquiry, the couple find Manderley burning. The opening frame has already shown their later life away from it.
Original context
Why it matters
The narrator's relief exposes the marriage's priorities
Maxim's confession reassures her because it disproves his love for Rebecca. Her fear of being second matters more to her response than the admitted killing.
Key turning points
Rebecca's body is found in her boat
The discovery contradicts Maxim's earlier identification of another body and forces him to explain. The narrator's rivalry with a dead wife becomes involvement in a concealed crime.
Character links
Who connects to whom
Character motivations
Wanting Maxim's love shapes the account
The narrator's insecurity makes Rebecca seem an impossible ideal until Maxim speaks. Her desire to preserve their marriage then leads her to accept and support his version.
Adaptation
Book and film connection
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