From the opening sentence - "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again" - to the final - "And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea" - I was hooked ... Rebecca is one of the underrated classics of the 20th century ... Rebecca is a masterpiece in which du Maurier pulls off several spectacular high-wire acts that many great writers wouldn't attempt * Guardian * Her masterpiece . . . Seldom has a dead woman exercised such power beyond the grave. Rebecca will live for ever because du Maurier touches a fearful nerve, buried deep in the unconscious * The Times * It's the perfect winter book, brooding, dangerous and engrossing -- Kit de Waal * Sainsbury's Magazine * A mesmerising novel which reveals more on each reading It is the greatest psychological thriller of all time. I see du Maurier as a forerunner to Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, Gillian Flynn: she is the giant whose magnificent shoulders the rest of us stand upon What she did was build emotional landscapes that can be entered at will, in which difficult and untamable desires were given free rein. Maybe because of her relationship with gender, she was able to make worlds in which people and even houses are mysterious and mutable, not as they seem; haunted rooms in which disembodied spirits sometimes dance at absolute liberty * Guardian * I read this book more than twenty years ago, and must have read it a dozen times since. The characters are incredibly vivid, and the twists superb. It's the book every writer wishes they'd written -- Clare Mackintosh This 1930s gothic thriller is suspenseful and so well crafted. Its young, nameless heroine marries rich widower Maxim de Winter and returns with him to his mansion, Manderley, only to find the ghost of his first wife, Rebecca, still lingers * Good Housekeeping * Du Maurier builds suspense with psychological subtlety and Gothic flair . . . It is a timeless read with atmosphere to spare and just the right amount of dread * The i Paper *
