Rebecca

The multi-million copy bestseller that has enthralled generations of readers. A haunting tale of obsessive love. A mesmerizing psychological thriller.

In Monte Carlo, our unnamed heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck.

It is only when they arrive at Manderley, her husband’s cavernous estate on the Cornish coast, that she realizes how vast a shadow his late wife, Rebecca, will cast over their lives—introducing a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their love from beyond the grave.

This universally acclaimed novel has remained consistently in print since its original publication in 1938 and has frequently been adapted—for television, radio, the theater, and film. Notable adaptations include the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film, which received the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the 2020 Netflix film starring Lily James and Armie Hammer.

“Excellent entertainment” —Stephen King

“Rebecca is one of the most haunting novels of our time, filled with razor-sharp tension, escalating dread, and a twist that chills to the bone”—Frieda McFadden, author of The Housemaid

• "Rebecca is one of the most haunting novels of our time, filled with razor-sharp tension, escalating dread, and a twist that chills to the bone.”
  Freida McFadden, author of THE HOUSEMAID
• “The relentlessness of a vivid nightmare.”
  Boston Herald
• “Du Maurier is in a class by herself.”
  The New York Times
• “Excellent. . . . Perfect. . . . Mastery from surprise to surprise.”
  Christian Science Monitor
• “A masterwork.”
  Houston Post
• “This chilling, suspenseful tale is as fresh and readable as it was when it was first written.”
  The Daily Telegraph
• “Addictive and breathtaking. Its blending of melodrama and subtlety is ingenious. The Cornish setting never quite leaves the imagination.”
  The Independent
• "Excellent entertainment... du Maurier created a scale by which modern women can measure their feelings."
  Stephen King
• "The characters are incredibly vivid, and the twists superb. It’s the book every writer wishes they’d written."
  Clare Mackintosh, author of I LET YOU GO
• “The moment I finished this story, I turned to page one and started it over again."
  Malorie Blackman, author of the NOUGHTS & CROSSES series
• “The greatest psychological thriller of all time.”
  Erin Kelly, author of THE POISON TREE
• “A stunning book.”
  Sarah Perry, author of THE ESSEX SERPENT
• “Rebecca is a masterpiece in which du Maurier pulls off several spectacular high-wire acts that many great writers wouldn't attempt.”
  The Guardian
• “One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century, Rebecca has woven its way into the fabric of our culture with all the troubling power of myth or dream. A stunning book.”
  Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith
• “The perfect story by the perfect storyteller”
  Joanna Cannon, author of THE TROUBLE WITH GOATS AND SHEEP
• “Rebecca [was the book that changed me]”
  Jessie Burton, author of THE MINIATURIST
• “Rebecca is one of my all-time favourites”
  Erin Morgenstern, author of THE STARLESS SEA
• “Will chill you as much as any thriller. I love it”
  Alice Slater, author of DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER
• “The book I’ve re-read the most as it’s perfect in every way. Characters, setting, pacing, plot, themes. A masterclass on how to write a book that reveals more of itself with every reading. It has to be my favourite book of all time”
  Araminta Hall, author of OUR KIND OF CRUELTY
• “I can’t think of another novel so achingly consumed by longing for a lost place made precious by all the young heroine went through there”
  Emma Donoghue, author of ROOM
• "A true classic . . . luxuriantly dark"
  Beth Underdown, author of THE WITCHFINDER'S SISTER
• “As a new generation of readers are introduced to the wicked housekeeper Mrs Danvers and learn Maxim de Winter's terrible secret, this chilling, suspenseful tale is as fresh and readable as it was when it was first written”
  The Daily Telegraph
• “Daphne du Maurier remains the indisputable queen of the sophisticated literary thriller”
  Laura Shepherd-Robinson, author of THE SQUARE OF SEVENS
• “[du Maurier's] masterpiece . . . Seldom has a dead woman exercised such power beyond the grave. Rebecca will live forever because du Maurier touches a fearful nerve, buried deep in the unconcious.”
  The Times
• “[du Maurier's] catalogue of novels and short stories is bursting with gothic gems. But Rebecca was my first and it's the one that haunts my imagination . . . the first time I read this novel I simply devoured it as a twisty, exciting treat. But the more you think about it, the richer it becomes. And the more disturbing.”
  Laura Purcell, author of THE SILENT COMPANIONS
• “Another brilliant opening line: ​‘Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.’ It’s that thing of unpicking something that can’t be gotten over…She’s so deviant. So fascinating. Every time that I read her, my sympathy lies with a different character.”
  Emerald Fennel, author of MONSTERS
• “'The moment I finished this story, I turned to page one and started it over again.”
  Malorie Blackman, author of NOUGHTS & CROSSES
• “A great gothic writer.”
  Kate Mosse, author of LABYRINTH
• “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again' is one of my two favourite opening lines from literature, and it immediately sets the tone for this gothic thriller. Unreliability abounds in this thriller . . . This is a masterclass of the genre. And naming your novel after a character dead for a year before it opens? Genius.”
  Sarah Pinborough, author of BEHIND HER EYES
• “I read lots of Daphne Du Maurier to try and work out how she does slow-burning menace, because she is the master of it.”
  Stacey Halls, author of THE FAMILIARS
• “[du Maurier] 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.”
  Olivia Laing, author of THE LONELY CITY
• "Brooding, dangerous and engrossing."
  Kit de Waal, author of MY NAME IS LEON
• “It is a dark, brooding psychological thriller, hauntingly beautiful, literature yes, but with a killer plot. I loved everything about it . . . this thriller is an exploration of power, of the men who have it and the women who don’t, and the secrets told to preserve it.”
  S. J. Watson, author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP