*Rebecca

bc rebecca

At first a seeming tale of Cinderella, but then you see the thorns in the glass slipper.  Moving up the economic ladder into the upper class is often fraught with anxiety by any newcomer, but in Victorian England it can be downright traumatic.  Our narrator is trying to navigate all the subtleties and nuances in this new world of manners and customs in a class she wasn’t born into and feeling that she will never be good enough.  The second Mrs. DeWinter, never given a first name in the novel, is amazed at her good fortune that this amazing man, Maxim DeWinter, picked her to love and be his wife.  But money never comes without a price to pay.

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”   The immortal first line of the book takes us back in time to Manderley, the fabled estate of Maxim DeWinter.  Mrs. DeWinter slowly  brings us down the long winding drive,  we glide slowly, as she describes the estate in elegant detail.

This is Victorian suspense at its finest.    It holds the readers interest with a subtle rhythm, a sing-song cadence, without the hyper-tension of today’s suspense novels.  As the story and mystery deepen, we begin to see this shy, awkward, young woman sink to the bottom of despair, but then rise, ever so slowly into her role as the second Mrs. DeWinter and eventually taking on Mrs. Danvers in the process.

Rebecca is not a fast read, classics take some time – and they deserve some time.   But, a classic engages our heart and our soul, it makes us reflect on what is and what should be.  All the wisdom of our world is in the classics, everything that has gone on before us.  Take the time and read a classic.

Rating: 8.5

 

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