Kilbourn Public Library Book Club

The Kilbourn Public Library Book Club is reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for the October book selection.  Rebecca  was first published in 1938 and made Daphne du Maurier one of the most popular authors of the day.  This novel is considered by many critics as the finest Gothic romance of the 20th century.


Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.


So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past the beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast.  With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten...her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant, the sinister Mrs. Danvers---still loyal.

And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca...for the secrets of Manderley.


Du Maurier admitted that her heroine has no name because she could never think of an appropriate one--which in itself is a telling comment.  What effect does it have on the novel that the heroine has no first name?

What kind of character is Maxim de Winter, and why does a man of his stature fall in love with the young heroine?  What draws him to her?

What role does Mrs. Danvers play in this story--in her relationships to the characters (dead and alive) and also in relation to the suspense within the novel?

What are some of the other clues about Rebecca's true nature that the author carefully plants along the way?

How might the costume ball--and the heroine's appearance in Rebecca's gown--stand as a symbol for young Mrs. de Winter's situation at Manderley?

How do you view the destruction of Manderley?  Is it horrific....or freeing...or justified vengeance on Rebecca's part?  Would the de Winters have had a fulfilling life at Manderley had it not burned?


A perfect hauntingly suspenseful story for October!  Let us know what you think of Rebecca.