Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory of that first wife and who therefore resents the second or rather hates her so much she will try her best to crush her.
A timeless classic, a triumph... words can't do it justice.

Superb, 03 Jun 2008
I first read this spellbinding book about 25 years ago. I continue to read it every few years and still find it exciting, sad, scary in places and as dramatic as the first time. Unlike many others I am not a massive fan of the first chapter but, believe me, you are soon reeled in by the brilliance of the narrative. The story is ageless and I can't recommend it enough. I often get annoyed and find Mrs De Winter a bit spineless and Max de Winter a bit bossy and autocratic but Daphne du Maurier is such a good story teller that you gloss over her characters flaws and still find yourself caring about what happens to them. I often think it would be fascinating if we could have heard Rebecca's version of events written by du Maurier. Please give this book a go, it stays with you long after you have finished it.

Flawless!, 26 May 2008
There are so many great books out there but this is one of the best! Thrilling is the best word to describe this book buts not really enough! Every character is great and the story is among the best every written, if you've seen the film then you know how good it is but add an extra 20% of brilliance for the book! I want to meet Rebecca in the same way I want to meet Alexis Colby!

Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory of that first wife and who therefore resents the second or rather hates her so much she will try her best to crush her.
A timeless classic, a triumph... words can't do it justice.

Superb, 03 Jun 2008
I first read this spellbinding book about 25 years ago. I continue to read it every few years and still find it exciting, sad, scary in places and as dramatic as the first time. Unlike many others I am not a massive fan of the first chapter but, believe me, you are soon reeled in by the brilliance of the narrative. The story is ageless and I can't recommend it enough. I often get annoyed and find Mrs De Winter a bit spineless and Max de Winter a bit bossy and autocratic but Daphne du Maurier is such a good story teller that you gloss over her characters flaws and still find yourself caring about what happens to them. I often think it would be fascinating if we could have heard Rebecca's version of events written by du Maurier. Please give this book a go, it stays with you long after you have finished it.

Flawless!, 26 May 2008
There are so many great books out there but this is one of the best! Thrilling is the best word to describe this book buts not really enough! Every character is great and the story is among the best every written, if you've seen the film then you know how good it is but add an extra 20% of brilliance for the book! I want to meet Rebecca in the same way I want to meet Alexis Colby!

A very slow book, 19 Oct 2008
A very slow book to read, I did not like it very much but on the plus side, the author was very good at description - the windswept moor of Bodmin, the heavy rain but other than that it did not hold my interest.

Dark, rich and atmospheric!, 02 Oct 2008
This book lives up to expectations. It is a gothic tale based in Cornwall where the courage of the 'heroine' (Mary Yellan) is in constant battle with her dark surroundings - Jamaica Inn itself and the isolated moors with their treacherous bogs. There is a sense of panic and peril present throughout the book and you can easily relate to Mary's plight. She suffers terribly in the novel and parts of it seem like a nightmare race against time from which she cannot waken.
Du Maurier has created a heroine designed with a high commitment to morality. Even when she knows she has virtually no chance of success, she will still risk her life in an attempt to protect others more vulnerable than herself - the attempt matters more than the result!
Note though that the ending is not what we would expect in a more 'modern' story - it is an ending that is appropriate for the age when the book was written - bear that in mind when you read it and you won't be disappointed.

a book I really disliked!, 14 Jul 2008
This book doesn't resemble at all Rebecca or My cousin Rachel (which I liked); the atmosphere is oppressive and the heroin is always putting herself in danger deliberatly. (as if she had a death wish)
But then, she's attracted by the "hero" (if you can call that a hero) who again and again (at least, he's honest) tells her about all his defects, thaht he's no better than his brother (a real prince of a man, this one), that he's no good...and still she falls in love with him.
Why? I don't know.
But since there's a parallel between this couple and another couple (the aunt and uncle), the reader is meant to understand that she will have a harsh life at the very least...She obsviously chose a bad guy, and will pay it her whole life...most depressing book!

A really good book, 15 May 2008
I don't get that much time to read these days but I started this book this morning and the whole day has been a write-off because I couldn't put it down, which tells you how good a story it is. The family have had to sort themselves out! So curl up on the sofa and treat yourself to a good read.

WOW -- fabulous story, great suspense!, 13 Jan 2008
As this story opens, Mary Yellan's mother dies leaving this young adult on her own in a dangerous time. On her deathbed her mother tells her to go live with her Aunt Patience at an inn called Jamaica Inn near the Cornish coast (Corwall, England). Immediately upon arrival at Jamaica Inn she knows something is wrong since her once colorful Aunt Patience has turned into a simpering wimp and her Uncle Joss Merlyn is a towering cruel character with dubious past and present. Soon Mary learns about criminal activities surrounding Jamaica Inn and it's inhabitants. She is drawn into a mystery so intense and frightening that she'll brave the trecherous moors to escape.

This is one Daphne Du Maurier's best books. Don't miss this tale of twisted greed and terrible peril -- this is an EXCELLENT book that'll keep you up past your bedtime as you won't be able to put this book down! Buy it! This book earned itself a permanent place on my shelf!

Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory of that first wife and who therefore resents the second or rather hates her so much she will try her best to crush her.
A timeless classic, a triumph... words can't do it justice.

Superb, 03 Jun 2008
I first read this spellbinding book about 25 years ago. I continue to read it every few years and still find it exciting, sad, scary in places and as dramatic as the first time. Unlike many others I am not a massive fan of the first chapter but, believe me, you are soon reeled in by the brilliance of the narrative. The story is ageless and I can't recommend it enough. I often get annoyed and find Mrs De Winter a bit spineless and Max de Winter a bit bossy and autocratic but Daphne du Maurier is such a good story teller that you gloss over her characters flaws and still find yourself caring about what happens to them. I often think it would be fascinating if we could have heard Rebecca's version of events written by du Maurier. Please give this book a go, it stays with you long after you have finished it.

Flawless!, 26 May 2008
There are so many great books out there but this is one of the best! Thrilling is the best word to describe this book buts not really enough! Every character is great and the story is among the best every written, if you've seen the film then you know how good it is but add an extra 20% of brilliance for the book! I want to meet Rebecca in the same way I want to meet Alexis Colby!

A very slow book, 19 Oct 2008
A very slow book to read, I did not like it very much but on the plus side, the author was very good at description - the windswept moor of Bodmin, the heavy rain but other than that it did not hold my interest.

Dark, rich and atmospheric!, 02 Oct 2008
This book lives up to expectations. It is a gothic tale based in Cornwall where the courage of the 'heroine' (Mary Yellan) is in constant battle with her dark surroundings - Jamaica Inn itself and the isolated moors with their treacherous bogs. There is a sense of panic and peril present throughout the book and you can easily relate to Mary's plight. She suffers terribly in the novel and parts of it seem like a nightmare race against time from which she cannot waken.
Du Maurier has created a heroine designed with a high commitment to morality. Even when she knows she has virtually no chance of success, she will still risk her life in an attempt to protect others more vulnerable than herself - the attempt matters more than the result!
Note though that the ending is not what we would expect in a more 'modern' story - it is an ending that is appropriate for the age when the book was written - bear that in mind when you read it and you won't be disappointed.

a book I really disliked!, 14 Jul 2008
This book doesn't resemble at all Rebecca or My cousin Rachel (which I liked); the atmosphere is oppressive and the heroin is always putting herself in danger deliberatly. (as if she had a death wish)
But then, she's attracted by the "hero" (if you can call that a hero) who again and again (at least, he's honest) tells her about all his defects, thaht he's no better than his brother (a real prince of a man, this one), that he's no good...and still she falls in love with him.
Why? I don't know.
But since there's a parallel between this couple and another couple (the aunt and uncle), the reader is meant to understand that she will have a harsh life at the very least...She obsviously chose a bad guy, and will pay it her whole life...most depressing book!

A really good book, 15 May 2008
I don't get that much time to read these days but I started this book this morning and the whole day has been a write-off because I couldn't put it down, which tells you how good a story it is. The family have had to sort themselves out! So curl up on the sofa and treat yourself to a good read.

WOW -- fabulous story, great suspense!, 13 Jan 2008
As this story opens, Mary Yellan's mother dies leaving this young adult on her own in a dangerous time. On her deathbed her mother tells her to go live with her Aunt Patience at an inn called Jamaica Inn near the Cornish coast (Corwall, England). Immediately upon arrival at Jamaica Inn she knows something is wrong since her once colorful Aunt Patience has turned into a simpering wimp and her Uncle Joss Merlyn is a towering cruel character with dubious past and present. Soon Mary learns about criminal activities surrounding Jamaica Inn and it's inhabitants. She is drawn into a mystery so intense and frightening that she'll brave the trecherous moors to escape.

This is one Daphne Du Maurier's best books. Don't miss this tale of twisted greed and terrible peril -- this is an EXCELLENT book that'll keep you up past your bedtime as you won't be able to put this book down! Buy it! This book earned itself a permanent place on my shelf!


Excellent, 25 Nov 2008
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is my favourite book so I am always a bit anxious when I read anything else by her although I loved My Cousin Rachel.
I have to say that I was not disappointed, unfortunately I hurt my back last week so was forced into a very upright chair with a bag of frozen peas to ease the pain; I couldn't really do much but read and this book was perfect for such an occasion. Once I had started reading I could not put it down and it was finished within two days.
The main character is Lady Dona St Columb- she is beautiful and rebellious and in search of an escape from the courtly life which she has to share with her odious husband. She takes leave to Navron House; the family estate in Cornwall, leaving her husband and her other persona behind. At first Dona is content in enjoying the solitude and playing with her children. Yet everything changes when she accidentally comes across a sailing ship anchored in the hidden creek on the estate; this leads her to an encounter with the enigmatic Captain Jean Aubrey. As the two become close she involves herself in a dangerous plot to steal another ship- exactly the kind of excitement she had been yearning for.
Daphne Du Maurier does what she does best with this book and challenges the reader. On face-value this book could seem like a very typical romance with the lady of the manor falling for the mysterious, dangerous man that she knows full well she should really avoid. However, there is more to it than that; I really struggled with my opinion of Dona throughout the book. Initially I was pleased that she had escaped her annoying husband and then excited when she meets her match in Jean Aubrey but then you are led to question whether she should really have just left her children just so she could go on an adventure. So towards the last few chapters I found myself disliking her a little as I saw her to be selfish yet I still wanted her to have a happy ending. For me though this is what I love about the author; she raises so many issues with such clever subtlety that you know when you have finished that it was not just some soppy romance novel but that you will be thinking about it long after you have turned the last page.


Couldn't put it down, 15 May 2008
This is a really enjoyable read. The characters and the storyline get you hooked immediately. I read it years ago and recently read it for a second time and found that second time around I still couldn't put it down until I had finished it. Luckily I had forgotten the ending!

"All the restless devils within me are appeased", 09 Apr 2008
A fantastic version. I fell in love with the story when I heard the first episode on the radio and rushed out to buy the book.

Not everyone will like it but for those whose sense of romance is too little excited this is an excellent find.

It has a fab score too!

Beautifully written escapism, 03 Dec 2007
A holiday in Cornwall would not be complete without a Du Maurier to read. I have just reread this one many years after I first enjoyed it, and I still loved it.
Dona St Columb is a spoilt aristocratic lady who is married to a man that she doesn't care for. She has indulged in wilder and wilder pranks in order to keep boredom at bay, becoming the talk of London in the process. At the opening of the story, she has finally become disgusted and ashamed of her behaviour and is fleeing with her children to her husband's remote Cornish estate. There she finds the freedom, and adventure that she has craved when a French pirate ship is moored in the creek below her house. As ever, Du Maurier's descriptions of Cornwall are beautiful, and so wonderfully evocative. The opening passage, where a modern day holiday maker ventures a little way down the mysterious and silent creek in his boat is a perfect taster for what is to come. As one other reviewer has mentioned, Du Maurier obviously wasn't striving for realism in this story. But if you are going to write about a romance between a pirate and a lady, you might as well let yourself go - which she has done most enjoyably.


Great writing, but a tad far-fetched..., 10 Jul 2007
I read Frenchman's Creek with my book club, hence the fact that I seem to be twice as old as all the other reviewers on this page! It's the first Daphne Du Maurier novel I've read (don't ask me how I've managed to get to 32 without reading Rebecca...) and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

The novel is a bit slow to build up, but once the titular Frenchman appears, the pace really picks up. Du Maurier has plenty of range as a writer and her descriptions of the Cornish coastline and wildlife are as assured as her action scenes. Her characters are strong and well-defined, and the heroine is as feisty as you could wish for.

While the characters themselves are always believable (particularly Dona's changing attitude to the Frenchman and to her husband and his friend Rockingham), the plot really isn't. The crew of La Mouette readily accept the aristocratic Dona both as one of them and their captain's mistress, before taking her off pirating with them leaving her small children behind; meanwhile, her servants back home apparently accept the story that she's in bed with a fever, tended only by the faithful servant William. And of course she has only to tuck her ringlets into a scarf to have everyone believe she's a boy.

However, if you can suspend your disbelief, there is plenty for the grown-ups too - Du Maurier's handling of Dona's motivations and inner life is convincing and the novel's themes of escape and the rival claims of high-flown passion and daily life are as relevant to any of us as they are to Restoration-era pirates.

I was left wondering why a skillful writer like Du Maurier had chosen such a frankly daft plot, but I suppose there's something there to appeal to the teenager in all of us.

Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory of that first wife and who therefore resents the second or rather hates her so much she will try her best to crush her.
A timeless classic, a triumph... words can't do it justice.

Superb, 03 Jun 2008
I first read this spellbinding book about 25 years ago. I continue to read it every few years and still find it exciting, sad, scary in places and as dramatic as the first time. Unlike many others I am not a massive fan of the first chapter but, believe me, you are soon reeled in by the brilliance of the narrative. The story is ageless and I can't recommend it enough. I often get annoyed and find Mrs De Winter a bit spineless and Max de Winter a bit bossy and autocratic but Daphne du Maurier is such a good story teller that you gloss over her characters flaws and still find yourself caring about what happens to them. I often think it would be fascinating if we could have heard Rebecca's version of events written by du Maurier. Please give this book a go, it stays with you long after you have finished it.

Flawless!, 26 May 2008
There are so many great books out there but this is one of the best! Thrilling is the best word to describe this book buts not really enough! Every character is great and the story is among the best every written, if you've seen the film then you know how good it is but add an extra 20% of brilliance for the book! I want to meet Rebecca in the same way I want to meet Alexis Colby!

A very slow book, 19 Oct 2008
A very slow book to read, I did not like it very much but on the plus side, the author was very good at description - the windswept moor of Bodmin, the heavy rain but other than that it did not hold my interest.

Dark, rich and atmospheric!, 02 Oct 2008
This book lives up to expectations. It is a gothic tale based in Cornwall where the courage of the 'heroine' (Mary Yellan) is in constant battle with her dark surroundings - Jamaica Inn itself and the isolated moors with their treacherous bogs. There is a sense of panic and peril present throughout the book and you can easily relate to Mary's plight. She suffers terribly in the novel and parts of it seem like a nightmare race against time from which she cannot waken.
Du Maurier has created a heroine designed with a high commitment to morality. Even when she knows she has virtually no chance of success, she will still risk her life in an attempt to protect others more vulnerable than herself - the attempt matters more than the result!
Note though that the ending is not what we would expect in a more 'modern' story - it is an ending that is appropriate for the age when the book was written - bear that in mind when you read it and you won't be disappointed.

a book I really disliked!, 14 Jul 2008
This book doesn't resemble at all Rebecca or My cousin Rachel (which I liked); the atmosphere is oppressive and the heroin is always putting herself in danger deliberatly. (as if she had a death wish)
But then, she's attracted by the "hero" (if you can call that a hero) who again and again (at least, he's honest) tells her about all his defects, thaht he's no better than his brother (a real prince of a man, this one), that he's no good...and still she falls in love with him.
Why? I don't know.
But since there's a parallel between this couple and another couple (the aunt and uncle), the reader is meant to understand that she will have a harsh life at the very least...She obsviously chose a bad guy, and will pay it her whole life...most depressing book!

A really good book, 15 May 2008
I don't get that much time to read these days but I started this book this morning and the whole day has been a write-off because I couldn't put it down, which tells you how good a story it is. The family have had to sort themselves out! So curl up on the sofa and treat yourself to a good read.

WOW -- fabulous story, great suspense!, 13 Jan 2008
As this story opens, Mary Yellan's mother dies leaving this young adult on her own in a dangerous time. On her deathbed her mother tells her to go live with her Aunt Patience at an inn called Jamaica Inn near the Cornish coast (Corwall, England). Immediately upon arrival at Jamaica Inn she knows something is wrong since her once colorful Aunt Patience has turned into a simpering wimp and her Uncle Joss Merlyn is a towering cruel character with dubious past and present. Soon Mary learns about criminal activities surrounding Jamaica Inn and it's inhabitants. She is drawn into a mystery so intense and frightening that she'll brave the trecherous moors to escape.

This is one Daphne Du Maurier's best books. Don't miss this tale of twisted greed and terrible peril -- this is an EXCELLENT book that'll keep you up past your bedtime as you won't be able to put this book down! Buy it! This book earned itself a permanent place on my shelf!


Excellent, 25 Nov 2008
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is my favourite book so I am always a bit anxious when I read anything else by her although I loved My Cousin Rachel.
I have to say that I was not disappointed, unfortunately I hurt my back last week so was forced into a very upright chair with a bag of frozen peas to ease the pain; I couldn't really do much but read and this book was perfect for such an occasion. Once I had started reading I could not put it down and it was finished within two days.
The main character is Lady Dona St Columb- she is beautiful and rebellious and in search of an escape from the courtly life which she has to share with her odious husband. She takes leave to Navron House; the family estate in Cornwall, leaving her husband and her other persona behind. At first Dona is content in enjoying the solitude and playing with her children. Yet everything changes when she accidentally comes across a sailing ship anchored in the hidden creek on the estate; this leads her to an encounter with the enigmatic Captain Jean Aubrey. As the two become close she involves herself in a dangerous plot to steal another ship- exactly the kind of excitement she had been yearning for.
Daphne Du Maurier does what she does best with this book and challenges the reader. On face-value this book could seem like a very typical romance with the lady of the manor falling for the mysterious, dangerous man that she knows full well she should really avoid. However, there is more to it than that; I really struggled with my opinion of Dona throughout the book. Initially I was pleased that she had escaped her annoying husband and then excited when she meets her match in Jean Aubrey but then you are led to question whether she should really have just left her children just so she could go on an adventure. So towards the last few chapters I found myself disliking her a little as I saw her to be selfish yet I still wanted her to have a happy ending. For me though this is what I love about the author; she raises so many issues with such clever subtlety that you know when you have finished that it was not just some soppy romance novel but that you will be thinking about it long after you have turned the last page.


Couldn't put it down, 15 May 2008
This is a really enjoyable read. The characters and the storyline get you hooked immediately. I read it years ago and recently read it for a second time and found that second time around I still couldn't put it down until I had finished it. Luckily I had forgotten the ending!

"All the restless devils within me are appeased", 09 Apr 2008
A fantastic version. I fell in love with the story when I heard the first episode on the radio and rushed out to buy the book.

Not everyone will like it but for those whose sense of romance is too little excited this is an excellent find.

It has a fab score too!

Beautifully written escapism, 03 Dec 2007
A holiday in Cornwall would not be complete without a Du Maurier to read. I have just reread this one many years after I first enjoyed it, and I still loved it.
Dona St Columb is a spoilt aristocratic lady who is married to a man that she doesn't care for. She has indulged in wilder and wilder pranks in order to keep boredom at bay, becoming the talk of London in the process. At the opening of the story, she has finally become disgusted and ashamed of her behaviour and is fleeing with her children to her husband's remote Cornish estate. There she finds the freedom, and adventure that she has craved when a French pirate ship is moored in the creek below her house. As ever, Du Maurier's descriptions of Cornwall are beautiful, and so wonderfully evocative. The opening passage, where a modern day holiday maker ventures a little way down the mysterious and silent creek in his boat is a perfect taster for what is to come. As one other reviewer has mentioned, Du Maurier obviously wasn't striving for realism in this story. But if you are going to write about a romance between a pirate and a lady, you might as well let yourself go - which she has done most enjoyably.


Great writing, but a tad far-fetched..., 10 Jul 2007
I read Frenchman's Creek with my book club, hence the fact that I seem to be twice as old as all the other reviewers on this page! It's the first Daphne Du Maurier novel I've read (don't ask me how I've managed to get to 32 without reading Rebecca...) and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

The novel is a bit slow to build up, but once the titular Frenchman appears, the pace really picks up. Du Maurier has plenty of range as a writer and her descriptions of the Cornish coastline and wildlife are as assured as her action scenes. Her characters are strong and well-defined, and the heroine is as feisty as you could wish for.

While the characters themselves are always believable (particularly Dona's changing attitude to the Frenchman and to her husband and his friend Rockingham), the plot really isn't. The crew of La Mouette readily accept the aristocratic Dona both as one of them and their captain's mistress, before taking her off pirating with them leaving her small children behind; meanwhile, her servants back home apparently accept the story that she's in bed with a fever, tended only by the faithful servant William. And of course she has only to tuck her ringlets into a scarf to have everyone believe she's a boy.

However, if you can suspend your disbelief, there is plenty for the grown-ups too - Du Maurier's handling of Dona's motivations and inner life is convincing and the novel's themes of escape and the rival claims of high-flown passion and daily life are as relevant to any of us as they are to Restoration-era pirates.

I was left wondering why a skillful writer like Du Maurier had chosen such a frankly daft plot, but I suppose there's something there to appeal to the teenager in all of us.

Brooding, intriguing and very slippery..., 03 Nov 2008

This is classic du Maurier, closer to Rebecca (Rebecca (Virago modern classics) ), than some of the more adventurous yarns (Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek (Virago Modern Classics) ).
24 year old Philip Ashley grows up in an isolated Cornish house with his cousin Ambrose who is both Oedipal father and uncle to the boy. But Ambrose is forced to leave for Italy and marries the enigmatic Rachel, half English and half Italian, and then dies under her care, having sent some intriguing letters to Philip, hinting at sexual intrigue, financial shenanigans and poisoning...

Rachel comes to Cornwall and it appears that history is about to repeat itself, with Philip replacing his father figure (in true Oedipal mode!), but who is Rachel ultimately? Is she the sweet, charming, playful and mischievous woman that Philip falls passionately and obsessively in love with? Or is she the cold, manipulative woman others think her to be, out for financial gain and a murderess to boot?

Like Rebecca, this is a very slippery narrative that can always be read in multiple ways, and which insists on offering a story different from the one which the narrator tells. Like the landscape it describes, this is bleak, brooding, lush and chilling and is definitely a text to be re-read.


Did she or didn't she?, 26 Oct 2008
That is the question that will keep readers on the edge of their seat until final twist on the very last pages. Phillip Ashley was orphaned at a young age and raised in 19C Cornwall by his older cousin Ambrose. Health issues force Ambrose to spend time in warmer climates and he meets and marries a distant cousin Rachel, the widowed Countess Sangaletti. A cryptic note arrives from Ambrose hinting at being poisoned and Phillip heads to Florence to find Ambrose dead of a brain tumor (so the doctors say.....) and Rachel disappeared, with Rainaldi her close friend and "financial advisor" handling her affairs.

Phillip heads home and as rightful heir takes over running the family estate, but constantly broods on his hatred of Rachel and builds an image of her that is completely different when he comes face to face with her. Instead of the murdering she-devil he's built up in his mind, Phillip doesn't quite know what to make of this tiny, elegant and very enigmatic cousin of his. Rachel weaves herself into the lives of Phillip making herself indispensable to the household until Phillip finally finds himself in love with her and forgets his prior suspicions. Phillip realizes his majority at his 25th birthday and he presents Rachel with what Ambrose would have willed to her if he had lived long enough to sign a new will. At that point everything changes between Rachel and Phillip and .........

Well I'm not going to tell you, read it for yourself. This was a fabulous read that had me gripped from the very first page and kept me guessing until the very end (actually she still keeps you guessing but you have to read it for yourself to find out why). There's a good reason Du Maurier is considered the master of romantic suspense. Highly highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

Disappointing after Rebecca & Frenchman's Creek, 03 Apr 2008
I had this book bought for me for Christmas, and when I opened it I was looking forward to reading it, particularly after having read Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek and Rebecca of which I thoroughlly enjoyed and the build up having held my attention throughout.

However, I was expecting the same kind of process to happen. I felt this build up as I was reading the book, and when I got to the end I found it a bit of an anti-climax.

I have to say that it has put me off reading her books again because I would like to read more, but it has left me thinking twice before spending the money.

Excellent, 30 Sep 2007
I totally disagree with the last reviewer. No twist in the tale? a straightforward story?
I wonder if we have been reading the same book?
The way I understand it, the whole point of this book IS in its ending and its 'twist in the tale', which throws all your expectations up in the air, and leaves you at the end with a feeling of 'was she bad? Or was she good? Who was right and who was wrong?" It is the cleverness of Daphne du Maurier that it turns the whole story on its head and makes you reasess it at the end.
I personally found it much better than Rebecca which I think is a bit overrated.

Disappointing only because I expected so much more, 10 Aug 2007
I really REALLY enjoyed "Rebecca" and "The King's General" so I had very great expectations of this one. In some ways I do agree with previous reviewers in that it is written beautifully, Du Maurier has a wonderful gift of being able to build up an intense atmosphere by describing her characters so well, and this book is no exception. However, I was disappointed with the plot - I had expected a twist at the end, and I do like to be surprised, but it was quite a straightforward story, and i could anticipate the ending well before I got there. I certainly do not agree with the reviewer who described the ending as "shocking"!

A good book, certainly do read it if you liked other Du Maurier books, but I don't think it is one of her best, hence I only gave it three stars. If it had been written by anyone else I would have given it more.

Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory of that first wife and who therefore resents the second or rather hates her so much she will try her best to crush her.
A timeless classic, a triumph... words can't do it justice.

Superb, 03 Jun 2008
I first read this spellbinding book about 25 years ago. I continue to read it every few years and still find it exciting, sad, scary in places and as dramatic as the first time. Unlike many others I am not a massive fan of the first chapter but, believe me, you are soon reeled in by the brilliance of the narrative. The story is ageless and I can't recommend it enough. I often get annoyed and find Mrs De Winter a bit spineless and Max de Winter a bit bossy and autocratic but Daphne du Maurier is such a good story teller that you gloss over her characters flaws and still find yourself caring about what happens to them. I often think it would be fascinating if we could have heard Rebecca's version of events written by du Maurier. Please give this book a go, it stays with you long after you have finished it.

Flawless!, 26 May 2008
There are so many great books out there but this is one of the best! Thrilling is the best word to describe this book buts not really enough! Every character is great and the story is among the best every written, if you've seen the film then you know how good it is but add an extra 20% of brilliance for the book! I want to meet Rebecca in the same way I want to meet Alexis Colby!

A very slow book, 19 Oct 2008
A very slow book to read, I did not like it very much but on the plus side, the author was very good at description - the windswept moor of Bodmin, the heavy rain but other than that it did not hold my interest.

Dark, rich and atmospheric!, 02 Oct 2008
This book lives up to expectations. It is a gothic tale based in Cornwall where the courage of the 'heroine' (Mary Yellan) is in constant battle with her dark surroundings - Jamaica Inn itself and the isolated moors with their treacherous bogs. There is a sense of panic and peril present throughout the book and you can easily relate to Mary's plight. She suffers terribly in the novel and parts of it seem like a nightmare race against time from which she cannot waken.
Du Maurier has created a heroine designed with a high commitment to morality. Even when she knows she has virtually no chance of success, she will still risk her life in an attempt to protect others more vulnerable than herself - the attempt matters more than the result!
Note though that the ending is not what we would expect in a more 'modern' story - it is an ending that is appropriate for the age when the book was written - bear that in mind when you read it and you won't be disappointed.

a book I really disliked!, 14 Jul 2008
This book doesn't resemble at all Rebecca or My cousin Rachel (which I liked); the atmosphere is oppressive and the heroin is always putting herself in danger deliberatly. (as if she had a death wish)
But then, she's attracted by the "hero" (if you can call that a hero) who again and again (at least, he's honest) tells her about all his defects, thaht he's no better than his brother (a real prince of a man, this one), that he's no good...and still she falls in love with him.
Why? I don't know.
But since there's a parallel between this couple and another couple (the aunt and uncle), the reader is meant to understand that she will have a harsh life at the very least...She obsviously chose a bad guy, and will pay it her whole life...most depressing book!

A really good book, 15 May 2008
I don't get that much time to read these days but I started this book this morning and the whole day has been a write-off because I couldn't put it down, which tells you how good a story it is. The family have had to sort themselves out! So curl up on the sofa and treat yourself to a good read.

WOW -- fabulous story, great suspense!, 13 Jan 2008
As this story opens, Mary Yellan's mother dies leaving this young adult on her own in a dangerous time. On her deathbed her mother tells her to go live with her Aunt Patience at an inn called Jamaica Inn near the Cornish coast (Corwall, England). Immediately upon arrival at Jamaica Inn she knows something is wrong since her once colorful Aunt Patience has turned into a simpering wimp and her Uncle Joss Merlyn is a towering cruel character with dubious past and present. Soon Mary learns about criminal activities surrounding Jamaica Inn and it's inhabitants. She is drawn into a mystery so intense and frightening that she'll brave the trecherous moors to escape.

This is one Daphne Du Maurier's best books. Don't miss this tale of twisted greed and terrible peril -- this is an EXCELLENT book that'll keep you up past your bedtime as you won't be able to put this book down! Buy it! This book earned itself a permanent place on my shelf!


Excellent, 25 Nov 2008
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is my favourite book so I am always a bit anxious when I read anything else by her although I loved My Cousin Rachel.
I have to say that I was not disappointed, unfortunately I hurt my back last week so was forced into a very upright chair with a bag of frozen peas to ease the pain; I couldn't really do much but read and this book was perfect for such an occasion. Once I had started reading I could not put it down and it was finished within two days.
The main character is Lady Dona St Columb- she is beautiful and rebellious and in search of an escape from the courtly life which she has to share with her odious husband. She takes leave to Navron House; the family estate in Cornwall, leaving her husband and her other persona behind. At first Dona is content in enjoying the solitude and playing with her children. Yet everything changes when she accidentally comes across a sailing ship anchored in the hidden creek on the estate; this leads her to an encounter with the enigmatic Captain Jean Aubrey. As the two become close she involves herself in a dangerous plot to steal another ship- exactly the kind of excitement she had been yearning for.
Daphne Du Maurier does what she does best with this book and challenges the reader. On face-value this book could seem like a very typical romance with the lady of the manor falling for the mysterious, dangerous man that she knows full well she should really avoid. However, there is more to it than that; I really struggled with my opinion of Dona throughout the book. Initially I was pleased that she had escaped her annoying husband and then excited when she meets her match in Jean Aubrey but then you are led to question whether she should really have just left her children just so she could go on an adventure. So towards the last few chapters I found myself disliking her a little as I saw her to be selfish yet I still wanted her to have a happy ending. For me though this is what I love about the author; she raises so many issues with such clever subtlety that you know when you have finished that it was not just some soppy romance novel but that you will be thinking about it long after you have turned the last page.


Couldn't put it down, 15 May 2008
This is a really enjoyable read. The characters and the storyline get you hooked immediately. I read it years ago and recently read it for a second time and found that second time around I still couldn't put it down until I had finished it. Luckily I had forgotten the ending!

"All the restless devils within me are appeased", 09 Apr 2008
A fantastic version. I fell in love with the story when I heard the first episode on the radio and rushed out to buy the book.

Not everyone will like it but for those whose sense of romance is too little excited this is an excellent find.

It has a fab score too!

Beautifully written escapism, 03 Dec 2007
A holiday in Cornwall would not be complete without a Du Maurier to read. I have just reread this one many years after I first enjoyed it, and I still loved it.
Dona St Columb is a spoilt aristocratic lady who is married to a man that she doesn't care for. She has indulged in wilder and wilder pranks in order to keep boredom at bay, becoming the talk of London in the process. At the opening of the story, she has finally become disgusted and ashamed of her behaviour and is fleeing with her children to her husband's remote Cornish estate. There she finds the freedom, and adventure that she has craved when a French pirate ship is moored in the creek below her house. As ever, Du Maurier's descriptions of Cornwall are beautiful, and so wonderfully evocative. The opening passage, where a modern day holiday maker ventures a little way down the mysterious and silent creek in his boat is a perfect taster for what is to come. As one other reviewer has mentioned, Du Maurier obviously wasn't striving for realism in this story. But if you are going to write about a romance between a pirate and a lady, you might as well let yourself go - which she has done most enjoyably.


Great writing, but a tad far-fetched..., 10 Jul 2007
I read Frenchman's Creek with my book club, hence the fact that I seem to be twice as old as all the other reviewers on this page! It's the first Daphne Du Maurier novel I've read (don't ask me how I've managed to get to 32 without reading Rebecca...) and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

The novel is a bit slow to build up, but once the titular Frenchman appears, the pace really picks up. Du Maurier has plenty of range as a writer and her descriptions of the Cornish coastline and wildlife are as assured as her action scenes. Her characters are strong and well-defined, and the heroine is as feisty as you could wish for.

While the characters themselves are always believable (particularly Dona's changing attitude to the Frenchman and to her husband and his friend Rockingham), the plot really isn't. The crew of La Mouette readily accept the aristocratic Dona both as one of them and their captain's mistress, before taking her off pirating with them leaving her small children behind; meanwhile, her servants back home apparently accept the story that she's in bed with a fever, tended only by the faithful servant William. And of course she has only to tuck her ringlets into a scarf to have everyone believe she's a boy.

However, if you can suspend your disbelief, there is plenty for the grown-ups too - Du Maurier's handling of Dona's motivations and inner life is convincing and the novel's themes of escape and the rival claims of high-flown passion and daily life are as relevant to any of us as they are to Restoration-era pirates.

I was left wondering why a skillful writer like Du Maurier had chosen such a frankly daft plot, but I suppose there's something there to appeal to the teenager in all of us.

Brooding, intriguing and very slippery..., 03 Nov 2008

This is classic du Maurier, closer to Rebecca (Rebecca (Virago modern classics) ), than some of the more adventurous yarns (Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek (Virago Modern Classics) ).
24 year old Philip Ashley grows up in an isolated Cornish house with his cousin Ambrose who is both Oedipal father and uncle to the boy. But Ambrose is forced to leave for Italy and marries the enigmatic Rachel, half English and half Italian, and then dies under her care, having sent some intriguing letters to Philip, hinting at sexual intrigue, financial shenanigans and poisoning...

Rachel comes to Cornwall and it appears that history is about to repeat itself, with Philip replacing his father figure (in true Oedipal mode!), but who is Rachel ultimately? Is she the sweet, charming, playful and mischievous woman that Philip falls passionately and obsessively in love with? Or is she the cold, manipulative woman others think her to be, out for financial gain and a murderess to boot?

Like Rebecca, this is a very slippery narrative that can always be read in multiple ways, and which insists on offering a story different from the one which the narrator tells. Like the landscape it describes, this is bleak, brooding, lush and chilling and is definitely a text to be re-read.


Did she or didn't she?, 26 Oct 2008
That is the question that will keep readers on the edge of their seat until final twist on the very last pages. Phillip Ashley was orphaned at a young age and raised in 19C Cornwall by his older cousin Ambrose. Health issues force Ambrose to spend time in warmer climates and he meets and marries a distant cousin Rachel, the widowed Countess Sangaletti. A cryptic note arrives from Ambrose hinting at being poisoned and Phillip heads to Florence to find Ambrose dead of a brain tumor (so the doctors say.....) and Rachel disappeared, with Rainaldi her close friend and "financial advisor" handling her affairs.

Phillip heads home and as rightful heir takes over running the family estate, but constantly broods on his hatred of Rachel and builds an image of her that is completely different when he comes face to face with her. Instead of the murdering she-devil he's built up in his mind, Phillip doesn't quite know what to make of this tiny, elegant and very enigmatic cousin of his. Rachel weaves herself into the lives of Phillip making herself indispensable to the household until Phillip finally finds himself in love with her and forgets his prior suspicions. Phillip realizes his majority at his 25th birthday and he presents Rachel with what Ambrose would have willed to her if he had lived long enough to sign a new will. At that point everything changes between Rachel and Phillip and .........

Well I'm not going to tell you, read it for yourself. This was a fabulous read that had me gripped from the very first page and kept me guessing until the very end (actually she still keeps you guessing but you have to read it for yourself to find out why). There's a good reason Du Maurier is considered the master of romantic suspense. Highly highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

Disappointing after Rebecca & Frenchman's Creek, 03 Apr 2008
I had this book bought for me for Christmas, and when I opened it I was looking forward to reading it, particularly after having read Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek and Rebecca of which I thoroughlly enjoyed and the build up having held my attention throughout.

However, I was expecting the same kind of process to happen. I felt this build up as I was reading the book, and when I got to the end I found it a bit of an anti-climax.

I have to say that it has put me off reading her books again because I would like to read more, but it has left me thinking twice before spending the money.

Excellent, 30 Sep 2007
I totally disagree with the last reviewer. No twist in the tale? a straightforward story?
I wonder if we have been reading the same book?
The way I understand it, the whole point of this book IS in its ending and its 'twist in the tale', which throws all your expectations up in the air, and leaves you at the end with a feeling of 'was she bad? Or was she good? Who was right and who was wrong?" It is the cleverness of Daphne du Maurier that it turns the whole story on its head and makes you reasess it at the end.
I personally found it much better than Rebecca which I think is a bit overrated.

Disappointing only because I expected so much more, 10 Aug 2007
I really REALLY enjoyed "Rebecca" and "The King's General" so I had very great expectations of this one. In some ways I do agree with previous reviewers in that it is written beautifully, Du Maurier has a wonderful gift of being able to build up an intense atmosphere by describing her characters so well, and this book is no exception. However, I was disappointed with the plot - I had expected a twist at the end, and I do like to be surprised, but it was quite a straightforward story, and i could anticipate the ending well before I got there. I certainly do not agree with the reviewer who described the ending as "shocking"!

A good book, certainly do read it if you liked other Du Maurier books, but I don't think it is one of her best, hence I only gave it three stars. If it had been written by anyone else I would have given it more.

Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier, 21 Feb 2006
I have read all the short stories as part of a project i'm doing on my media course at college, my favourite story has got to be don't look now. Don’t Look now is a really good read, you would not think that a short story could make you feel such emotions. I must admit I was scared for a few days. I think this would be an excellent book to make into a three part drama series. It has really got me thinking about what changes I would make to the story. Immediately I think of film noir when I think of the storylines simple plot, although in my adaptation of the novel the plot will be more convoluting. I have read the book and wouldn’t mind seeing the movie, I went to my local library but they do not have the film. I think I will order it off the internet. I have heard that the story is going to be made into a Hollywood film, can’t wait to see it.

Mysterious and brain teasing, 05 Jul 2001
The stories in the book are contrasting yet similar. They all end in an unfinished wondering way yet their content is extremely different. I particularly enjoyed the first story 'dont look now' even though it is somewhat fightening. THe story of the trip to Jerusalem was good and i particularly liked Robin as he reminded me of myself at that age though not quite as intelligent! Thois book made me think and another short story book by Du Maurier i can recommend is The rendevous and other stories.

Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory of that first wife and who therefore resents the second or rather hates her so much she will try her best to crush her.
A timeless classic, a triumph... words can't do it justice.

Superb, 03 Jun 2008
I first read this spellbinding book about 25 years ago. I continue to read it every few years and still find it exciting, sad, scary in places and as dramatic as the first time. Unlike many others I am not a massive fan of the first chapter but, believe me, you are soon reeled in by the brilliance of the narrative. The story is ageless and I can't recommend it enough. I often get annoyed and find Mrs De Winter a bit spineless and Max de Winter a bit bossy and autocratic but Daphne du Maurier is such a good story teller that you gloss over her characters flaws and still find yourself caring about what happens to them. I often think it would be fascinating if we could have heard Rebecca's version of events written by du Maurier. Please give this book a go, it stays with you long after you have finished it.

Flawless!, 26 May 2008
There are so many great books out there but this is one of the best! Thrilling is the best word to describe this book buts not really enough! Every character is great and the story is among the best every written, if you've seen the film then you know how good it is but add an extra 20% of brilliance for the book! I want to meet Rebecca in the same way I want to meet Alexis Colby!

A very slow book, 19 Oct 2008
A very slow book to read, I did not like it very much but on the plus side, the author was very good at description - the windswept moor of Bodmin, the heavy rain but other than that it did not hold my interest.

Dark, rich and atmospheric!, 02 Oct 2008
This book lives up to expectations. It is a gothic tale based in Cornwall where the courage of the 'heroine' (Mary Yellan) is in constant battle with her dark surroundings - Jamaica Inn itself and the isolated moors with their treacherous bogs. There is a sense of panic and peril present throughout the book and you can easily relate to Mary's plight. She suffers terribly in the novel and parts of it seem like a nightmare race against time from which she cannot waken.
Du Maurier has created a heroine designed with a high commitment to morality. Even when she knows she has virtually no chance of success, she will still risk her life in an attempt to protect others more vulnerable than herself - the attempt matters more than the result!
Note though that the ending is not what we would expect in a more 'modern' story - it is an ending that is appropriate for the age when the book was written - bear that in mind when you read it and you won't be disappointed.

a book I really disliked!, 14 Jul 2008
This book doesn't resemble at all Rebecca or My cousin Rachel (which I liked); the atmosphere is oppressive and the heroin is always putting herself in danger deliberatly. (as if she had a death wish)
But then, she's attracted by the "hero" (if you can call that a hero) who again and again (at least, he's honest) tells her about all his defects, thaht he's no better than his brother (a real prince of a man, this one), that he's no good...and still she falls in love with him.
Why? I don't know.
But since there's a parallel between this couple and another couple (the aunt and uncle), the reader is meant to understand that she will have a harsh life at the very least...She obsviously chose a bad guy, and will pay it her whole life...most depressing book!

A really good book, 15 May 2008
I don't get that much time to read these days but I started this book this morning and the whole day has been a write-off because I couldn't put it down, which tells you how good a story it is. The family have had to sort themselves out! So curl up on the sofa and treat yourself to a good read.

WOW -- fabulous story, great suspense!, 13 Jan 2008
As this story opens, Mary Yellan's mother dies leaving this young adult on her own in a dangerous time. On her deathbed her mother tells her to go live with her Aunt Patience at an inn called Jamaica Inn near the Cornish coast (Corwall, England). Immediately upon arrival at Jamaica Inn she knows something is wrong since her once colorful Aunt Patience has turned into a simpering wimp and her Uncle Joss Merlyn is a towering cruel character with dubious past and present. Soon Mary learns about criminal activities surrounding Jamaica Inn and it's inhabitants. She is drawn into a mystery so intense and frightening that she'll brave the trecherous moors to escape.

This is one Daphne Du Maurier's best books. Don't miss this tale of twisted greed and terrible peril -- this is an EXCELLENT book that'll keep you up past your bedtime as you won't be able to put this book down! Buy it! This book earned itself a permanent place on my shelf!


Excellent, 25 Nov 2008
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is my favourite book so I am always a bit anxious when I read anything else by her although I loved My Cousin Rachel.
I have to say that I was not disappointed, unfortunately I hurt my back last week so was forced into a very upright chair with a bag of frozen peas to ease the pain; I couldn't really do much but read and this book was perfect for such an occasion. Once I had started reading I could not put it down and it was finished within two days.
The main character is Lady Dona St Columb- she is beautiful and rebellious and in search of an escape from the courtly life which she has to share with her odious husband. She takes leave to Navron House; the family estate in Cornwall, leaving her husband and her other persona behind. At first Dona is content in enjoying the solitude and playing with her children. Yet everything changes when she accidentally comes across a sailing ship anchored in the hidden creek on the estate; this leads her to an encounter with the enigmatic Captain Jean Aubrey. As the two become close she involves herself in a dangerous plot to steal another ship- exactly the kind of excitement she had been yearning for.
Daphne Du Maurier does what she does best with this book and challenges the reader. On face-value this book could seem like a very typical romance with the lady of the manor falling for the mysterious, dangerous man that she knows full well she should really avoid. However, there is more to it than that; I really struggled with my opinion of Dona throughout the book. Initially I was pleased that she had escaped her annoying husband and then excited when she meets her match in Jean Aubrey but then you are led to question whether she should really have just left her children just so she could go on an adventure. So towards the last few chapters I found myself disliking her a little as I saw her to be selfish yet I still wanted her to have a happy ending. For me though this is what I love about the author; she raises so many issues with such clever subtlety that you know when you have finished that it was not just some soppy romance novel but that you will be thinking about it long after you have turned the last page.


Couldn't put it down, 15 May 2008
This is a really enjoyable read. The characters and the storyline get you hooked immediately. I read it years ago and recently read it for a second time and found that second time around I still couldn't put it down until I had finished it. Luckily I had forgotten the ending!

"All the restless devils within me are appeased", 09 Apr 2008
A fantastic version. I fell in love with the story when I heard the first episode on the radio and rushed out to buy the book.

Not everyone will like it but for those whose sense of romance is too little excited this is an excellent find.

It has a fab score too!

Beautifully written escapism, 03 Dec 2007
A holiday in Cornwall would not be complete without a Du Maurier to read. I have just reread this one many years after I first enjoyed it, and I still loved it.
Dona St Columb is a spoilt aristocratic lady who is married to a man that she doesn't care for. She has indulged in wilder and wilder pranks in order to keep boredom at bay, becoming the talk of London in the process. At the opening of the story, she has finally become disgusted and ashamed of her behaviour and is fleeing with her children to her husband's remote Cornish estate. There she finds the freedom, and adventure that she has craved when a French pirate ship is moored in the creek below her house. As ever, Du Maurier's descriptions of Cornwall are beautiful, and so wonderfully evocative. The opening passage, where a modern day holiday maker ventures a little way down the mysterious and silent creek in his boat is a perfect taster for what is to come. As one other reviewer has mentioned, Du Maurier obviously wasn't striving for realism in this story. But if you are going to write about a romance between a pirate and a lady, you might as well let yourself go - which she has done most enjoyably.


Great writing, but a tad far-fetched..., 10 Jul 2007
I read Frenchman's Creek with my book club, hence the fact that I seem to be twice as old as all the other reviewers on this page! It's the first Daphne Du Maurier novel I've read (don't ask me how I've managed to get to 32 without reading Rebecca...) and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.

The novel is a bit slow to build up, but once the titular Frenchman appears, the pace really picks up. Du Maurier has plenty of range as a writer and her descriptions of the Cornish coastline and wildlife are as assured as her action scenes. Her characters are strong and well-defined, and the heroine is as feisty as you could wish for.

While the characters themselves are always believable (particularly Dona's changing attitude to the Frenchman and to her husband and his friend Rockingham), the plot really isn't. The crew of La Mouette readily accept the aristocratic Dona both as one of them and their captain's mistress, before taking her off pirating with them leaving her small children behind; meanwhile, her servants back home apparently accept the story that she's in bed with a fever, tended only by the faithful servant William. And of course she has only to tuck her ringlets into a scarf to have everyone believe she's a boy.

However, if you can suspend your disbelief, there is plenty for the grown-ups too - Du Maurier's handling of Dona's motivations and inner life is convincing and the novel's themes of escape and the rival claims of high-flown passion and daily life are as relevant to any of us as they are to Restoration-era pirates.

I was left wondering why a skillful writer like Du Maurier had chosen such a frankly daft plot, but I suppose there's something there to appeal to the teenager in all of us.

Brooding, intriguing and very slippery..., 03 Nov 2008

This is classic du Maurier, closer to Rebecca (Rebecca (Virago modern classics) ), than some of the more adventurous yarns (Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek (Virago Modern Classics) ).
24 year old Philip Ashley grows up in an isolated Cornish house with his cousin Ambrose who is both Oedipal father and uncle to the boy. But Ambrose is forced to leave for Italy and marries the enigmatic Rachel, half English and half Italian, and then dies under her care, having sent some intriguing letters to Philip, hinting at sexual intrigue, financial shenanigans and poisoning...

Rachel comes to Cornwall and it appears that history is about to repeat itself, with Philip replacing his father figure (in true Oedipal mode!), but who is Rachel ultimately? Is she the sweet, charming, playful and mischievous woman that Philip falls passionately and obsessively in love with? Or is she the cold, manipulative woman others think her to be, out for financial gain and a murderess to boot?

Like Rebecca, this is a very slippery narrative that can always be read in multiple ways, and which insists on offering a story different from the one which the narrator tells. Like the landscape it describes, this is bleak, brooding, lush and chilling and is definitely a text to be re-read.


Did she or didn't she?, 26 Oct 2008
That is the question that will keep readers on the edge of their seat until final twist on the very last pages. Phillip Ashley was orphaned at a young age and raised in 19C Cornwall by his older cousin Ambrose. Health issues force Ambrose to spend time in warmer climates and he meets and marries a distant cousin Rachel, the widowed Countess Sangaletti. A cryptic note arrives from Ambrose hinting at being poisoned and Phillip heads to Florence to find Ambrose dead of a brain tumor (so the doctors say.....) and Rachel disappeared, with Rainaldi her close friend and "financial advisor" handling her affairs.

Phillip heads home and as rightful heir takes over running the family estate, but constantly broods on his hatred of Rachel and builds an image of her that is completely different when he comes face to face with her. Instead of the murdering she-devil he's built up in his mind, Phillip doesn't quite know what to make of this tiny, elegant and very enigmatic cousin of his. Rachel weaves herself into the lives of Phillip making herself indispensable to the household until Phillip finally finds himself in love with her and forgets his prior suspicions. Phillip realizes his majority at his 25th birthday and he presents Rachel with what Ambrose would have willed to her if he had lived long enough to sign a new will. At that point everything changes between Rachel and Phillip and .........

Well I'm not going to tell you, read it for yourself. This was a fabulous read that had me gripped from the very first page and kept me guessing until the very end (actually she still keeps you guessing but you have to read it for yourself to find out why). There's a good reason Du Maurier is considered the master of romantic suspense. Highly highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

Disappointing after Rebecca & Frenchman's Creek, 03 Apr 2008
I had this book bought for me for Christmas, and when I opened it I was looking forward to reading it, particularly after having read Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek and Rebecca of which I thoroughlly enjoyed and the build up having held my attention throughout.

However, I was expecting the same kind of process to happen. I felt this build up as I was reading the book, and when I got to the end I found it a bit of an anti-climax.

I have to say that it has put me off reading her books again because I would like to read more, but it has left me thinking twice before spending the money.

Excellent, 30 Sep 2007
I totally disagree with the last reviewer. No twist in the tale? a straightforward story?
I wonder if we have been reading the same book?
The way I understand it, the whole point of this book IS in its ending and its 'twist in the tale', which throws all your expectations up in the air, and leaves you at the end with a feeling of 'was she bad? Or was she good? Who was right and who was wrong?" It is the cleverness of Daphne du Maurier that it turns the whole story on its head and makes you reasess it at the end.
I personally found it much better than Rebecca which I think is a bit overrated.

Disappointing only because I expected so much more, 10 Aug 2007
I really REALLY enjoyed "Rebecca" and "The King's General" so I had very great expectations of this one. In some ways I do agree with previous reviewers in that it is written beautifully, Du Maurier has a wonderful gift of being able to build up an intense atmosphere by describing her characters so well, and this book is no exception. However, I was disappointed with the plot - I had expected a twist at the end, and I do like to be surprised, but it was quite a straightforward story, and i could anticipate the ending well before I got there. I certainly do not agree with the reviewer who described the ending as "shocking"!

A good book, certainly do read it if you liked other Du Maurier books, but I don't think it is one of her best, hence I only gave it three stars. If it had been written by anyone else I would have given it more.

Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier, 21 Feb 2006
I have read all the short stories as part of a project i'm doing on my media course at college, my favourite story has got to be don't look now. Don’t Look now is a really good read, you would not think that a short story could make you feel such emotions. I must admit I was scared for a few days. I think this would be an excellent book to make into a three part drama series. It has really got me thinking about what changes I would make to the story. Immediately I think of film noir when I think of the storylines simple plot, although in my adaptation of the novel the plot will be more convoluting. I have read the book and wouldn’t mind seeing the movie, I went to my local library but they do not have the film. I think I will order it off the internet. I have heard that the story is going to be made into a Hollywood film, can’t wait to see it.

Mysterious and brain teasing, 05 Jul 2001
The stories in the book are contrasting yet similar. They all end in an unfinished wondering way yet their content is extremely different. I particularly enjoyed the first story 'dont look now' even though it is somewhat fightening. THe story of the trip to Jerusalem was good and i particularly liked Robin as he reminded me of myself at that age though not quite as intelligent! Thois book made me think and another short story book by Du Maurier i can recommend is The rendevous and other stories.

Second favourite Du Maurier after Rebecca, 09 Jun 2008
An extraordinary book! It is the story of a man Dick Young whose best friend ( a scientist) has invented a potion which can send those who take it back in time.Magnus (the scientist) lends Dick his house in Cornwall for the holidays and asks him to try the drug as a favor. Dick finds himself in the same place,five hundred years before , a witness to things that occured and over which he has no control.When his wife and two stepsons join him, he finds himself more and more alienated from his American wife and her demands and drawn ever so strongly to have more of the drug and 'visit' the people he has 'met' there and towards whom he feels a connection... Atmospheric and cleverly plotted,an incredible achievement!

I must be the only person not to get into this!!!......................., 22 Apr 2008
I have had this book on my shelve for over a year, when i read all the reviews i thought i'd give it a go, must be good if its got an overall 5star rating. I totally struggled to get into this story, don't get me wrong i never give up (well very rarely!!) i stuck with it for over a 100pages and thought what is the point, there are too many other good reads out there to waste my time on this. I love Du Maurier my particular fav is my cousin rachel (better than rebecca in my few) the birds and other stories-great, don't look now, great. The house on the strand wasn't my cup of tea i just could not bond with any of the characters, the plot was very weak, frankly it was dull. After just reading Stef Penneys "the tenderness of wolves" (great book) this was just no comparison!! Looks like everyone else loved it.............

Intriguing, 04 Nov 2007
A fascinating story about time travel under the influence of drugs between 1960s Cornwall and early 14th century in the same places, greatly changed over the intervening centuries. The narrator becomes more and more involved in 14th century life, finally getting confused between details and personalities in that century and his own. It has some shocking consequences, especially the implied final event. Very good, with some of the same air of mystery as Rebecca, albeit very different in many respects. Only slight criticisms are that the characters are a bit cliched and some of the description of the landscape drags a bit. But the author clearly loved her Cornwall.

good escapist read, 09 Jun 2007
This is perfect beach fodder or a late-night-just-before-sleeping book: if you think too much then the gaps in the story start irritating... I enjoyed it, but found it slow going at first with the historical scenes confusing and thin. Once I got further into the story though, it does grip and I found myself up one night till 4am desperately wanting to read to the end. I suppose part of the problem was that the main character seemed very unattarctive to me so he was difficult to sympathise with but the pull of the plot does keep the pages turning.

Typical du Maurier: escapist, imaginative and compelling - but throw-away and forgettable once read.



Another fine production from Naxos, 10 Feb 2007
The Naxos audiobook version of The house on the Strand is judiciously abridged, but still runs to four and a half hours (4 CDs). It is a late work from Daphne du Maurier, but she was still writing at the height of her powers, and knew how to keep the reader (in this case the listener) enthralled. Michael Maloney gives a bravura reading (a performance, in fact) with a good variety of characterisation. His voice is beautifully modulated and falls easily on the ear.

I had the day to myself and was kept indoors by the rain, so I listenend to the book right through in one go. Its cumulative power is tremendous. The music (from Elgar's chamber works) is well chosen to heighten the mood, and the whole recording is clear and bright. And all this for a bargain price. Well done everybody concerned!

Why did I put off reading it for so long?, 26 Sep 2008
What an amazing book! I always put off reading it because it seemed rather stuffy, somehow - how wrong I was! It is a taut and brilliantly written novel, winding through different genres, exquisite symbolism and intricate complexities, into a fantastic and compelling story.

When a shy, poor young woman meets a rich widower in Monte Carlo, she falls in love with him and is astounded when he asks her to be his wife - the new Mrs de Winter. However, she soon realises that the previous Mrs de Winter's presence still hangs heavily over his life and home - the grand Manderley, set on du Maurier's beloved Cornish coast - and that the terrible secrets of their marriage will haunt them both until Rebecca takes her revenge from beyond the grave...

Full of vivid characters, naive hope, thrilling mystery, chilling despair, and descriptions that ring with pure poetry, there is no wonder that this book remains well loved through the generations.

Wonderfully sinister..., 01 Jul 2008
I first read this book as a teenager but remembered how, even then, I had appreciated the writing. And it was just as magical the second time around.
'Rebecca' is the tale of Maxim de Winter, his first wife Rebecca, his nameless second wife (and this is really intriguing - why DDM chose not to name her heroine is poignant in the extreme..) and Manderley - the house in which the tale is set. Narrated by the second wife and beginning at the end (a style I love anyway), we are led by the hand into the controlling World of Maxim and with a 'wing' to house each wife and the formidable housekeeper Mrs Danvers, you can see that such a fruitful cast of characters will make for great reading.
You are initially of the belief that the first wife drowned in an accident but soon, the plot thickens and darkens and the myriad twists and turns slowly draw you to a different conclusion. And the tale then really gets going. All is not quite what it seems. Creepy.
Far fetched, romantic, dreamy and dramatic - Rebecca is a must for readers of all ages...


Magical, 08 Jun 2008
I first read Rebecca when I was 12 and over the years, I believe I must have read it eight more times. Nothing can compare to the first reading of course, the spellbinding writing of Du Maurier is such that you enter the world she creates. you are not a witness you are absorbed into the story. This book reads like a dream, at times you enter a sort of trance ( a pleasurable one, have no fear)probably created by the rhythmic use of language and imagery.
If there are people around who haven't read it yet, you simply must.
You must share the story of that young woman who feels so inadequate, swept off her feet by this older, fascinating man, unable to fill the shoes of Lady of the manor, haunted by all she hears about the first wife, beautiful, accomplished and so much more than she herself will ever be. You must read about the fascinating Mrs Danvers, probably one of the finest characters ever drawn, the housekeeper, totally devoted to the memory o