Rebecca's Thoughts

originally posted in Best Books of 2023

Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier

Goodreads Synopsis: Ancient, beautiful Manderley, between the rose garden and the sea, is the county’s showpiece. Rebecca made it so – even a year after her death, Rebecca’s influence still rules there. How can Maxim de Winter’s shy new bride ever fill her place or escape her vital shadow?
A shadow that grows longer and darker as the brief

summer fades, until, in a moment of climatic revelations, it threatens to eclipse Manderley and its inhabitants completely…

I read this book for the first time this year and absolutely fell in love with it. Both the vibes and story are immaculate and I think really cement my love for the gothic genre! I think the best way to read this book is to go in not knowing a lot about it. Because of that I don’t want to talk too much about the plot of the book.

Lucky for me this book is so much more beside plot! I think the vibes and the setting are what hold this book together and make it truly the gothic thriller that it deserves to be. It’s spooky when it wants to be, but it is also heartfelt and almost melancholic with its views of the main characters and her feelings and thoughts.

It’s such a good book and checks lots of the same boxes I look for in other genres like dark academia and the genre I dub “terrible rich people doing terrible things,” both genres I can’t get enough of.