The narrator also develops an uneasy relationship with Maxim’s sister, Beatrice, who tells the narrator, “You are so different from Rebecca.” Beatrice tells the narrator that Rebecca drowned in the sea near Manderley. Danvers, like many of the other servants, is openly devoted to Maxim’s deceased first wife, Rebecca. From the beginning, the narrator clashes with the head servant of Manderley, the elderly, severe Mrs. The narrator is initially uncomfortable and nervous at Manderley, since she wasn’t raised in a wealthy household. Two months later, the narrator and Maxim return from their honeymoon, and travel back to Manderley, the narrator’s new home. The narrator senses that something isn’t quite right with Maxim, however-he seems pensive, and refuses to discuss his first wife. At the end of the summer, Maxim asks the narrator to marry him, and she accepts. During the course of these drives, the narrator begins to develop feelings for Maxim. Van Hopper catches the flu, Maxim invites the narrator to drive through Monte Carlo with him. Although the narrator is shy, Maxim takes an immediate liking to her, and when Mrs. There, Van Hopper makes a point of introducing herself to the charismatic Maxim de Winter, who, it is well-known, has just lost his beloved wife in a tragic boating accident. One summer, the narrator and Van Hopper travel to Monte Carlo.

Van Hopper: she was Van Hopper’s travel companion. Throughout the course of the book, the narrator remembers the time she spent at Manderley, a large, handsome English estate, while married to Maxim de Winter.Īs a young woman, the narrator worked for a rich, obnoxious old woman named Mrs. The novel is narrated by an unnamed woman recalling past events in her life.

Daphne du maurier