Anna read and liked Elizabeth's review of Rebecca:

"Whatever Daphne Du Maurier owes to the Brontes for Rebecca, Stephenie Myers owes twice that to Du Maurier for Twilight. I was surprised how many times I thought of Twilight while reading this book. We all know that Myers drew a lot from Wuthering Heights...more Whatever Daphne Du Maurier owes to the Brontes for Rebecca, Stephenie Myers owes twice that to Du Maurier for Twilight. I was surprised how many times I thought of Twilight while reading this book. We all know that Myers drew a lot from Wuthering Heights but this is a much more tangled web. Not only do both Rebecca and Twilight have those elements of dark, gothic love, but they also have the simpering, neurotic, needy young first-person narrator that can only come from a misreading of Jane Eyre. Before I launch into a dissertation on this subject -

I read Rebecca for the first time ten years ago, after I had seen first the BBC remake and then the Alfred Hitchcock versions in quick succession, so I have always known the story before reading the book. Without the mystery, the book holds your interest for the characterization - the lost first wife, the mysterious housekeeper, the unreadable husband, and the idiot girl! (If I weren't reading Emma right now I might be tempted to say the unnamed narrator is one of the best drawn clueless women in fiction). The book is humorous (one of the servants is described as "losing his head" by the excitement of the party and serving a guest improperly). You can hear the sea from its description. And Maxim de Winter is one of those super sexy mysterious men that remind you of Lord Byron or Heathcliffe or Elizabeth von Armin's husband (also unnamed in Elizabeth in Her German Garden).

But as a sane person, I did recognize that while they make for excellent gothic heroes (or monsters), I wouldn't want to live with one of them. I can't help asking myself, what were these women thinking in creating (or in Byron's case, real women falling for him) these guys? I ask myself the same thing about Edward in Twilight and I think rereading Rebecca has given me a much better understanding of that phenomenon.

So you see the appeal? A fascinating tale of mysterious circumstances and repressed desires all wrapped up in the traditional English embarrassment and fear of humiliation. What does it take to get these people to be vulnerable with each other? I almost don't blame Maxim de Winter for his behavior if this is the kind of twisted cultural norms he'd been raised in. No wonder everyone is repressed and embarrassed - they're all crazy. (Wait until you get to the part with the twin beds).

Which make this book a true delight. Honestly, it's fascinating. It's like reading a Jane Austen novel for its perfect study of a particular class in a particular location at a specific point of time. Du Maurier doesn't have Jane Austen's sense of humor, she's gone in more for The Mysteries of Udolpho and the hand-wringing on the moors than the comedy of manners. But I'm sure Jane would have loved this book.(less) "