An unnamed young woman, working as a paid companion in Monte Carlo, is swept off her feet by the wealthy widower Maxim de Winter and becomes, almost overnight, the second Mrs. de Winter. She arrives at Manderley, his magnificent estate on the Cornish coast, expecting happiness — and instead finds herself living in the suffocating shadow of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca, who drowned less than a year before.
Rebecca is everywhere at Manderley: in the monogrammed linens, the untouched morning room, and above all in Mrs. Danvers, the fanatically devoted housekeeper who worshipped her former mistress and makes no secret of her contempt for the woman who has replaced her. The new bride, young, insecure, and nameless throughout the novel, becomes convinced she can never measure up to Rebecca's beauty, sophistication, and charm — until the truth about Rebecca's death, and about her marriage to Maxim, comes violently to light.
Daphne du Maurier's Gothic masterpiece is a study in psychological suspense, jealousy, and the way the dead can dominate the living. Its famous opening line — "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" — has become one of the most recognized in English literature, and the novel remains a defining work of romantic suspense.