But lying there in bed she looked quite a slip of a thing, with her mass of dark hair, standing out from her face like a halo.' ' She had a beautiful figure…She was every bit as tall as me. On a furtive visit to the dead woman's bedroom, we get our first detail on Rebecca's appearance from Mrs Danvers:

Earlier, Maxim comments that Rebecca knew a lot about china and Frank Crawley thinks she was the most beautiful creature he ever saw – not much to go on. We learn nothing about how they met and what he saw in her in the first place. When Maxim finally opens up after Rebecca's body is discovered, the story starts on the honeymoon and ends with her murder. She finds it hard going – nobody really wants to talk. We are taken on a journey of discovery by the narrator in trying to understand the nature of the force that is blighting her marriage and her life. Part of our desire to know more about Rebecca is how little Daphne tells us. In her amusing response to Rebecca's Story, Daphne wonders how she had got it all so wrong! Both Sally and Antonia start from the premise that Rebecca was not the demonic figure painted in the novel. This exchange is reprinted in The Daphne Du Maurier Companion (Virago). Much earlier, in 1976, Antonia Fraser wrote a short piece for Harpers and Queen called Rebecca's Story, covering similar ground, to which Daphne was invited to respond. That was certainly true for Sally because in 2001 she wrote Rebecca's Tale, in which she gives us her version of Rebecca's back story. And which of the two women are readers drawn to, which of these polar opposite fascinates and attracts? Rebecca again, I would say - certainly for modern readers.' ' Long after the book has been closed, which character reverberates in the memory? Rebecca. In her 'Afterword' to the Virago paperback edition, Sally Beauman writes: In this thought-provoking and insightful piece, Chris looks at the novel Rebecca from the point of view of the inspiration for Rebecca herself.Īs we all watch the new Netflix film version of Rebecca, released last month, some may be drawn again to wonder about the unseen title character. Today we bring you a full-length article that he has written for us. Recently I introduced Chris Main to you when he shared with us his thoughts on the new Netflix film of Rebecca, (see DduM website news page 31st October 2020).

A new look at the inspiration for that illusive character: Echoes of Rebecca – by Chris Main.

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