Summary
Our story unfolds as we see through the eyes of our heroine, whose name we are never given, as she describes the desolate place of her former home, Manderley. Our narrator and heroine begins to drift apart from the present and remembers the time before Manderley was no more.
In the beginning, the heroine is the companion of a wealthy American women, Mrs. Van Hopper, who is staying at a hotel in Monte Carlo. Because of Mrs. Van Hopper’s nosy manner toward anyone with a name in society, the two meet Maxim de Winter, a widower of his late wife Rebecca. Suddenly, Mrs. Van Hopper becomes unwell and is unable to attend her usual routine, leaving our heroine time to spend as she wishes. She meets Maxim again and the two begin to get to know each other on a more personal level. As the heroine begins to spend more time with the strange yet enchanting Maxim, she begins to develop feelings for him. When Ms. van Hopper finally restores to her normal self again, she decides that she wants to leave Monte Carlo immediately and go back to America. The heroine is worried, knowing she will never see Maxim again and rushes to his hotel room to find him. She tells him her situation, and he unexpectedly gives her the choices to either leave with Mrs. Van Hopper to America or to marry him. She chooses to marry him.
After the honeymoon, the newlyweds return to Maxim’s home, Manderley, and they begin their new life together. Maxim introduces the second Mrs. de Winter, our heroine, to the house workers, but only one individual stands out as ghost-like and peculiar, Mrs. Danvers.
As the heroine begins to settle into the usual routine of Manderley she meets new fascinating character such as Beatrice, Maxim’s sister, who mentions that the heroine is different, very different from Rebecca, Maxim’s late first wife who was viewed as perfect in everyway. The Second Mrs. de Winter begins to notice how Rebecca, although dead, still lives in the daily life and lives of all who knew her. The heroine, curious as she is, searches to find out about whom Rebecca really was and her tragic death at sea.
Spoiler Alert!
After numerous misfortunate events, the heroine begins to feel that she and Maxim are drifting apart and almost takes her own life when suddenly sirens sound in the distance to alert Manderley of an incident. The sirens led to a twisted ending of finding the real missing boat and body of the late Rebecca de Winter. Maxim and our heroine mend their relationship when he describes the strong hatred he felt towards Rebecca and who he had never actually ever loved her, it was all just a show for the sake of Manderley. He illustrates that she was manipulative and deceitful, which caused him to murder her by shooting her and drifting her out to sea.
This revelation gives our heroine the strength to stand up against the haunting Rebecca and draws her closer more than ever to her husband. After the dead body is found, Maxim identifies the body as Rebecca and has to go on trial for the death of Rebecca. The trial concludes that the death of Rebecca was caused by suicide, but Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin and secret lover, has his own suspicions of how she died. His theory leads to the discovery of a diary by Mrs. Danvers. After searching through Rebecca’s past telephone numbers, Mrs. Danvers finds a mysterious number with the name Baker beside it. They travel to a Baker’s home in London finding that he was a doctor whom Rebecca had met with in secret, not even telling her loyal servant Mrs. Danvers. When they met with the Doctor they discover that Rebecca had a serious illness, cancer, giving a clear motive as to why Rebecca would have commit suicide, and excluding Maxim as a suspected murder.
Exhausted from the evening events, Maxim and the second Mrs. de Winter travel to find a hotel to stop at for the night. Along the way, Maxim makes a call and finds out that Mrs. Danvers has silently left Manderley which worries Maxim making him anxious, feeling the need to make it home tonight instead of in the morning. As they draw closer to home they notice red streaks in the sky, Manderley is set in flames.
In the beginning, the heroine is the companion of a wealthy American women, Mrs. Van Hopper, who is staying at a hotel in Monte Carlo. Because of Mrs. Van Hopper’s nosy manner toward anyone with a name in society, the two meet Maxim de Winter, a widower of his late wife Rebecca. Suddenly, Mrs. Van Hopper becomes unwell and is unable to attend her usual routine, leaving our heroine time to spend as she wishes. She meets Maxim again and the two begin to get to know each other on a more personal level. As the heroine begins to spend more time with the strange yet enchanting Maxim, she begins to develop feelings for him. When Ms. van Hopper finally restores to her normal self again, she decides that she wants to leave Monte Carlo immediately and go back to America. The heroine is worried, knowing she will never see Maxim again and rushes to his hotel room to find him. She tells him her situation, and he unexpectedly gives her the choices to either leave with Mrs. Van Hopper to America or to marry him. She chooses to marry him.
After the honeymoon, the newlyweds return to Maxim’s home, Manderley, and they begin their new life together. Maxim introduces the second Mrs. de Winter, our heroine, to the house workers, but only one individual stands out as ghost-like and peculiar, Mrs. Danvers.
As the heroine begins to settle into the usual routine of Manderley she meets new fascinating character such as Beatrice, Maxim’s sister, who mentions that the heroine is different, very different from Rebecca, Maxim’s late first wife who was viewed as perfect in everyway. The Second Mrs. de Winter begins to notice how Rebecca, although dead, still lives in the daily life and lives of all who knew her. The heroine, curious as she is, searches to find out about whom Rebecca really was and her tragic death at sea.
Spoiler Alert!
After numerous misfortunate events, the heroine begins to feel that she and Maxim are drifting apart and almost takes her own life when suddenly sirens sound in the distance to alert Manderley of an incident. The sirens led to a twisted ending of finding the real missing boat and body of the late Rebecca de Winter. Maxim and our heroine mend their relationship when he describes the strong hatred he felt towards Rebecca and who he had never actually ever loved her, it was all just a show for the sake of Manderley. He illustrates that she was manipulative and deceitful, which caused him to murder her by shooting her and drifting her out to sea.
This revelation gives our heroine the strength to stand up against the haunting Rebecca and draws her closer more than ever to her husband. After the dead body is found, Maxim identifies the body as Rebecca and has to go on trial for the death of Rebecca. The trial concludes that the death of Rebecca was caused by suicide, but Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin and secret lover, has his own suspicions of how she died. His theory leads to the discovery of a diary by Mrs. Danvers. After searching through Rebecca’s past telephone numbers, Mrs. Danvers finds a mysterious number with the name Baker beside it. They travel to a Baker’s home in London finding that he was a doctor whom Rebecca had met with in secret, not even telling her loyal servant Mrs. Danvers. When they met with the Doctor they discover that Rebecca had a serious illness, cancer, giving a clear motive as to why Rebecca would have commit suicide, and excluding Maxim as a suspected murder.
Exhausted from the evening events, Maxim and the second Mrs. de Winter travel to find a hotel to stop at for the night. Along the way, Maxim makes a call and finds out that Mrs. Danvers has silently left Manderley which worries Maxim making him anxious, feeling the need to make it home tonight instead of in the morning. As they draw closer to home they notice red streaks in the sky, Manderley is set in flames.
