Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier (1938) ****

Sometimes a good film or BBC production will revive my interest in an older classic which I'd read (often only partially) under duress as an assignment in a high school or college English course. A recent example was the BBC production of Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca, the quintessential Gothic Mystery Romance novel which was published in 1938. On my first attempt to read it {nearly 50 years ago), I had considered it to be a 'girl's book' and turned instead to Jack London or Zane Grey (or worse, Mickey Spillane). I was so taken with the BBC production, however, especially the coastal English countryside setting for Manderley and the marvelous portrayal of the sinister Mrs. Danvers by Diana Rigg, that I checked out a copy of Rebecca from the library. I enjoyed reading the novel as much as any that I've read recently. DuMaurier is a far better writer than I had remembered and the story and characters very much came to life for me. Mystery and romance fans will probably already have read this novel, but this is a modern classic that no reader should skip.