Pre-numbered label used for registration.

Abridged cassettes; approximately 6 hours

Read by Jean Marsh

This riveting tale of fear, suspicion, and love opens as the unnamed narrator reminisces about her former home, the grand English estate, Manderley. She had been young and shy, a lady's companion, when she met the wealthy recent widow, Maxim de Winter, fell in love with him, and married him in a matter of weeks. They returned to his home, where she was immediately overwhelmed with the responsibilities of running the house and dealing with her forbidding housekeeper as well as the memory of Maxim's first wife, Rebecca. She had been beautiful, sophisticated, and supremely confident, and the narrator felt lost and helpless in comparison. Her new husband was strangely distant to her, until a horrible secret was revealed that would change their lives and the very existence of Manderley.

Daphne Du Maurier has crafted a wonderfully spooky story with remarkably little action, but a great deal of atmosphere and a steadily mounting feeling of impending doom. The ravishing Rebecca is never seen, and yet she is the main character, dominating the story with her passions and cruelty. Another main "character" is the great house itself, which is described in such fascinating detail that I felt as if I had walked its long hallways, descended its grand stairs, and had tea in the library. The narrator is purposely kept anonymous to contrast her with the larger-than-life Rebecca, and Maxim is a seriously flawed but lovable man.

Anna Massey does not just read the story, she performs it, delighting the listener with her upper-class British accent, giving a different voice to each character. I happily recommend this audio cassette version of Rebecca to those who enjoy exciting tales of suspense, psychological dramas, and mysteries.

I don't know what kept me so long to read this book.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy! off to Hyphen8 as a RABCK.

This arrived while I was on vacation so now that I'm mostly over the jetlag I'm journaling it. :)

Thank you booklady331 for the RABCK! I read this a while back and remember it as quite eerie so I think I'll enjoy listening to it.

Enjoyable if still creepy after all these years. ;)

Sometimes I got impatient with the second Mrs. de Winter, but for the most part I sympathized with her. Mrs. Danvers is enough to freak out anyone.

Here's a link to a copy of the actual book on my bookshelf.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off as a RABCK, and as part of the August 2009 One Word Release Challenge.

Happy listening! Since I received this as a RABCK, it seemed appropriate to pass it on. :)

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I remember my Mom having this book on her self years ago. I never got a chance to read it but I'm now happy to be able to listen to this classic. Thank you so much, hyphen8, for sending my this RABCK. I will be sure to pass the kindness along when I am finished listening to this audio version of Rebecca.

I absolutely loved this story! A wonderfully mysterious Gothic tale that had me sitting in my driveway or various parking lots in order to keep on listening to this tale (my cassette deck is in my jeep). No wonder du Maurier's Rebecca has been loved by so many. As the new Mrs de Winter settles into her new home and role at Mandalay estate, she finds that she is intimidated not only by that scarey broad, Mrs. Danvers but also the presence of the former, but dead, Mrs. de Winters, otherwise known as "Rebecca". The new Mrs de Winter must learn to put away her childish ways and learn to mature in order to stand up to those that intend to ruin her relationship with her husband and drive her away. Dealing with the living is one challenge but dealing with the memory of the dead and their hold on those around Mandalay is quite another. This means the second Mrs. de Winter must search out all she can about the real Rebecca and the dead woman's fate.

Thanks for sharing such a fabulous audiobook. :-)

Sending this audio book off in Earreading Audiobooks on Cassette Bookbox #2. Happy Travels!

Chosen from imawinn2's Cassette Audio Book Box. I'd rather have an unabridged version, but who could resist Jean Marsh?

I keep going back and forth on how I feel about this audiobook. First, it is a mesmerizing book, and Jean Marsh gives us a superb performance. Thank you, Miss Marsh!

When listening to an audio version of a book you've already read, you usually pick up nuances you missed in print, and that's the case here - I'll get back to this. But if the audio is an abridgment and you really cherish the original, you're going to notice and miss the omissions. For the most part, what's missing is character and atmosphere development. But for this book, that's almost the whole story. And there's one bit I think is crucial.

At the end of the Monte Carlo section, Mrs. Van Hopper tells the narrator, "He doesn't love you - he's just marrying you because he's lonely." She's saying this out of spite, but in fact Maxim has NOT said anything about love (and will not until the Big Reveal, 3/4 of the book later). Du Maurier planted this red flag at a significant point, just as the narrator and Maxim start their marriage. She clearly intended this to be a key part of our view of their relationship. Leaving it out seriously weakens the book.

On the other hand, here we get back to the nuances brought out by an expert performance. Miss Marsh gives full rein to the whiny, needy, side of the narrator. She believes she is the center of everyone else's attention, and spends most of her time imagining what they're thinking about her. It's hard to see this ego because she's always apologizing - to Maxim, Mrs. Danvers, Beatrice, anyone she can find. But it's a sign of how preoccupied with herself she is. When Maxim finally tells her about the appalling crime he's committed, her only reaction is "He loves me! Me! ME!"

Actually, Maxim has the same single value, but it's displaced into the estate. He tells Rebecca "You can do anything you like, but you must respect Manderley and keep its image perfect." Maybe he and the narrator have more in common than we guessed.

The abridgement makes this tough to find, because it leaves out some of the narrator's writhing insecurity found in the original. But it captures completely her sudden ascendancy when she discovers Maxim's guilt, and she becomes the one to provide comfort. And it faithfully gives us all the building suspense of that drive to London to find out Rebecca's final secrets.

But that's just one person's opinion. Future listeners, what do YOU think of this book?