Rebecca
DAPHNE DU MAURIER
Level 5
Retold by A. S. M. Ronaldson
Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,
Essex CM20 2JE, England
and Associated Companies throughout the world.
ISBN U 582 419379
I
First published in the Longman Simplified English Series 1957
First published in the Longman Fiction Series 1993
This adaptation first published 1996
Third impression 1997
This edition first published 1999
NEW EDITION
This edition copyright © Penguin Books Ltd 1999
Cover design by Bender Richardson White
Set in 11 /14pt Dembo
Printed in Spain by Matcu Cromo, S.A. Pinto (Madrid)
All rights reserwd; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
ill a rctriei>al systeni, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
clearonic, mechanical, photocopying, recordinj^ or othenuise, without
the prior written pennissioit of the Publishers.
Published by Pearson Education Limited in association with
Penguin Books Ltd, both companies being subsidiaries of Peanon Pic
LALUI
\ Г А Г Jjl
, -r-n* • ^YV :
For a complete list of the titles available in the Penguin Readers series
please write to your local Pearson Education office or to: Marketing
Department, iVnguin Longman Publishing, 5 BentincR Street, London WIM
5RN.
Contents
page
Introduction V
Chapter 1 Maxim de Winter
1 Chapter 2 Manderley 7
Chapter 3 The Cottage in the Bay 11 Chapter 4 The
Shadow of Rebecca 19
Chapter 5 Rebecca’s Room 23
Chapter 6 The Fancy-Dress Dance 31 Chapter 7 The
Sunken Boat 36
Chapter 8 The Inquiry 60 Chapter 9 Favell Accuses Maxim
64
Chapter 10 The Visit to Dr Baker
88 Activities 102
Introduction
‘I was born on May 13th, 1907, into a world of make-believe and
imagination,’ wrote Daphne du Maurier. Her father was Sir Gerald
du Maurier, the leading actor and manager at Wyndham’s
Theatre in London. Her mother, Muriel, was an actress and her
grandfather, George du Maurier, was an artist and writer. So
Daphne and her two sisters grew up in a world of writers and
,actors. She was educated at home, apart firam six months spent
in France when she was eighteen, and she read widely in English
and French. Her first poems and stories were written while she
was still a child.‘Books became my life ... from the start I was
always pretending to be someone else in a story’
In 1926 Daphne travelled with her mother and sisters td
Fowey in Cornwall, and this visit seems to have been an
important turning point in her life. She feU in love with the place
and its people, and was moved to write her first full-length tvork of
fiction. The Loving Spirit. This romantic story was read by
Frederick Browning, who was then a young officer in the Guards.
It touched him so deeply that he travelled to Fowey in his boat to
meet the person who had written it. In 1932 Browning and
Daphne du Maurier were married. Du Maurier spent most of her
adult life in the Cornwall which she loved so much and where her
most popular books are set. She died there in 1989.
Du Maurier’s books can be divided into two main groups.The
first consists of historical fiction set in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Cornwall; this includes Jamaica Inn (1936),
Frenchman’s Creek (1941), Hungry Hill (1943) and The King’s
General (1946). These are romantic stories of adventure, violence
and love. They show a strong longing for the past, but also a
sense of how our present lives are affected by past events. The
second group are modern mystery stories, including Rebecca
(1938),
My Cousin Rachel (1951) and The Scapegoat (1957). In
addirion, du Maurier wrote many books of short stories'. Two
short stories, ‘The Birds’ and ‘Don’t Look Now’, were made into
very successful films of the same names. She also wrote
non-fiction, including a book about her father’s life, the story of
her own life, books about Cornwall, and a study of Branwell
Bronte.
The work for which she is undoubtedly best known, though, is
Rebecca. The book has always been extremely popular, and has
appeared in over twenty languages. In 1940 it was made into a
, film starring Sir Laurence Ohvier and Joan Fontaine, directed by
Alfred Hitchcock. At the heart of the story is a woman’s desire to
please her husband and her feelings of hopelessness as she
compares herself with his beautiful and highly educated first
wife, in comparison with whom she feels plain and dull. The
dead wife seems to be always there in the background and to
throw a dark shadow over her relationship with her new
husband. The second wife, who tells the story, is never given a
name, and this adds to the feeling that she is in the first wife’s
rightful place.
Maxim de Winter is the owner of Manderiey, a lovely country
house by the sea. His beautiful wife Rebecca h^s died there, and
Maxim goes to Monte Carlo after her death because he needs to
get away. In Monte Carlo he meets an ordinary, unspoilt young
woman, who is immediately attracted to him, and marries her.
The weeks they spend in Monte Carlo together are extremely
happy for the young woman, since she is very much in love. It is
when she returns to Manderiey with her husband that her
problems begin. For some reason Mrs Danvers, the
housekeeper, takes an immediate dislike to the young wife.The
young woman’s confidence is further shaken when Frank
Crawley, who manages Mr de Winter’s business affairs,
describes Rebecca as having been ‘the most beautiful creature I
ever saw in my fife”. Her dream of a happy life with her husband
turns to horror as she begins to realise just how much influence
the dead woman still has.
Chapter 1 Maxim de Winter
Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again. It seemed to
me that I was passing through the iron gates that led to the
driveway. The drive was just^narrow track now, its stony
surface covered with grass and weeds^Sometimes, when I
thought I had lost it, it
would appear again, beneath a fallen tr^e or beyond^ pool
DAPHNE DU MAURIER
Level 5
Retold by A. S. M. Ronaldson
Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,
Essex CM20 2JE, England
and Associated Companies throughout the world.
ISBN U 582 419379
I
First published in the Longman Simplified English Series 1957
First published in the Longman Fiction Series 1993
This adaptation first published 1996
Third impression 1997
This edition first published 1999
NEW EDITION
This edition copyright © Penguin Books Ltd 1999
Cover design by Bender Richardson White
Set in 11 /14pt Dembo
Printed in Spain by Matcu Cromo, S.A. Pinto (Madrid)
All rights reserwd; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
ill a rctriei>al systeni, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
clearonic, mechanical, photocopying, recordinj^ or othenuise, without
the prior written pennissioit of the Publishers.
Published by Pearson Education Limited in association with
Penguin Books Ltd, both companies being subsidiaries of Peanon Pic
LALUI
\ Г А Г Jjl
, -r-n* • ^YV :
For a complete list of the titles available in the Penguin Readers series
please write to your local Pearson Education office or to: Marketing
Department, iVnguin Longman Publishing, 5 BentincR Street, London WIM
5RN.
Contents
page
Introduction V
Chapter 1 Maxim de Winter
1 Chapter 2 Manderley 7
Chapter 3 The Cottage in the Bay 11 Chapter 4 The
Shadow of Rebecca 19
Chapter 5 Rebecca’s Room 23
Chapter 6 The Fancy-Dress Dance 31 Chapter 7 The
Sunken Boat 36
Chapter 8 The Inquiry 60 Chapter 9 Favell Accuses Maxim
64
Chapter 10 The Visit to Dr Baker
88 Activities 102
Introduction
‘I was born on May 13th, 1907, into a world of make-believe and
imagination,’ wrote Daphne du Maurier. Her father was Sir Gerald
du Maurier, the leading actor and manager at Wyndham’s
Theatre in London. Her mother, Muriel, was an actress and her
grandfather, George du Maurier, was an artist and writer. So
Daphne and her two sisters grew up in a world of writers and
,actors. She was educated at home, apart firam six months spent
in France when she was eighteen, and she read widely in English
and French. Her first poems and stories were written while she
was still a child.‘Books became my life ... from the start I was
always pretending to be someone else in a story’
In 1926 Daphne travelled with her mother and sisters td
Fowey in Cornwall, and this visit seems to have been an
important turning point in her life. She feU in love with the place
and its people, and was moved to write her first full-length tvork of
fiction. The Loving Spirit. This romantic story was read by
Frederick Browning, who was then a young officer in the Guards.
It touched him so deeply that he travelled to Fowey in his boat to
meet the person who had written it. In 1932 Browning and
Daphne du Maurier were married. Du Maurier spent most of her
adult life in the Cornwall which she loved so much and where her
most popular books are set. She died there in 1989.
Du Maurier’s books can be divided into two main groups.The
first consists of historical fiction set in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Cornwall; this includes Jamaica Inn (1936),
Frenchman’s Creek (1941), Hungry Hill (1943) and The King’s
General (1946). These are romantic stories of adventure, violence
and love. They show a strong longing for the past, but also a
sense of how our present lives are affected by past events. The
second group are modern mystery stories, including Rebecca
(1938),
My Cousin Rachel (1951) and The Scapegoat (1957). In
addirion, du Maurier wrote many books of short stories'. Two
short stories, ‘The Birds’ and ‘Don’t Look Now’, were made into
very successful films of the same names. She also wrote
non-fiction, including a book about her father’s life, the story of
her own life, books about Cornwall, and a study of Branwell
Bronte.
The work for which she is undoubtedly best known, though, is
Rebecca. The book has always been extremely popular, and has
appeared in over twenty languages. In 1940 it was made into a
, film starring Sir Laurence Ohvier and Joan Fontaine, directed by
Alfred Hitchcock. At the heart of the story is a woman’s desire to
please her husband and her feelings of hopelessness as she
compares herself with his beautiful and highly educated first
wife, in comparison with whom she feels plain and dull. The
dead wife seems to be always there in the background and to
throw a dark shadow over her relationship with her new
husband. The second wife, who tells the story, is never given a
name, and this adds to the feeling that she is in the first wife’s
rightful place.
Maxim de Winter is the owner of Manderiey, a lovely country
house by the sea. His beautiful wife Rebecca h^s died there, and
Maxim goes to Monte Carlo after her death because he needs to
get away. In Monte Carlo he meets an ordinary, unspoilt young
woman, who is immediately attracted to him, and marries her.
The weeks they spend in Monte Carlo together are extremely
happy for the young woman, since she is very much in love. It is
when she returns to Manderiey with her husband that her
problems begin. For some reason Mrs Danvers, the
housekeeper, takes an immediate dislike to the young wife.The
young woman’s confidence is further shaken when Frank
Crawley, who manages Mr de Winter’s business affairs,
describes Rebecca as having been ‘the most beautiful creature I
ever saw in my fife”. Her dream of a happy life with her husband
turns to horror as she begins to realise just how much influence
the dead woman still has.
Chapter 1 Maxim de Winter
Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again. It seemed to
me that I was passing through the iron gates that led to the
driveway. The drive was just^narrow track now, its stony
surface covered with grass and weeds^Sometimes, when I
thought I had lost it, it
would appear again, beneath a fallen tr^e or beyond^ pool
