Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Acceptable, 1941, HC, 457 pages, The Sun Dial Press)

A vintage book in acceptable condition: cover has wear; pages are age-toned; inside is clean aside from pencil writing on inside front page; binding is tight.

While working as the companion to a rich American woman on holiday in Monte Carlo, the unnamed narrator, a naïve young woman in her early 20s, becomes acquainted with a wealthy Englishman, Maxim de Winter, a 42-year-old widower. After a fortnight of courtship, she agrees to marry him and, after the wedding and honeymoon, accompanies him to his mansion in Cornwall, the beautiful estate Manderley.

Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper, was profoundly devoted to the first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca, who died in a sailing accident about a year before Maxim and the second Mrs. de Winter met. She continually attempts to undermine the narrator psychologically, subtly suggesting to her that she will never attain the beauty, urbanity, and charm her predecessor possessed. Whenever the narrator attempts to make changes at Manderley, Mrs. Danvers describes how Rebecca ran it when she was alive. Cowed by Mrs. Danvers' imposing manner and the other members of West Country society's unwavering reverence for Rebecca, the narrator becomes isolated.