Rebecca is a Psychopath
And she doesn’t need to be anything more
Spoilers for both Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman
If you’re a massive Ari fan — and really, why wouldn’t you be unless you actually are me — you probably already know that I absolutely adore the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I wrote a piece here ages ago arguing that it’s not actually horror or suspense and certainly isn’t romance, but is in fact a coming of age story. I know. Big reveal there. But since then several things have happened and — not unlike the unnamed protagonist — we must, even if only in dream, return to Manderley. (See what I did there? Do you see it? Are you proud of me? I know you’re proud of me. I’m proud of me.)
On a personal note, I was visiting my uncle and he showed me my grandmother’s collection of du Maurier novels. Apparently my grandmother, who was an avid reader just like her two children, adored Daphne du Maurier’s work. Just to make sure, I had to ask if my mother had been named after the character and to my vast relief my uncle clarified that her given name, which she did not go by in life, was not derived from the du Maurier work but from an entirely different source. But all of this is just part of what drives my own personal fascination and has no real impact on what I’m truly driving at here.
