Rebecca

An orphaned young woman working as a maid is swept off her feet by a wealthy widowed Englishman, and quickly married him. But when she arrives at his estate she learns she pales in comparison with his seemingly perfect deceased first wife Rebecca, especially in the eyes of the sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. When Rebecca’s body is found on her shipwrecked boat the dark secrets held by the husband are discovered as well.

Rebecca has had many adaptations in film, radio, and television, the most famous being the Academy-Award Winning Hitchcock adaptation released in 1940.

Du Maurier wrote the novel in a reported 4 months. Her publisher, Gollancz, expected the book to be successful and ordered 20,000 copies for the first print run. Within a month the novel had sold twice that.