Review: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier // Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

I can’t believe I have only just discovered these two stories by two brilliant authors. Rebecca has been on my radar for a long time as something I must read and Mariana was recommended to me as a time-slip novel done well. The following are two book reviews of historical fiction set in England, both based around hauntingly beautiful houses. I gave them both five stars, so they are pretty great reads.

{Notes: Read freely. No spoilers here! Review contains affiliate links, which means that I would get a small portion of any product purchased through this site. Rest assured any amounts go straight back into bringing more great content to my website.}

Title: Rebecca

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Page count: 432

Genre: Gothic Fiction

The Blurb

On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband’s home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow. 

The Verdict

From the very first line, “Last night I dreamt of Manderley again”, I fell into this book and could not stop reading. I didn’t want to. I wanted to go back to the 1930’s and wander down that long driveway, discover the staff working in the rose garden and see the mansion itself, alive and buzzing. But there were a few reasons I wanted to hate the book.

The main character, who narrates the story, is Maxim’s new wife. She is sort of young, weak and headstrong and really quite a wet blanket. She remains nameless throughout the story, while the character of Rebecca is mentioned so frequently, she almost becomes a physical presence. The new wife constantly compares herself to Rebecca and finds herself wanting.

It is really a tale of youth and innocence that a lot of people can identify with. The young woman is 21 when she gets married and is more in love with the idea of getting a name, Mrs de Winter, and owning Manderley than with Maxim himself. He is an older man, a brooding Mr Darcy type and he springs the proposal on her, without any warning. She feels out of her depth in many ways – she is shy, poor, unrefined and lacks any of the skills she perceives Rebecca to have.

Despite all of the jealousy and frustrations, I loved this book. As the new wife begins to grow into her role as the owner of a huge estate, she soon discovers that the house has many dark corners, into which she should not be poking her nose.

This book was written in 1938, but it is still easy to read today. The characters and setting are described in heartbreaking detail, so you will feel, like me, that you know these people.

It was adapted into an Academy Award-winning Alfred Hitchcock film in 1940. Netflix are also working on a new movie adaptation, due out in the second half of 2019.

If you like Jane Eyre or The Bell Jar, you’ll love Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Title: Mariana

Author: Susanna Kearsley

Page count: 395

Genre: Historical Fiction / Romance

The Blurb

The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew that it was her house. And now that she’s at last become its owner, she suspects that she was drawn there for a reason. As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself transported into seventeenth-century England, becoming Mariana, a young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love. Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past…until she realizes Mariana’s life is threatening to eclipse her own, and she must find a way to lay the past to rest or lose the chance for happiness in her own time.

The Verdict

It is not often that you get to the end of a book and want it to go on and on. It was thrilling to escape into the world of the past for a few days. I am not even sure why I loved this book so much, but I will attempt to explain.

As with the previous book, the setting is masterfully described, and I could picture the old house as if I had seen it myself. There is something unbelievably romantic about a house covered over with creeping vines, crumbling bricks and flagstones worn smooth by decades of feet.

And the story is romantic. Julia figures out that she can slip back in time to a past life in the 1700’s, so she keeps returning to find out what happened to her lover in the past. Meanwhile, in the present, there is enough tension that you know she is going to end up with one of the handsome men from the village.

The book is wonderfully written, with a very real cast of characters, yet upbeat and fantastical, which is exactly what I needed after reading Rebecca.

The shelves covered all four walls of the square room, broken in three places by tall, narrow windows with stained-glass inserts above and upholstered seats below, liberally adorned with loose cushions – the sort of window seats that every book lover dreams of, visualises, yearns for… I stepped forward into the room, wonder-struck, inhaling the rich smell of oiled leather bindings and ancient paper and polished wood.

I have never read anything else by Susanna Kearsley but I will definitely be looking for her other books now.

Read Mariana by Susanna Kearsley if you like Outlander or Phillippa Gregory books.

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Have a read of some other reviews or browse the absolute best books of 2018, recommended by bloggers.

Come discuss books with me in the Facebook book group Have Books Will Travel. We love fiction that transports us to different places and times.

I hope you enjoyed these book reviews of historical fiction set in England. Have you read any similar books?