The unnamed narrator of du Maurier's Rebecca

Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938) continues to be an entertaining read, about 1/3 of the way through, as the (unnamed) narrator gets, bit by bit, more information about her husband's late first wife, the eponymous R. - she/we learn that she spent a lot of time in a a little boathouse in a cove near the manor house, Manderley (the boathouse now derelict and in ruin; the only person nearby, who maybe is sleeping in the house, is a man whom the narrator describes as an "idiot"), that she died in a sailing accident, that her body was discovered 2 months later in a nearby coastal town, that her husband was the only one to ID the body - all a little strange and suspicious. The narrator is extremely insecure - she's married "up" and has no clear idea of the social niceties and expectations, feels continuously watched and judged by all of her husband's friends and by the servants. But you have to wish she would take her fate into her own hands, grab her husband by the collar and say, we have to talk, who was Rebecca and just what the hell is going on here? Of course she's afraid of her husband, who seems to have an unpredictable temper and a lot of irascibility. And she's maybe afraid of jeopardizing the marriage: Could he have the marriage annulled and boot he out? If it came to hiring lawyers et al. she couldn't hold her own against him - in any event she never voices that fear. Ultimately, whatever happened to Rebecca may be a harbinger of what could happen to her if she steps out of line, so there's a lot at stake - but I do hope we'll see her grow into a more confident and proactive presence.

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