Rebecca XIII

 The doctor consults his notes and says that he can think of a reason why this woman he saw might have committed suicide.. She was seriously ill.  He said that she came to him, thinking that she was pregnant.. but that when he did some tests he found that she had uterine cancer and that she would not recover.  He could see that she was a tough woman who could stand the news so he told her.  She paid his fee and left.. 

Maxim realises now that Rebecca provoked him to kill her, to spare herself a longer illness, by telling him she was going to foist another man's baby on him.  Col Julyan is relieved, that the doctor has told them there was a good reason why Rebecca might have drowned herself...   He warns Favell that this disposes of all his attempts at blackmail, it was a suicide by Rebecca and nothing more.   When Favell has gone, Julyan advises the De Winters that he'll do his best to dispel any rumours that there was anything mysterious about Rebecca's death but suggests that it might be a good idea for them to take a trip abroad for a time, til any possible gossip dies down.. 

They decide to go back to Manderley, exhausted but relieved....

Rebecca XII (Short)

 When Maxim, Colonel Julyan and Frank check up on the number they find that it is that of a retired doctor, working in London.  Mrs Danvers confirms that Rebecca never had much to do with doctors.  They decide to drive to London the following day and see what information they can glean from him about what has happened.  

Mrs De Winter is terrified, believing that Rebecca knew she was pregnant and that was why she was consulting a doctor.   That that will reveal the motive for Maxim losing his temper and killing her.. that she told him she was pregnant by another man but was planning to pass the child off as his. 

Col Julyan is obviously worried, wanting to sympathise with Maxim but having to do his duty as a magistrate.  He tells the de Winters that he will accompany them the following day.  Favell insists on coming as well.  

Mrs De Winter passes a terrifying night, afraid that the next day will bring things to a climax and that Maxim's motive for murder will be revealed.   She and he set off the next morning for London, followed by Jack Favell.  

When they get to North London, they find the doctors house, and explain that Jack as Rebecca's cousin was not satisfied with the verdict at the inquest.  The doctor tells them that he has a note of a Mrs Danver consulting him... so its obvious that Rebecca used a false name. 

Rebecca XI

 Mrs De Winter almost faints during the inquest.  She is divided between her happiness that Maxim loves her and her fear that his killing of Rebecca will come out.  After the legalities are concluded Maxim has to attend his wife's funeral, but while Mrs De Winter is waiting for him to come home, Jack Favell turns up.  He insists on seeing Maxim, who comes in with Frank Crawley. 

It is plain that Favell has blackmail on his mind.... He tells Maxim that he does not beleive the inquest verdict.. that Rebecca would not have killed herself - But he says that he would not proffer any proof of this, if Maxim is willing to pay him a regular income.  Maxim wants to throw him out but he holds his nerve and sends for Colonel Julyan, the local magistrate.  

When Julyan arrives he is sympathetic to Maxim, as a fellow gentleman and friend and is not willing to believe the words of a cad like Favell...  But Jack Favell has some evidence..  He claims that he and Rebecca were lovers and that he had hoped to marry her and that Maxim probably killed her out of jealousy.

  He also says that he has a note from her that suggests she did not have suicide on her mind,   He produces the note which was delivered to him in London after Rebecca had left the city and returned to Cornwall on the fatal night.  She asks Favell to come to Manderley to the cottage as she wants to speak to him. 

Maxim is afraid of the note, which does seem to do away with the suicide plan... But he holds his nerve and asks for more information.  Jack claims that Ben a local man who has mental difficulties, used to see him and Rebecca together at the cottage and can confirm that they were lovers... Ben however when spoken to, is clearly afraid to say anything at all, and claims he knows nothing.   Favell asks to see Mrs Danvers, but she too is not all that helpful.. She is not willing to confirm that Rebecca was Favell's one true love and mistress.. She claims that Rebecca despised men and that if she amused herself with any of them, it didn't mean very much.  However she looks at Rebecca's old diary and does find a number that is unfamiliar to her.. which may give some information on how she spent her last day....

Rebecca Part X

 Mrs De Winter is more relieved than shocked when she learns of what happened with Maxim and Rebecca.  She is happy that he loves her and that he never loved his first wife, that all her misery and jealousy of her rival were not needed.  But Maxim did kill Rebecca so he’s afraid that they will lose their chance of happiness, if it comes out.  

He reminds her there will have to be an inquest.  She says that he must say that when he identified the other woman as Rebecca he was ill and didn’t know what he was doing.  The couple brace themselves for facing an inquiry into Rebecca’s death.

But Mrs De Winter feels much stronger now and is finally able to tell Mrs Danvers that she is the mistress of the house and that she wants to do things her own way, and is not afraid of the housekeeper any more.

But the inquest does not go well.  The boat builder who looked after Rebecca’s boat tells that he had checked it over and that it was sound but it had holes in it, when recovered that were deliberately driven into the boat.  He believes that it was tampered with and that the sinking was not an accident.  The inquest decides that Rebecca must have tampered with the boat herself,  and caused her own death so the verdict is given as suicide. 

Rebecca Part IX

 Maxim tells the full tale to his wife, about how he and Rebecca ended up. Mrs De Winter has believed that he regretted his second marriage, that he still loved Rebecca and that he had only married out of desperation and found that she, his second wife, was a nobody compared with his beloved first wife.

Maxim tells her that no, his second marriage is one he made for love.. that he and Rebecca never had any happiness together.  He tells her that soon after the marriage, on honeymoon, she told him all about herself, how immoral and cold and heartless she was… and told him that she knew he would not wish for a divorce, because he was too proud to admit failure…

Rebecca had told him that she’d be t he perfect wife and hostess for Manderley and that she knew he would accept that, but in private, she amused herself just as she pleased.  She looked after the house, redecorated it, held parties and charmed the neighbours and most of the staff but in her heart she despised them.

Maxim over time realises that one or 2 people became suspicious of Rebecca, that his sister Beatrice had found that Rebecca was flirting with Giles, her husband and she never came to Manderley again except to big parties.  And Rebecca also started to try and seduce the shy awkward Frank Crawley….

Maxim reassures his wife that he never loved Rebecca after the first few days, and that she is his true love and - he hopes that they can re start their marriage and she does not have to accept a compromise relationship… as she had feared.

He tells her about the end, how he had finally decided to confront his wife about her affairs and bad behaviour.  He had told her that she could not have her men friends at Manderley but she ignored that prohibition.  He told her she could not see her cousin and lover, Jack Favell.  Mrs De Winter admits that she met Jack but had been afraid to tell Maxim about it, in case it upset him and reminded him of Rebecca.

Maxim tells her now that he decided to go to the cottage where Rebecca sometimes stayed after sailing… to talk to her and Jack, taking a gun, to scare off the bounder, Favell.  He found Rebecca alone and she was acting strangely.  She told him that he would never get a divorce because Mrs Danvers would swear that there were no infidelities on her part and that she has now decided to spend more time at Manderley.  Maxim is horrified and angry.  She then tells him that if she had a son, it would be known as his son and would inherit the estate…  Infuriated and crazy, he shoots her.  He then puts her body in the boat, takes it out and sinks it, hoping that it will be believed that she went for a late night sail alone and it capsized….

Germanic Names

 There are similarities between German and Old English names, due to the Saxon migrations to Britain.  So there are German names that have made their way into British and English speaking culture.  German names often have 2 elements, and in the past, sons would be given a name with the same first part (such as Ed) and different second parts.     

There is “Rupert” which is the German version of Robert.  The name combines an element which means “Fame” and Bert which means Bright.  Rupert was the name of Charles II’s nephew Prince Rupert who came to live in England in the Restoration era. Its not a common name but has been used in England…  

The various “Ed” names all come from German, the first element Ead meaning wealth or riches…  These include Edward, (Eduard in German) Edwin which means “Riches”  combined with “ Friend”, Edmund, and Edgar.  

Another name which is occasionally used in England is Oswald, the first part “Os” means “god” and the second part is “Weald” or rule.

Harold or Harald is another name, of Germanic origin.. which combines “Weald” for rule and Har which means army.  It can be abbreviated to Hal or Harry….

A very popular girls name is Emma, which comes from the German word “Ermin” for whole or entire.  It was the name of the mother of Edward the Confessor, and of course the name of Jane Austen’s heroine whom she felt “noone but herself would like.”.

Another girls name of Germanic origin is Elsa, the name of Elsa Lanchester, wife of Charles Laughton.  It is a short form of “Elisabeth”, the German spelling of Elizabeth.

Adelaide is a name that came to Britain as the name of William IV’s wife.  It comes from “adel” Which means noble and Heid which means “kind”..

I hope to write a bit more on Germanic and other names soon

Rebecca Part VIII (Short)

 Mrs De Winter feels terror that her marriage is now a complete failure, and wonders how to face Maxim after the ball....

The following day, however, Beatrice tries to reassure her that all will be well but has to leave, and there is a ship foundering in the local bay so Maxim is out trying to coordinate the rescue efforts.  She is left alone.    When divers go down into the water, one of them gets a horrible fright.. He discovers the boat that Rebecca had sailed in, and there is a body in it......

Captain Searle, the Harbour master, tells Maxim  and his wife about the body.  She thinks at first that Rebecca must have been sailing with someone else and that body was still in the cabin while Rebecca's had been washed out to sea.   Maxim in his grief mis identified a strange woman as Rebecca.   They learn that there will have to be an inquest, to determine who the body is and how the accident happened. When Searle has gone, Maxim tells  Mrs De Winter the truth, that it is his wife who is lying on the cabin floor.. and that he killed her.....

Rebecca Part VII

 Mrs De Winter tries to hope that the ball will be a success, though she is scared and always conscious of her lack of beauty and charm, compared to Rebecca.  On the night of the ball, the De Winters have dinner with Beatrice, her husband Giles, and Frank Crawley, before the party.

Trying to be light hearted she teases Frank and Maxim about her dress… and goes off to change.  When she comes downstairs, dressed like the portrait, Maxim explodes with rage.  He tells her to go and change and wear an ordinary frock…

Bewildered and in tears she hurries away and then Beatrice tells her that the dress and look was how Rebecca was costumed at the last Manderley ball.  Mrs De Winter is in tears and horrified at her gaffe and realises that Mrs Danvers has set her up to make this horrible mistake.   She does not understand why, and is upset that Maxim has reacted so violently. She refuses to come downstairs at first… Beatrice tells people that she feels ill, and tries to persuade her to put on an ordinary gown and join the party, but Mrs De Winter feels that she does not have the upper class confidence to do this.

Eventually after a lot of tears, she manages to face the ball.  She still cannot fathom why Mrs Danvers hates her so much, even if the housekeeper loved Rebecca....

 Maxim avoids her, and she takes part in the dancing,  but she cannot convince herself now that her marriage is not a failure. 

Rebecca Part VI

Mrs De Winter overhears Maxim telling off Mrs Danvers for allowing Jack Favell, Rebecca's cousin to visit the house.  She has met him a few days earlier and not liked him, as he seems vulgar and coarse... and he does not seem the type of man to be related to the elegant Rebecca.  But she has been afraid to let Maxim know that she has met him.  She fears talking to him about Rebecca. 

 Shortly afterwards, one of their guests suggests that the De Winters should revive the costume ball at Manderley.  Maxim finds the idea irritating and boring  but Mrs De Winter tries to get enthused about it, hoping that she will seem more like a normal mistress of Manderley if she can help to arrange a big social event.  

However  the organisation is largely done by Mrs Danvers and the servants and Mrs De Winter finds herself getting in the way.  She tries to sound more eager, telling Maxim that she will have a wonderful costume.. but she can't think of anything.  Then Mrs Danvers suggests that she copies one of the pictures in the gallery of one of the De Winter ancestors, a young girl in a white dress.  Mrs De Winter and her lady's maid conspire together to get the costume done in London..... and keep it a secret...

Rebecca Part V

 Mrs De Winter finds it hard to fit into her life at Manderley.  She tries to befriend Mrs Danvers but the housekeeper is cool and distant.  She begins to worry that Maxim is less and less interested in her, and that he is preoccupied with running his estate and remembering Rebecca.  She tries awkwardly to "talk naturally" to people about her husband's first wife, but only succeeds in feeling more uncomfortable.  People tell her how beautiful and charming Rebecca was, and even the shy Frank Crawley says that she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

She is not used to country life and doesn't care for the sort of horsey sporty lifestyle that Beatrice seems to enjoy.. and she feels excluded from managing the house..  Maxim doesn't seem to care if she leaves the housekeeping to Mrs. Danvers, but he does seem irritated by his new wife's shyness.  

When Maxim is away in London for a couple of days, Beatrice calls to invite her to drive to see Maxim's elderly grandmother who lives in a house not too far away.  Mrs. De Winter finds the elderly lady hard to talk to.... She is forgetful and has a full time nurse.  The visit ends in disaster when the old lady becomes confused and asks for Rebecca and is unable to recognise her new granddaughter in law.  Beatrice is embarrased and upset at the scene... and both are relieved to escape from the house.  But it leaves Mrs De Winter wondering if she will ever fit into the family.  

Rebecca Part IV

Maxim and the companion marry and go on honeymoon.  After several weeks, they return in early summer to England and travel to Manderley.

The young Mrs De Winter is nervous of the place, and finds that it is even bigger than she imagined and has a large staff.... and knows that she's not accustomed even to staying in large country houses nor to managing a large staff of servants.

The two senior servants are Frith, the elderly butler and Mrs Danvers the middle aged housekeeper.  Mrs De Winter likes Frith but feels uneasy and nervous with Mrs Danvers who seems rather unfriendly.  Maxim seems different when they return.  Having been a warm and affectionate husband abroad, he seems to take up his routine life managing the estate and leaving his wife to make her own life.  Mrs De Winter is unnerved by paying calls on the local gentry but it is a part of country social life that she cannot avoid.  She is rather shocked at the expensive way they live, the waste of food, and the fact that she's expected to have a lady's maid... 

Maxim seems impatient with his wife's shyness, her fear of the servants and seems to ignore her more and more.  She meets the estate's agent, the shy unattractive bachelor Frank Crawley, and then meets one of Maxs few relatives, his sister Beatrice... who comes for a visit. 

Beatrice is hearty and horsey and blunt and tactless but Mrs De Winter senses her good nature.  However she is rather shocked when Beatrice tells her that Mrs Danvers "simply adored Rebecca".  

She has begun to fear Rebecca's memory more and more, and to feel that perhaps Maxim did marry her because he wanted a companion but that he does not love her as he cared for his first wife. 

Rebecca Part III

 As Mrs Van Hopper recovers the companion grows more unhappy.  She has fallen in love with Maxim, but he is too old, too well off and grand, to pay much attention to a "child" like her... and she's afraid that her employer will find out that she has been spending her time with him... 

Then Mrs Van Hopper gets a wire to say that her daughter has to return to America, and she decides to go back with her, so she urges her companion to get their things packed and to plan for a voyage to the US.  The companion is very upset, since she knows she may not even have time to say goodbye to him.  She manages to find a few minutes to go to his suite and tells him that they are going to America and wont be back in Europe for some time.. and he takes her breath away by asking her to marry him.  She is shocked as she never seriously believed that he might be attracted to her, and while she regards herself as a cut above Mrs Van Hopper socially, she knows that she's not on the same level as him, in terms of class.    Amazed but happy, she accepts his proposal.  He suggests that they marry quickly and privately in France and go on honeymoon to Italy. 

Mrs Van Hopper is not pleased to find that her companion is leaving her at such short notice and is making a marriage far above what might be expected.  She reminds her that she has always been shy and awkward and asks how she thinks she'll manage to become the hostess in a grand home like Manderley.  She further upsets her by a spiteful parting remark that Maxim is clearly marrying again so suddenly because he is desperately missing his wife and wants someone to look after him and be a companion to him in England.....

Rebecca Part II

 The young companion meets Maxim de Winter, a wealthy upper class Englishman who comes to stay at their hotel in Monte.  Mrs Van Hopper is thrilled that there is someone socially grand staying there, and in her pushy manner, she scrapes acquaintance with him.

He is polite but stiff and clearly not pleased by Mrs Van Hopper's behaviour.  The companion is attracted by him.  He is suave, and handsome, if over 40.  She learns that he owns a large grand house, Manderley, in Cornwall, and she remembers reading about it as a child and wishing she could visit it... 

Mrs Van Hopper catches a bad cold and ends up confined to bed for a week or two and during that time, the companion starts to become friendly with Maxim.  She has learned from her employer that he is a widower, that his wife was drowned less than a year ago in the sea in Cornwall and that he was said to be passionately in love with his wife.  During their outings, the companion tells him about her own father, who has died and how she is on her own in the world.  Although she is of respectable middle class birth, she's conscious that she's much less grand than the De Winter family, who are landed gentry... and she does not expect him to take her very seriously, especially as she is shy and gauche and not that long out of school. 

He is at times rather cool with her and she wonders if he is still missing his wife and she tries to warn herself against becoming infatuated with him.

Rebecca Part I

 Im re reading Rebecca the most famous work by Daphne Du Maurier.  I've read almost all her books and they vary a good deal in quality.  

Rebecca is loosely based on Jane Eyre, a Gothic novel where a young girl marries an older man who seems to have something sinister in his past.  

The heroine is famously not named in the book.  Du Maurier did not give her a name which emphasises her shyness and lack of a strong personality.  Mrs De Winter is only 19 or so and when the novel opens she's living in Monte Carlo as the companion of a rich American woman Mrs Van Hopper.  Mrs Van Hopper is something of a caricature American, stupid, vulgar and not very nice.  Mrs De Winter comes from a "good" middle class family but is left alone after the death of her parents and has to earn her own living.  She is so shy and awkward that she dislikes having so socialise with her boss's friends and feels that they patronise her.    She is not very happy in her job, feeling also that because of her lack of wealth, even the hotel servants think poorly of her.   She wishes that she was older  and more confident. 

Lindsey Davies

 Lindsey Davies was born in Birmingham in 1949 and is  a writer of historical detective stories.  Like Rosemary Rowe, her novels are set in the days of the Roman Empire.  However her first series of novels - the detective being a former soldier  Marcus Didius Falco, are set in Rome, though she has also set a new series in Britain. 

Marcus is not from a well to do family, but he has a ladyfriend, Helena, who is from a rich background.  He undertakes jobs finding out things, and gets involved with murders.  

Davies went to Oxford and did a degree in literature.  She then worked in the British civil service for many years but wrote historical novels in her spare time.  When she began to have some success with her writing she left the Civil service and became a full time writer. 

I hope to write some blogs on some of her novels......

Hazel Holt

 Hazel Holt was a well known light novelist, who died a few years ago in 2015.  She was born in 1928 but didn't start writing novels until she was in her 60s.  She was educated at a good school in Birmingham and went to college.  After college she worked in the the African Institute which had  been set up for the study of African languages.... She met Barbara Pym there, who became a novelist famous for writing about older women... Pym became a good friend and later Hazel wrote her biography. She also wrote television criticism....

She married in her 20s and had  a son Tom, who later became a novelist, writing science fiction and "Mapp and Lucia" novels.  She started to write crime novels where the detective is a middle aged widow, Sheila Malory, living in a small town in Devon.  Sheila has a son and has a career as a writer but she finds that through her day to day activities, doing charity work and keeping house in a small country town, she gets involved in detective investigation.   Her son is a lawyer so she has access to legal knowledge and to the police. 

The Sheila Malory books are a light easy read, about an ordinary woman, and have a good deal of comedy about her many pets... I wish there were more of them.....Sheila leads a quiet but pleasant life in her small town, writing literary criticism, helping with charity work and going to church.  One of her friends, Rosemary, has an elderly mother, Mrs Dudley who domineers over the  little towns social gatherings although she is very old. 

Possibly her friendship with Pym, who was I think one of the first writers to write about older people... gave her the idea of writing about an older woman as detective....

Antonia By Brenda Jagger

 I've just been re reading a book I read years ago, but found hard to find again, as I could not remember the author.  It is called Antonia, and is set in Rome in 69 AD which was known as the "Year of the Four Emperors".  After Nero,  the Empire was claimed by Galba, and within a year there were coups and overall 4 emperors ruled.

Brenda Jagger wrote this novel in the late 1970s and then wrote several other family sagas set in Victorian Yorkshire.  She was from Yorkshire and had worked as a probation officer...

Although Im not an expert on Roman history I enjoyed this book and it seems to be quite an accurate historical novel. 

Antonia is the daughter of a wealthy patrician family and a relation of the Emperor.  Although she is quite young and still has to mature, she has already been engaged more than once; her family arrange alliances for their children in order to further the family's interests and arrange divorces if the marriage proves unsuitable for improving the family fortunes.

  Her brother Clarus however has insisted on marrying for love, to a girl who is flighty and unfaithful.  She is a cousin of the family and does not love Clarus.. but she and her mother have been living on charity as poor relations.   Clarus and Antonia's father go to war in Judea, leaving the women of the family to manage their business interests in Rome.. which was considered more of a woman's role.  Antonia's mother manages the household, the social events like attending chariot racing and parties and the family businesses.. with efficiency but Antonia has always found her cold and seemingly obsessed with money and social position.  

During the course of the novel Antonia falls in love, experiences the death of one of her suitors in one of the coups, and also fears being murdered or possibly raped when soldiers are running riot.  She takes a lover, takes care of him when he is wounded and learns about running a household and managing the family's properties.   She also finds that her seemingly cold mother was once deeply in love with one of the claimants to the Imperial throne.  She loses the man she loved but finds a new husband whom she is fond of....so it is a muted happy ending.....