#2: Rebecca

Last summer holidays, I started reading Jane Eyre. I'd loved Villette, an underrated gem by Charlotte Brontë, and was at first a bit reluctant to read anything else by her, doubting that it could compare. But I started Jane and liked it a lot. For some reason, though, I lost focus about 150 pages from the end - probably got distracted by a million and one other books to read, as always happens. I picked it up again last night, determined to finish it these summer holidays, and am enjoying it again. It makes me think, of course, of Rebecca, which was so clearly inspired by it. And yet, anyone who thinks that Daphne du Maurier's masterpiece is little more than a copy of the Brontë classic is sadly mistaken.

There's so much suspense and tension woven into this brilliantly gothic and deeply Romantic novel, it's almost unbearable at points. Du Maurier writes brilliantly, capturing every emotion - large and small - that her unnamed narrator is capable of feeling. This is one of the most emotionally complex books I have read, and a magnificent exploration of love, jealousy, guilt and compromise. Critics are divided over whether or not this is a feminist novel. I'd rather not comment. But it's a deeply feminine novel, a book that allows the female perspective to flourish where the world of its time might have been more inclined to see things from the man's position.

This is much more than a minor romance. This is a book of great depth and sophistication. I can't believe that my favourite director was able to make such a botch of adapting this novel for the screen - a book that really should have been so suited to his values and style. But there were no doubt constraints on him that he couldn't get past, despite having the lovely Joan Fontaine in the lead role - a great bit of casting in an otherwise lacklustre film. Certainly he had to change the incredibly ambiguous ending, one of the best aspects of the novel, but not something that the film industry of the day tolerated. But, where the film contracts, reduces and ultimately restricts the storyline, the original novel flourishes in the imagination long after the final page is read. This is truly an unforgettable read.