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This Month's Book Club Page Turner from a Year in High Heels is the Classic Rebecca

Next in our installment of book club recommendations from Camilla Morton's A Year in High Heels: The Girl's Guide to Everything from Jane Austen to the A-List is this month's review of Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca. I read Rebecca for the first time for a book group as well, and remember staying up most of the night to finish it, it is soooo good. Read on.

This Month's Book Club Page Turner
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Why
Speaking of great openings, this book has one. While wannabe Hepburns and Hitchcocks are showcasing their ideas and podcasts at the Cannes Film Festival why not choose a title that has been adapted for the screen?

Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca was already an international bestseller when, in 1940, Alfred Hitchcock transformed it into an unforgettable Oscar-winning film, starring Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as his new bride. Hitchcock managed to remain faithful to the novel yet brought the thriller to life and added style and celluloid chic.

Who
Dame Daphne du Maurier (May 13, 1907–April 19, 1989) combined mystery and romance in her novels, sort of Brontë meets Agatha Christie, if you like. The daughter of a successful actor-manager she had an affluent, carefree childhood where her abundant imagination could blossom. The success of her first novel, The Loving Spirit (1931); brought not only fame but the attentions of the dashing Major Frederick Browning, whom she fell in love with and married (so often reality can be better than fiction).

Du Maurier wrote Rebecca in 1937, when her husband was posted to Egypt. Unlike other wives she didn’t wave him off; she simply packed up and went determinedly with him, leaving their children with the nanny in Cornwall.

Her rich descriptions and strong narratives made her novels instantly appealing for Hollywood. True, Rebecca sealed her eternal fame, but her other novels, which include Jamaica Inn (1936) and Frenchman’s Creek (1941), are equally intriguing. The latter pair were also turned into films, as were two of her short stories, The Birds (1963) and Don’t Look Now (1973).

The Plot
From a combination of du Maurier’s own Cornwall mansion, Menabilly, and the great mansion Milton in Peterborough, where she had stayed as a child, she created Manderley, and the unforgettable opening lines:

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me.

Rebecca is a reworking of the Cinderella/Jane Eyre tale, only this time it is stylishly set in forties England.

The story begins in Monte Carlo with Mrs. Van Hopper and her companion—a shy young girl, whose silent situation and stoic character we instantly empathize with—and she becomes our unnamed heroine. Van Hopper is a ghastly, gaudy American lady (Sorry!) who is delighted to discover the eligible English gentleman Maxim de Winter is staying at their hotel. De Winter is there to get over the loss of Rebecca, his first wife, but ever the committed social climber, Mrs. Van Hopper refuses to leave him in peace until fate steps in. She catches fl u and is confined to her room, leaving her employed travel companion and de Winter to explore Monte Carlo together. Showing her a consideration she is not used to, the rich widower inadvertently sweeps the poor, plain(ish), and innocent girl off her feet. He in turn is captivated by this quiet, devoted child, and when it is time for their holiday friendship to end he can’t bear to be parted from her and wants to save her, so he proposes marriage.

But the happiness of the innocent honeymoon comes to an abrupt end when they return to his family home, Manderley, in Cornwall, and here the twists of the plot really begin.

The omnipresent shadow of de Winter’s first wife, Rebecca, threatens to eclipse any hope of happiness for his second wife. To make matters just a little bit worse the terrifying house keeper Mrs. Danvers makes it perfectly clear that she is not even in the same league as the former mistress of Manderley. From beyond the grave Rebecca seems to bully and belittle her nameless new rival, and the more she does so, the more helplessly the young bride flounders as she tries to impress Maxim. Du

Maurier said originally the heroine was nameless simply because she couldn’t think of a name. Then as she was writing she realized it could be used as a device to illustrate how much Rebecca dominated the house, and how insignificant the new wife felt. Well, don’t you just hate it when you can’t remember someone’s name, or worse, when they can’t remember yours?

But here’s the thing—will the new Mrs. de Winter be able to save Maxim from the ghost of his first wife? Can love conquer all? Or is Rebecca the only mistress of Manderley and of his heart? It’s certainly a page-turner.

Hosting
A forties dress code should be issued with the invitation and the table should be set for tea. Think about what Rebecca would have served. Which tea, which jam with the crumpets or scones? Would Mrs. Danvers approve? For the finale, you could watch Hitchcock’s stylish classic, or discuss the continuations of the tale, Mrs. de Winter by Susan Hill, or Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman.

Other films that began life as books:
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Your Book Club's Next Page Turner from A Year in High Heels

Next up in our monthly installment of book recommendations from Camilla Morton's A Year in High Heels: The Girl's Guide to Everything from the A-List to Jane Austen is today's review of Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Coincidentally, I was last at Alice's Teacup, which she mentions below as a great location to discuss Perfume, for an event for Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict! Here's the reading group guide for Perfume.

If you missed last month's book pick from Camilla, check it out here.

Book Club Page Turner from A Year in High Heels
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

Why
Travel back to eighteenth- century Paris and follow a tale of scent and obsession, with sensual and sinister twists as one man pursues the perfect scent. If you have ever wanted to taste, smell, and travel through the streets of Paris’s past then Süskind’s spooky descriptions are for you. From the opening page the book is crammed full of adjectives to describe every sensory sensation as the gruesome story of Jean- Bapiste Grenouille unfolds.

Who
Patrick Süskind was born on March 26, 1949, in Munich, Germany. He studied history at Munich University and spent a year in Aix- en- Provence, France, where he gathered the material that would inspire his bestselling novel. His first play, Double Bass, was published to great acclaim in 1980, but it was Perfume, translated into English in 1985 by John E. Wood, that really put him on the map. This fictional masterpiece has sold over a million copies worldwide. In 2006 it was turned into a film starring Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman, with Ben Whishaw as Grenouille. Süskind himself has retreated from public life and refuses to give interviews. But this doesn’t stop people reading and discussing his work. Kurt Cobain said it was his favorite novel, and wrote that "Scentless Apprentice," from Nirvana’s album In Utero, was inspired by it.

The Plot
Grenouille is abandoned at birth, dumped among rotting fish guts, and is a strange, unearthly loner from the start. Though his circumstances are tragic, and beyond his control, Grenouille does little to endear himself to others. He is an unpopular orphan, but not through aggression or manner; what makes him an oddity is that he has no odor, and without it he is invisible to those around him. Despite this odd handicap, his own sense of smell is acute and he makes his nose his secret weapon and his hold over the world around him.

Orphan Grenouille is taken on as an apprentice to tanner Maître Grimal to learn a trade. When he delivers a goatskin to famed perfumer Baldini, he cajoles the gentleman into taking him on, sealing the deal when he blends a perfume that Baldini had been trying in vain to copy. He dangles the solution as bait: the recipe in exchange for an apprenticeship. For the first time Grenouille finds he has a skill and talent at which he excels and not only feels he can fit in but also feels empowered.

With this strange Grenouille as his hidden protégé, Baldini becomes the greatest perfumer in Paris. Business is booming and his patrons are hypnotized by his new blends. He is unstoppable, unbeatable, rich beyond his wildest dreams yet terrified by this creature who now controls his destiny. He needn’t have worried as despite his virtuoso talent, Grenouille doesn’t seek fame or fortune. Soon he has learned all he can and begins his quest in earnest for the ultimate scent. Grenouille leaves all the formulas with Baldini but no sooner has his protégé left than Baldini meets an unhappy end.

Grenouille is now free to wander the countryside searching for a way to blend ingredients to create his own scent. He is tormented and tortured as to how to get the perfect essence when he at last smells what he has spent his life searching for: the sweetest essence of all—that of a young virgin on the cusp of womanhood. He just needs to find a way to bottle it. Ruthlessly he gathers the ingredients he needs to make his scent, but will he succeed?

Perhaps it is not the cosiest of bedtime reads, but it’s certainly unforgettable and something sure to spark debate.

Hosting
Ideally this book should be discussed in a dimly lit, red velvet bordello accompanied by perfumed teas, or you could combine the discussion with a wine-tasting session, allowing you to admire the merits of different bouquets, as well as nod to another great French passion. What essence of the book do you want to explore? Customized scents are all the rage; you could arrange for someone (with less deadly intent) to come and create a scent for the group. If the weather is playing fair you could meet in a scented garden, or perhaps this is the perfect excuse to try the newest pâtisserie, or visit Alice’s Teacup or Tea and Sympathy in New York City.

Alternative essences of Paris include:
A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Girl at the Lion d’Or by Sebastian Faulks
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland
Farewell, My Queen by Chantal Thomas
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo