Teaser Tuesdays: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
I’ve been waiting all week to post this quote from Rebecca for my Teaser Tuesdays entry! True, this is not a quote from a random page, but it’s so striking and haunting an image that I’m posting it anyway! Think of it this way: it’s hand-selected, just for you!
A refresh of the Teaser Tuesday guidelines:
* Grab your current read.
* Let the book fall open to a random page.
* Share with us two (or more) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on the page.
* Share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given.
* Please avoid spoilers!
“There might linger there still a certain atmosphere of stress… That corner in the drive, too, where the trees encroach upon the gravel is not a place in which to pause, not after the sun has set. When the leaves rustle, they sound very much like the stealthy movement of a woman in evening dress, and when they shiver suddenly, and fall, and scatter away along the ground, they might be the patter, patter, of a woman’s hurrying footstep, and the mark in the gravel the imprint of a high-heeled satin shoe.”
–Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, (c) 1938
Chapter two, page 14
Chilling! I love it. I like to think Alfred Hitchcock was at home reading this book before a nice fire, and those lines convinced him to make this book into what would become his 1940 Oscar-winning film. I’m sure in reality some guy brought him the screenplay, but it’s a nice thought, right?
January 13th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
This is seriously one of my favourite books. I am in love with the opening line, I think its one of the best opening lines in a book I have ever read. Without saying much at all it is so evocative.
I actually had to read this book as part of my high school reading list, and I finished it within 2 days, I loved it that much. I’m not the biggest fan of the main character, but the language and description in the book is so evocative, chilling is a great word for some of the things that happen.
Thanks for the teaser, bought back lots of things for me, I might have to re-read it now!
January 13th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
I agree, the opening line really pulls you in. I’m reading Rebecca as part of my research into books related to the novel Jane Eyre and I can really see the similarities, but beyond that it’s a fantastic book on its own!