Book · 1938
Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier
A nervous young bride marries a widower into his grand house and can't escape his first wife, who's been dead the whole time.
What does Reddit think of Rebecca?
The recurring move is treating it as the ancestor of the modern domestic-gothic-thriller shelf: one list (↑236) puts it next to Gillian Flynn's Dark Places, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as if Rebecca were the first entry in a genre that didn't have a name yet. It's also a comfort reread for people who first read it young, one commenter (↑101) pairing it with I Capture the Castle and saying they "loved and still love them both dearly." Another calls it, alongside A Gentleman in Moscow, a book loved purely "for the writing" (↑275). Mentions had held steady in the 43-57 range for years before jumping to 72 in 2025, the sample's high point, with no clear cause visible in the data. Nobody here argues with the book; the closest thing to friction is silence from the genre subs.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · gothic suspense and a haunting predecessor
- · domestic-thriller ancestor
- · prose style as the draw
- · teen-to-adult reread
Common praise
- + It anchors gothic-thriller reading lists that also include Gillian Flynn and Mexican Gothic, treated as the genre's starting point (↑236).
- + One reader singles out the prose itself, pairing it with A Gentleman in Moscow as a book loved purely for the writing (↑275).
- + A commenter who read it young says they 'loved and still love' it, pairing it with I Capture the Castle as a formative reread (↑101).
Common criticism
- − It has essentially no presence outside r/suggestmeabook, just 3 mentions combined across r/Fantasy and r/printSF, so genre readers aren't engaging with it at all.
- − Most citations are plain title-drops with no elaboration, offering little sense of what specifically works beyond 'read this' (↑208, ↑180, ↑103).
Who it's for
This suits readers assembling a gothic-thriller reading list who want the book everything else on that list is quietly imitating. Recommenders here treat 14 as old enough for it (↑149), so don't assume it needs an adult reading level to land. If prose style sells you more than plot mechanics, the comparison to A Gentleman in Moscow is the relevant one. Genre-forum crossover is basically nonexistent, 3 mentions total between r/Fantasy and r/printSF, so this isn't a book Reddit's SF or fantasy crowd has opinions about.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Rebecca?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Probably a Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles or Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I just loved the writing in both so much. And thank you to this subreddit for recommending both to me
“Dark Places by Gillian Flynn The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evel…
“Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“She probably won’t let you read them, but adding to your list anyway because I think 14 is old enough to read what you want (shakes my cane in the air - back in mg day YA books really weren’t much of a thing, so everyone I knew was reading adult books almost exclusively by 11 or 12.) My Year of Re…
“The Remains of the Day - Ishiguro (A+++) James - Percival Everett Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer (non fic) Endurance - Alfred Lansing (non fic) The Razor’s Edge - W Somerset Maugham Nothing to Envy - Barbara Demick (non fic about N Korea) T…
“Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier I read both of these at around that age, loved and still love them both dearly Then possibly Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky?
Convinced? Pick up Rebecca
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J. K. Rowling
A neglected eleven-year-old discovers he belongs to a hidden magical world, enters Hogwarts, and learns that wonder carries history and danger with it.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
Martha Wells
A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson
A street thief gets recruited into a heist crew plotting to overthrow a god-emperor who has ruled unchallenged for a thousand years.
Circe
Madeline Miller
An exiled witch on a deserted island turns men into pigs and spends three thousand years deciding what she actually wants.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
A framed sailor rots in an island prison for fourteen years, escapes with a fortune, and spends the rest of the book collecting on every debt of vengeance.
Rebecca — frequently asked
Is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier appropriate for a teenage reader?+
One commenter (↑149) explicitly argues 14 is old enough for it, recalling that their own generation read adult books by that age without a dedicated YA shelf to fall back on. Nothing else in the sample raises age concerns.
What does Reddit think of Rebecca?+
It's treated as a comfort reread and a gothic-thriller ancestor rather than a book anyone argues about.
Is Rebecca similar to modern gothic thrillers like Mexican Gothic?+
Reddit treats it that way. One list (↑236) places Rebecca alongside Mexican Gothic, Dark Places, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, implicitly positioning it as the older book the newer domestic-gothic wave grew out of.
Why did mentions of Rebecca jump in 2025?+
The data doesn't show a clear cause. Mentions held in a steady 43-57 range from 2019 through 2024, then rose to 72 in 2025, the sample's high point, without any specific thread or event standing out as the trigger.