The Glamorous Real-Life Inspiration Behind Netflix's "Rebecca"

Rebecca's famous opening line, repeated in the novel and just about every adaptation since, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," introduces the story's setting (and a character all its own), the imposing Manderley estate. That was indeed based on a real place: the author's beloved Menabilly. A mostly forgotten manor house she came across while on vacation in Cornwall in 1926, Menabilly became Du Maurier's obsession for nearly 20 years. Finally, in 1943, she convinced the family that owned it to rent it to her and she lived there with her family for another two decades. Like the fictional Manderley, Menabilly cast a spell.