The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
The Guardian – Top 10 novels of the 1930s
Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca, surviving the test of time
This is an image from the recent Netflix adaptation of Rebecca
Author and journalist Alec Marsh has written an article in the Guardian newspaper this week naming the top ten novels of the 1930s. Alec’s Drabble and Harris series of books are also set in the 1930s, so he is well placed to discuss books from this era.
His top ten are:
10. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (1930)
9. The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (1930)
8. Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald (1934)
7. Stamboul Train by Graham Greene (1932)
6. Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household (1939)
5. Right Ho, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse (1934)
4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)
3. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen (1938)
2. Burmese Days by George Orwell (1934)
1. Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell (1931)
Alec admits that it was challenging to select ten books out of an absolute glut of wonderful novels and writers. He had to miss out on authors including Eric Ambler, Ernest Hemmingway, Aldous Huxley, Margaret Mitchell, John Steinbeck, JRR Tolkien and Virginia Woolf.
However, we are delighted to see that Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca is included in the list at number four as a novel that survives the test of time. It is interesting to see who was writing, and the books they were producing at a similar time to Daphne’s Rebecca.