The Housekeeper

by Rose Tremain

In this enthralling novel—already in production as a major movie starring Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Catriona Balph and Emma Laird— the award-winning author of Absolutely & Forever and The Road Home brilliantly reimagines Daphne du Maurier, and the origins of her timeless bestseller Rebecca. This daring and emotional tale of an illicit affair is narrated by a Mrs. Danowski, known as Danni, who is hired as housekeeper at Manderville Hall, Lord Grenville-Whithers’ mansion on the wild coast of Cornwall. A loyal and lonely woman troubled by childhood memories of alienation, Danni dreams of finding love. Those dreams are fulfilled when Daphne du Maurier arrives at Manderville Hall for lunch with Grenville-Whithers. Succumbing to her secret sexual desire for women, Daphne begins a love affair with Danni, meeting on the housekeeper’s days off in the secluded boathouse at Manderville Cove. For both women, this forbidden passion is both beautiful and terrifying. But of course such a love cannot last—and both Danni and Daphne must deal with the aftermath of their passion. While Danni struggles to find a new place in the world, Daphne reconfigures the experience into her most famous work, Rebecca, with surprising results.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 17, 2026

About the author

Dame Rose Tremain is an acclaimed English novelist and short story writer, celebrated for her distinctive approach to historical fiction and her focus on characters who exist on the margins of society. Educated at the Sorbonne and the University of East Anglia, where she later taught creative writing and served as Chancellor, Tremain has produced a rich body of work spanning novels, short stories, plays, and memoir. Influenced by writers such as William Golding and Gabriel García Márquez, her narratives often blend psychological depth with lyrical prose.
Among her many honors, she has received the Whitbread Award for Music and Silence, the Orange Prize for The Road Home, and the National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Restoration and has been recognized multiple times by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. In 2020, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. Tremain lives in Norfolk and continues to write, with her recent novel Absolutely and Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Birds! How terrifying if, one day, they thought we were prey and started to attack us. It might signal the end of us all.'

From the afterword, it seems that Tremain has been thinking continually about Mrs Danvers: first in a short story ('The Housekeeper' in The American Lover) then in a screenplay and, finally, now as a novel. I can't help wondering if this re-engagement has emptied out, rather than deepened, the engagement with Du Maurier and her fictional Mrs Danvers?

I was intrigued by the blurb and the idea of a novel which merges a reception of Rebecca with an engagement with Daphne du Maurier and her complicated sexuality. But, from the opening line, 'Last night I dreamed I saw Daphne again', spoken by the narrator, Lilianne Maria Danowski, the Polish Jewish housekeeper who, in the fiction, becomes transformed by Du Maurier into Mrs Danvers, we got off on the wrong foot: aping the iconic first line of Rebecca in this way felt way too obvious to me (as, indeed, did that scene of Daphne musing on the birds in the head quotation here).

As a reception of Rebecca, this certainly picks up on the queer eroticism of the original, as well as Du Maurier's affairs with women, something she identified as the 'boy' within her. But the psychology that makes the fictional author re-write Dani as a malign character didn't really work for me - and Rebecca has always contained a shadow-text that makes Mrs Danvers more the grieving widow for Rebecca than Max - the passionate beating heart of the text that can only end in emotional and physical conflagration.

I don't know: in the end, I think Rebecca is a hugely complicated and deceptive (in the best way!) text and this re-writing felt far simpler than I'd hoped. I felt that the wonderful concept at the heart of this re-writing didn't really come together and I wasn't wholly convinced by either the characters or the premise. Given the network of intertexts that already surround Rebecca, from its own reception of Jane Eyre to the companion-text of Wide Sargasso Sea which is a postcolonial and feminist insert into the Jane Eyre story, this re-visioning didn't stand up to its predecessors in the complex way I wanted.

Definitely still worth a read for fans of either Rebecca or Du Maurier. And, for anyone interested, here is my take on Rebecca.

Many thanks to Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Acknowledgements at the end of ‘The Housekeeper’, Rose Tremain explains that the origins of this imaginative take on the creation of the novel ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier originates from Tremain’s short story of the same name. It feels like a travesty to say so as I much admire her writing but this version, expanded into novel form, is not the all-involving narrative I was expecting.

It helps to have read ‘Rebecca’ in order to understand the many literary echoes in ‘The Housekeeper’, also set in the 1930s. There are certainly episodes when the writer can sympathise enormously with Danni, the Jewish housekeeper from Poland who looks after the running of the beautiful house on the Cornish country estate of Manderville Hall. Danni is a lonely outsider in almost all respects. So, when Daphne du Maurier seduces her and allows her to be her true self, she falls deeply in love. Of course this is a love that must be kept secret. When it is exposed, Danni is abandoned both emotionally and materially.

Not only does Danni have to cope with this rejection; she also feels horribly shamed by her lover who goes on to use her as inspiration for the often vicious character, Mrs Danvers, in ‘Rebecca’. (Some interpretations of ‘Rebecca’ argue that Mrs Danvers was in love with Rebecca. Hence the reason why she so resents the new Mrs de Winter.)

Unusually for Tremain, there are a few ‘purple prose’ passages in the novel. These do nothing to convince the reader of the reality of the relationship between Danni and Daphne – but maybe that’s the point. It can only exist in the boathouse or in a borrowed London house.

Whilst this novel reinforces our understanding of the barriers of class and the impossibility of single sex liaisons in the first half of the twentieth century, it doesn’t expand my appreciation or understanding of ‘Rebecca’ in any way, as does ‘The Wide Sargasso Sea of ‘Jane Eyre’ or ‘Longbourn’ of “Pride and Prejudice’ for example. ‘The Housekeeper’ is likely to be enjoyed by many but it’s not up there with Tremain’s best novels.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK Vintage for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...That was a statement my father used to utter frequently, that we only have one life, but he used to add something else, He used to say, 'The secret of a successful One Life is to cram many lives into it. As many as possible.'"

Over many years, Rose Tremain has written some superb novels- Restoration; The Road home and The Gustav Sonata to name but three.

The Housekeeper will join this compendium of fictional brilliance.

This is a tale that imagines the creation behind Daphne Du Maurier's phenomenal novel "Rebecca".

This is a novel of suppressed love and emotions told from the perspective of Lillian Danowski- Danni the Housekeeper at Manderville Hall. When Daphne du Maurier visits the hall, Danni is requested by Lord Grenville- Whithers to accompany the writer on a tour of the estate; a fire is lit and an all consuming but forbidden passion begins.

As changes occur at Manderville Hall, Danni's life is thrown into turmoil and a subsequent exit. Throughout the events of the story, she reminisces about her childhood in Poland as Jewish girl and subsequent escape with her father- the rejection, not belonging and not being accepted for who she is.

The story of Danni is heart-breaking but with moments of light and understanding. The ultimate rejection and treatment by the writer is compelling and cleverly delivered.... darkly summed up in the line " Do you think I will ever find it, Danni? The key to a story which no one will ever forget?"

This is a beautiful novel laced with melancholy - an awareness that the path taken can never succeed despite the power of imagination and every moment of happiness should be seized . Full of period details , class division and social history from the late 1930s with WWII on the horizon- the lives of the fortunates and less fortunates in all strata. This a is gripping read that pulled me in and one I couldn't put down. Rose Tremain is the consummate storyteller.

A film version of the novel is due to be released in the autumn which will be interesting - written by Rose Tremain

" Learn from them Lilianne. Learn animal endurance. Learn stillness. Then your life will consider much less to disappoint you."

"Sometimes we become the thing which others see in us. It felt to me that nothing remained for me except to embrace this darkness."

Thank you to Chatto & Windus and NetGalley for the advance copy for an honest review

[Cathy Beyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always difficult to write a novel that refers to another novel which the readers may or may not have read and if they have, they may compare it (un)favorably with the original novel. Rose Tremain must have been aware of this so she had a difficult task to fulfil. I have conflicted feelings about this. On the one hand, Tremain is a wonderful and experienced writer so as a novel in itself The Housekeeper is a joy to read. On the other hand, the whole alternate reality storyline that refers to Du Maurier and her novel Rebecca goes a bit far, in my opinion. I am sure some research was done and maybe some of the novel's ideas have some roots in reality but it's hard to imagine the whole novel as anything else but a work of fiction made up by a clever writer. It's enjoyable, well written and so, reader, take it for what it is.

[Mia]

The Housekeeper is a haunting, masterful reimagining of Daphne du Maurier’s life, seen through the sharp eyes of her lover, a woman whose devotion curdles into the chilling Mrs. Danvers.
The narrative is an exploration of betrayal and hope, moving from the intimacy of the bedroom to the cold halls of Manderley. Tremain expertly captures the crushing weight of the era’s social expectations, serving as a reminder of the pervasive fear those who lived "differently" endured in silence.
For fans of du Maurier, this is an essential companion piece. It breathes new, darker life into the origins of literature’s most famous antagonist. If you treasure the gothic atmosphere of Rebecca, this evocative exploration of obsession is a must-read.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent an advance proof copy of The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain to read and review by NetGalley. I love Rose Tremain’s writing so I was eager to request and read this book and it did not disappoint. One thing I will say though is read the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, that this novel is based on, first as there are plenty of spoilers dotted throughout the story. In the acknowledgements at the end of the book it states that there is a film of The Housekeeper being made and having enjoyed the book I am excited to see how it translates to the screen. If you love reading Rose Tremain and/or Daphne du Maurier then this novel is for you.

[Jackie Murrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s classic “Rebecca,” perhaps the first psychological thriller with twists and an unreliable narrator.
Tremain’s heroine is Lillian Danowski, known as Danni, a Polish emigrant who fled the Nazis and became the trusted housekeeper of a stately home in Cornwall. After the death of her mistress, she meets du Maurier and the two begin a passionate affair, although Danni is kept in a subserviant role and is eventually dropped rather brutally when they face discovery, with the author fearing the loss of both family and career as well as public disgrace. Danni is further devastated when she discovers that she features in the novel as the “villain,” Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper who had been obsessed with the dead Rebecca and who tries to destroy the new Mrs de Winter and her marriage. I found the affair between Danni and Daphne rather unconvincing and the depiction of it sometimes unintentionally hilarious, especially Daphne’s coy way of speaking and her use of the term “waxing” to describe their lovemaking. While I loved the idea of a backstory for Mrs Danvers, this didn’t work for me. However, the book is already being made into a film with a starry cast, and I think that it might well work better on the screen than on the page.