Manderley has become mistress of Manderley, senses an atmosphere of doom about it, due to the death of Max's first wife (the titular Rebecca), and it is hinted that she haunts the estate. Childhood visits to Milton Hall, Cambridgeshire, home of the Fitzwilliam family, influenced the descriptions of Manderley, especially the interior. She told the 10th Earl Fitzwilliam in a letter that when she wrote "Rebecca" 20 years later, the interior of Manderley was based on her recollection of the rooms and 'big house feel' of Milton in the First World War. The adult du Maurier's Cornish home near Fowey, called
Angela du Maurier Angela du Maurier Angela du Maurier (1 March 1904 – 5 February 2002) was an English novelist who also wrote two volumes of autobiography, "It's Only the Sister" (1951) and "Old Maids Remember". She was the sister of Daphne du Maurier. The eldest of three daughters of the famous actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel Beaumont (maternal niece of William Comyns Beaumont), she was born in St Pancras, London. Her grandfather was the author and "Punch" cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the novel "Trilby". Although three years older than her better known