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
I Dreamt I Was a Bird reviewing the album for Folk Radio UK, described it as "a sterling example of all that is good about contemporary folk music in Britain today". In a review for Artree, Phil Daniels described "I Dreamt I Was a Bird" as "musically compelling", surpassing both her previous albums. "Lion", commissioned by Billy Bragg for the 14-18 NOW project, is about Rifleman Robert Loveless Barker, executed, aged 21, for cowardice during the First World War. He is commemorated on the Shot at Dawn Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. "I Dreamt I Was a Bird" was produced by Stu Hanna