1936 Cornwall. Lilianne Danowski is housekeeper at the coastal mansion Manderville Hall. The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain is the re-imagined story of Mrs Danvers in Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca exploring a passionate forbidden relationship between housekeeper ‘Danni’ and local author. 
When Daphne meets Danni, the sexual tension is clear from the beginning. But this is socially-repressed 1930s England where anything other than traditional marriage is unforgiveable. Danni is a Jew who left Poland as a child with her father. Now she is alone in England, misses her homeland and is a lost soul who lives for her job. When the two women meet Danni is quickly seduced and falls deeply in love though they are only together briefly in the boathouse and at a friend’s house in London. The parallels with Rebecca are clear from the beginning – the location, the names, the infidelity – but the author/housekeeper relationship founders as propriety and expectations rule the day. du Maurier has committments to her husband and daughters and Danni is rejected. From the ruins of the love affair comes du Maurier’s masterful novel, but by the time it is published Danni has been sacked and is making a living as a seamstress. When the book is published, she is distraught to find she features as the fictional Mrs Danvers. This spiteful portrait written by the lover who spurned her is vicious and unforgiveable. This is a novel about class, wealth, power, social mores and forbidden love when Europe stood at the precipice of disaster.
According to the Author’s Note, The Housekeeper is based on a short story written some time ago by Tremain which is now in development as a film. This makes sense. This is a visual, sensual story of a love affair that goes wrong.
I hesitated about reading this novel as Rebecca is a long-time favourite of mine and I was wary of sullying that attachment. In the first few chapters I found myself continually referring back to Rebecca, looking for echoes. Two days after finishing it, I wondered if I would enjoy it more without having read Rebecca or watched the films. The description is luscious, some of the characters are wonderfully drawn [I’m thinking particularly of Lord Grenville-Withers] and scenes at Manderville Hall will be familiar to Rebecca lovers, particularly the Big Bash fancy dress ball. But accompanying my reading were the faces of Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Diana Rigg and Judith Anderson.
Definitely a novel that merits re-reading.
Read my reviews of these other novels by Rose Tremain:-
ABSOLUTELY & FOREVER
ISLANDS OF MERCY
LILY
THE GUSTAV SONATA
If you like this, try:-
‘The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde’ by Eve Chase
‘Little Deaths’ by Emma Flint
‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’ by Jane Healey
And if you’d like to share this post:
#BookReview THE HOUSEKEEPER by Rose Tremain https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-aed via @SandraDanby
COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- 
When Gemma Lawrence inherits a share of her Great Aunt’s restaurant she is dismayed to find she has to share it with Stefano Andrea, a moody Italian chef. Gemma and Stefano have broken relationships behind them and dislike each other on sight as much as Stefano hates the cold English weather. Under the terms of the will, they have to work together for six months to turn the dilapidated building into a successful restaurant. If either of them leaves or a profit has not been made, then they will lose their inheritance. The challenge is on and neither of them are prepared to give up. As they work together they begin to unravel the story behind the inheritance and find out what links the English apple orchard to the Italian lemon grove. Apple Orchard, Lemon Grove is a fast-paced novel with intriguing characters, atmospheric locations and mouth-watering food.
What is a ‘Porridge & Cream’ book? It’s the book you turn to when you need a familiar read, when you are tired, ill, or out-of-sorts, where you know the story and love it. Where reading it is like slipping on your oldest, scruffiest slippers after walking for miles. Where does the name ‘Porridge & Cream’ come from? Cat Deerborn is a character in Susan Hill’s ‘Simon Serrailler’ detective series. Cat is a hard-worked GP, a widow with two children and she struggles from day-to-day. One night, after a particularly difficult day, she needs something familiar to read. From her bookshelf she selects 
