Publication Date: October 6, 2026
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.
A lonely woman reminisces about an illicit love affair alongside a provocative recreation of famed author Daphne du Maurier.
Author Rose Tremain reimagines the inspiration leading up to the creation of du Maurier’s Rebecca in The Housekeeper.
It unfolds through the eyes of Lilianne Danowski, aka Danni, who meets du Maurier while serving as the housekeeper at Manderville Hall. The story unfolds slowly, almost tentatively,
In a time when social class and gender norms were strictly enforced, their budding relationship blossoms as du Maurier uses the boathouse as a place to write.
Danni’s recollection unfolds as part confession, part wishful thinking. Ultimately, it becomes a story of a passionate affair shattered in a truly shocking way.
The Housekeeper blazes a new path in a forbidden passion between two women divided by social class.
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 GarcÃa 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 & Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.
