The reader is taken into an isolated grey stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast with these lines,as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the terrible events that occurred as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she scarcely knew. For there were phantoms of a time gone but not forgotten in every part of the vast housea past devotedly preserved by Mrs. Danversthe malevolent housekeeper: a suite pristine and unspoiledclothing laid out and ready to be wornbut not by any of the great house’s current residents. The second Mrs. de Winter travelled in the shadow of her mysterious predecessorintent on uncovering the deepest secrets and shattering the most terrifying illusions.