Du Maurier’s status as a neglected literary genius has been endorsed by the American author Stephen King, another writer who has had the cold shoulder from critics. In 1993, he described Rebecca as “a book any aspiring popular writer should read, if only for its bravura pacing and narrative control. Critics may sneer, but it’s impossible to do this sort of thing unless you have an almost perfect downbeat in your head. Du Maurier had it”.