"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." The famous first line from one of Daphne du Maurier's most infamous stories, Rebecca, and Hitchcock’s Oscar-winning 1940 adaptation perfectly sets the tone for what is on the surface a perfect thriller – yet so much more than that.

Du Maurier wrote it in the first person, from the perspective of a young unnamed narrator, and starting out, she only knew the novel would have the following: Two wives, one alive, one dead and the name Rebecca. It might be a thriller on the surface, but it’s really about power and relationships – and how the dynamic changes when manipulation and abuse come into play.

That Netflix will take on its adaptation is a brave task, though we’ll reserve judgment until its premiere.

Our narrator, a sweet, naive young woman in her early twenties (played by Lily James) meets the dashing, yet unhappy Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer) while working as a lady’s companion in a grand hotel in Monte Carlo. The girl is anxious, observant, dreamy, romantic, and insecure – so much so that her insecurities become easy manipulation fodder when she becomes the second Mrs de Winter and mistress of the haunting Manderley.

Rebecca, the titular deceased wife was the original lady of Manderley and prior to her death from a boating accident, beloved by those around her.

The household, and in particular, Manderley’s sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas) does everything she can to isolate and undermine our narrator – she is depicted without the polish of wife number one, nameless, and therefore the ideal candidate for a new wife – who becomes convinced her husband is still in love with the seemingly perfect Rebecca.

Like the best novels, it all begins to unravel from there.

And as for Max de Winter? Well, it remains to be seen whether Netflix will remain faithful to the book or give it a more Hollywood-type gloss.

Social media have expressed initial doubts over the casting announcement of James and Hammer (Hammer, in particular, is almost the same age as James (both in their early thirties), but in the novel and film, he’s at least 10 years older while the narrator is only in her early twenties). Scott Thomas, however, looks picture-perfect as the villainous housekeeper.