THE twist and turns of one of the world’s best selling novels was once brought to the stage in Bolton.

Rebecca by Dame Daphne du Maurier sold 2,829,313 copies between its publication in 1938 and 1965, and the book has never gone out of print.

It spawned numerous film, television and radio plays and was even turned into a musical and an opera in 1983.

But it was the author herself who adapted the novel - which famously begins with the line ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again’ - for the West End stage.

Unlike the book, the 1940 stage adaption was given a happy ending and enjoyed a successful run in London of more than 350 performances.

In April 1984, the cast of Bolton Little Theatre entertained the town with the tale of the young Mrs de Winters, who finds herself living in a gothic mansion and tormented by the mystery of her husband’s former wife and her sinister house keeper Mrs Danvers.

Pictures is Christine Manning as the new Mrs de Winter, Andrew Close as her charming but secretive husband Maximilian, and Penny Maxwell watching on as the dangerous Mrs Danvers.