Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. She wrote four novels at a very young age. Her fifth novel named “Rebecca” was one of her most successful works. It was an immediate hit, selling nearly 3 million copies between 1938 and 1965. She won the National Book Award for her novel Rebecca, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. She died on 19 April 1989, aged 81, in Cornwall, which had been the setting for many of her books.