My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Having enjoyed Rebecca so much, I thought I would jump straight in with another Daphne du Maurier.  My Cousin Rachel, like Rebecca, centres around a mysterious woman.  In this case, it is the narrator's distant cousin, Rachel.  We never really get to know Rachel, but she has many of the characteristics of Rebecca.  She is charismatic and has an aura around her.  What I find interesting is why Du Maurier was so drawn to writing about female characters like this.  At first read it can seem that she is saying that women are deceitful and secretive, manipulative and scheming, but I think her intention was very different.  What Rebecca and Rachel have in common is misconception.  Both women are thought to be different to how they really are and I think it is this that Du Maurier is railing against.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I am ashamed to admit that I have never read any du Maurier, and apart from the opening line I knew nothing about Rebecca. So, having finally finished Wolf Hall I decided that what I needed was the kind of book that I could really get swept away by and everything that I had heard about Rebecca made me think it would be perfect.

And it was.

The atmosphere, the palpable sense of dread and uncertainty throughout the story and the pace of the plot make it a true page-turner.  What I found most interesting was the almost supernatural sense that du Maurier creates.  As I said, I knew nothing about the story and I was kept guessing right the way through.  I thought that Mrs Danvers could be Rebecca, or that all the other characters were ghosts.  The twists and turns in the plot don't feel like twists and turns - they all make sense and are perfectly possible.  Somehow the fact that none of it was supernatural made the whole thing seem more sinister.