These are both books from my own collection. I borrowed the audiobooks from the library.
I’ve got 2 reviews to share with you – one a reread & one a new-to-me book – both perfect for this time of year!
REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier
Published: January 1, 2006 (originally published in Aug 1938) / Harper Collins
Summary:
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. . .”
With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house’s current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
My thoughts:
This is a reread for me & I loved it just as much this time as I did the first time I read it. It’s haunting, it’s incredibly atmospheric & the characters…oh my! From the unnamed narrator to the specter of Rebecca to the dreadful Mrs. Danvers – who incidentally might be a favorite because of just how she is portrayed – I was completely captivated once again & just know this is going to be a book I turn to year after year around this time.
Audio thoughts:
I did the audio this time around & loved the narration. Anna Massey does a phenomenal job bringing this book to life!
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THE WINTERS by Lisa Gabriele
Published: October 16, 2018, Viking
Summary:
Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, a spellbindingly suspenseful novel set in the moneyed world of the Hamptons, about secrets that refuse to remain buried and consequences that can’t be escaped
After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded Long Island mansion of her new fiancé Max Winter—a wealthy politician and recent widower—and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter Dani makes her life a living hell. She soon realizes there is no clear place for her in this twisted little family: Max and Dani circle each other like cats, a dynamic that both repels and fascinates her, and he harbors political ambitions with which he will allow no woman—alive or dead—to interfere.
As the soon-to-be second Mrs. Winter grows more in love with Max, and more afraid of Dani, she is drawn deeper into the family’s dark secrets—the kind of secrets that could kill her, too. The Winters is a riveting story about what happens when a family’s ghosts resurface and threaten to upend everything.
My thoughts:
This retelling of Rebecca was excellent! I thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe more because I picked it up so soon after rereading Rebecca. There are obvious differences, of course, but if you know the original story, you get the nuances & I couldn’t have loved it more. I loved the Long Island setting & that instead of a “Mrs. Danvers” to cause friction in the new marriage, there is a daughter from the original marriage. That was a nice twist & one that kept surprising me at every turn. So many secrets & once they started unraveling, watch out!
Audio thoughts:
I alternated between the print & audio for this one. The narrator, Emily Rankin, does an amazing job with the voices.
Have you read either of these authors books or have you read any other books inspired by Rebecca?
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