Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill

[SueK]

This book had very mixed reviews on amazon (I know;) but sometimes you just want to get a feel of a book first). I had to read it as I was still "hanging on " to Rebecca which I read previous to this and wanted to keep the storyline going.

 

Mrs de Winter is the continuing story of the nameless heroine and Maxim de Winter 10 years after the drama of Manderley and WW2 has been and gone too. I enjoyed this book very much. I think Susan Hill captured the character of Mrs De Winter very well, she still remained a timid creature in fear of Maxim and I wanted to shake her at times. The plot moves forward and the couple eventually manage to shake off the ghosts of Manderley and start life again in the UK after a 10 year spell in exile travelling Europe (in great grandness - Maxim was a very wealthy fellow). Needless to say the ghosts catch up with them and the ending is quite dramatic but I suppose in a satisfying way - you will understand that if you read the book.

 

All I need to do now is read Rebecca's tale by Sally Beauman which is, as the title suggests, a prequel to Rebecca.

 

I would thoroughly recommend reading Mrs de Winter especially if you are fan of Susan Hill - she writes in quite a different manner to her usual books but she takes on the style of Du Maurier very well. Some say this is plagiarism but I think the story needed to be told.... and it was satisfactorily told IMO.

[MuggleMagic]

I'm certainly adding this to me reading list!!!!

[SueK]

I thought I'd just post a few lines on this book. Having read the Original Rebecca and noticing there were a few books that tie up the so-called ends of Du Maurier's classic, I mentioned above the sequel, Mrs De Winter by Susan Hill which I really enjoyed.

 

I've now read the prequel, Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman which I found a trifle disappointing.

 

The writing is good and in some ways echo's du Maurier's quite well. The premise I found a little implausible. The book is seen through the eyes of old Colonel Julyan who was Maxim's friend and confidante; Rebecca herself through a series of books that she had left; the daughter of Julyan and a stranger called Terence Grey. Apart from Rebecca herself and Julyan the other two characters needn't have made an appearance as their story didn't really enhance the plot other than as a bridge. The ending of the story doesn't even really affect Rebecca at all and there are still what ifs.

 

What disappointed me the most was the resurrection of the second Mrs De Winter into a person I barely recognised. She had turned into a matronly middle-aged "grey" person who still had the timidness of the earlier book but had also developed a cunning view of Rebecca that I found hard to believe. Mrs Danvers also came across as a stranger to the original.

 

All in all, it was interesting to read an alternative take of Rebecca's early days and I found the atmospheric writing around Manderley still beguiling but I much preferred Susan Hill's version as I felt she kept to the original characterisation.

Edited January 29, 2010 by SueK