Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #469419 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-12
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Published more than 60 years ago, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca still captivates, at least partly because of its insistent ambiguity: we never learn definitively whether Maxim de Winter murdered his stunning first wife, Rebecca, or why Maxim so hastily remarried a mousy younger woman, famously unnamed. Selected by the du Maurier estate, Beauman (Destiny) has written a "companion" to Rebecca that preserves, and even deepens, the earlier novel's crafty evasions. Set in 1951, two decades after Rebecca's death was ruled a suicide, Beauman's story opens with the same (now famous) sentence as the earlier book: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." Elderly, ailing Colonel Arthur Julyan was magistrate in the district when the legendary de Winter mansion mysteriously burned to the ground. Julyan's last days are disturbed by the intrusive visits of Terence Gray, a Scottish academic who claims to be writing a book about Rebecca's death. Then both Julyan's sharp daughter Ellie and Gray, who has secrets of his own, become rattled when Rebecca's personal effects begin arriving at the Julyan home. One of the anonymously sent packages contains Rebecca's journal, written just before her death a possible Rosetta stone. Beauman expertly tells Rebecca's tale from four different perspectives Julyan's, Gray's, Ellie's and, most vividly, Rebecca's without settling which version is nearest the truth. Though a composite Rebecca emerges depressive, possibly schizophrenic, promiscuous, fearless and almost certainly "dangerous" Beauman merely hints at a biological cause, raising titillating, though fully plausible, possibilities. This lushly imagined sequel, which cleverly reproduces the cadences of du Maurier's prose, resurrects Manderley without sweeping away all the artful old cobwebs. Readers should pounce. Agent, Peter Matson. 15-city NPR campaign. (Oct. 2)Forecast: While Rebecca may not be familiar to younger readers (though the 1940 Hitchcock film starring Laurence Olivier is a classic), Beauman's seductive sequel should do well on its own and also prompt interest in the original, which is being reissued in mass market.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In his third outing (after Irresistible and The Broken Hearts Club), New York police detective Conrad Voort has drinks with his old boyhood friend, Meechum Keef, who asks him to check into a group of people. He gives no explanation, nor does he tell Voort where the people are to be found. After some investigation, Voort finds that several of these people have died accidentally. Then Keef himself goes missing. The people on the list, he realizes, have all been involved in some antigovernment activities, but this is the only thread that binds them together. Because Voort comes from a wealthy, influential family, he is able to gain access to many Washington, DC, records, which provide important information leading to an explanation. Black, the pseudonym for a best-selling New York journalist, has created a complex plot equal to his previous page-turners. From next to nothing, the detectives compile a complete picture of the group on the list and those who are hunting them. Except for Voort's annoying tendency to go to bed with beautiful victims, Black writes nearly perfect thrillers. For all public libraries.Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Does Miriam Margolyes ever give a bad performance? Margolyes breathes a bit of life into this predictable novel by Sally Beauman, lending a different voice to each character in its quiet seaside setting. But even Margolyes's great ability isn't enough to overcome the slow start to this story or the predictable melodrama that unfolds. Margolyes perfectly captures the mean spirit and drama behind Rebecca, the novel's focus, but the result is the listener's strong dislike for most of the characters involved. One wonders if the abridgment cut out any redeeming qualities of Rebecca and those around her. While Margolyes makes the story somewhat enjoyable with her talent for reading, it isn't enough to warrant a replay. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine