Will I love My Cousin Rachel?

First published in 1951 and now available in a modern edition with an excellent Introduction, this is Du Maurier at her best. It's a terrific, compelling story, cleverly unfolded by its male narrator. It keeps Dear Reader on her/his toes with the enigmatic, elusive Rachel and its exploration of the corrosive power of jealousy and suspicion.

This book is a masterwork of psychological suspense that I love for its unreliable narration, emotional intensity, vivid rendering of character and place, and ingenious plot twists. Just as compelling and atmospheric as du Maurier’s earlier Rebecca, this novel similarly features a central enigma in the form of a shape-shifting woman. Still, its narrator and protagonist is a young man.

Philip Ashley, heir to a Cornish estate, is reckoning with the sudden overseas death of his beloved cousin and guardian, Ambrose, under mysterious circumstances. As he increasingly questions the role Ambrose’s new wife—a mysterious widow named Rachel—might have played… show more.

I love gothic novels. As an impressionable and moody teenager visiting Cornwall I used to walk the cliffs alone in stormy weather imagining myself as a romantic heroine. 

Du Maurier’s best-known novel is Rebecca, but I loved My Cousin Rachel better, not least because its heroine shared my name. I say ‘heroine’, but actually, for much of the book we don’t know what to think of Rachel. She enters Philip Ashley’s life after the death of his older cousin and guardian Ambrose, and Philip discovers to his dismay that Ambrose has left all his property to his new wife… show more.

I didn’t buy this book, it was left in my house (a former holiday let) as part of a random selection.

I’ll read anything if it’s left around me for long enough, but I loved this book, couldn’t put it down, and read it twice for extra clues. I didn’t realise Daphne du Maurier was one of the most popular authors of her era, but I can see why.
The story was so mysterious, and the ending is left open to speculation/interpretation. You’re never really certain who the villain is, or whether Rachel’s ending was justified.
I really enjoyed the… show more.