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My Cousin Rachel

"From the first page…the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca." —The New York Times

From the bestselling author of Rebecca, another classic set in beautiful and mysterious Cornwall.

Philip Ashley's older cousin Ambrose, who raised the orphaned Philip as his own son, has died in Rome. Philip, the heir to Ambrose's beautiful English estate, is crushed that the man he loved died far from home. He is also suspicious. While in Italy, Ambrose fell in love with Rachel, a beautiful English and Italian woman. But the final, brief letters Ambrose wrote hint that his love had turned to paranoia and fear.

Now Rachel has arrived at Philip's newly inherited estate. Could this exquisite woman, who seems to genuinely share Philip's grief at Ambrose's death, really be as cruel as Philip imagined? Or is she the kind, passionate woman with whom Ambrose fell in love? Philip struggles to answer this question, knowing Ambrose's estate, and his own future, will be destroyed if his answer is wrong.

• Bonus Reading Group Guide Included

PRAISE FOR DAPHNE DU MAURIER

"Miss du Maurier is... a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile. And in My Cousin Rachel she does both, with Rebecca looking fondly over her shoulder."
New York Times

"Double-distilled readers' delight."
Manchester Guardian

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Excerpt

Excerpt

Excerpt from Chapter One

They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days.

Not any more, though. Now, when a murderer pays the penalty for his crime, he does so up at Bodmin, after fair trial at the Assizes. That is, if the law convicts him, before his own conscience kills him. It is better so. Like a surgical operation. And the body has decent burial, though a nameless grave. When I was a child it was otherwise. I can remember as a little lad seeing a fellow hang in chains where the four roads meet. His face and body were blackened with tar for preservation. He hung there for five weeks before they cut him down, and it was the fourth week that I saw him.

He swung between earth and sky upon his gibbet, or, as my cousin Ambrose told me, betwixt heaven and hell. Heaven he would never achieve, and the hell that he had known was lost to him. Ambrose prodded at the body with his stick. I can see it now, moving with the wind like a weather-vane on a rusty pivot, a poor scarecrow of what had been a man. The rain had rotted his breeches, if not his body, and strips of worsted drooped from his swollen limbs like pulpy paper.

It was winter, and some passing joker had placed a sprig of holly in the torn vest for celebration. Somehow, at seven years old, that seemed to me the final outrage, but I said nothing. Ambrose must have taken me there for a purpose, perhaps to test my nerve, to see if I would run away, or laugh, or cry. As my guardian, father, brother, counsellor, as in fact my whole world, he was forever testing me. We walked around the gibbet, I remember, with Ambrose prodding and poking with his stick; and then he paused and lit his pipe, and laid his hand upon my shoulder.

'There you are, Philip,' he said, 'it's what we all come to in the end. Some upon a battlefield, some in bed, others according to their destiny. There's no escape. You can't learn the lesson too young. But this is how a felon dies. A warning to you and me to lead the sober life.' We stood there side by side, watching the body swing, as though we were on a jaunt to Bodmin fair, and the corpse was old Sally to be hit for coconuts. 'See what a moment of passion can bring upon a fellow,' said Ambrose. 'Here is Tom Jenkyn, honest and dull, except when he drank too much. It's true his wife was a scold, but that was no excuse to kill her. If we killed women for their tongues all men would be murderers.'

I wished he had not named the man. Up to that moment the body had been a dead thing, without identity. It would come into my dreams, lifeless and horrible, I knew that very well from the first instant I had set my eyes upon the gibbet. Now it would have connection with reality, and with the man with watery eyes who sold lobsters on the town quay. He used to stand by the steps in the summer months, his basket beside him, and he would set his live lobsters to crawl along the quay in a fantastic race, to make the children laugh. It was not so long ago that I had seen him.

'Well,' said Ambrose, watching my face, 'what do you make of him?'

I shrugged my shoulders, and kicked the base of the gibbet with my foot. Ambrose must never know I cared, that I felt sick at heart, and terrified. He would despise me. Ambrose at twenty-seven was god of all creation, certainly god of my own narrow world, and the whole object of my life was to resemble him.

'Tom had a brighter face when I saw him last,' I answered. 'Now he isn't fresh enough to become bait for his own lobsters.'

Ambrose laughed, and pulled my ears. 'That's my boy,' he said. 'Spoken like a true philosopher.' And then he added, with a sudden flash of perception, 'If you feel squeamish, go and be sick behind the hedge there, and remember I have not seen you.'

He turned his back upon the gibbet and the four roads, and went striding away down the new avenue he was planting at the time, which cut through the woods and was to serve
as a second carriage-way to the house. I was glad to see him go because I did not reach the hedge in time. I felt better afterwards, though my teeth chattered and I was very cold. Tom Jenkyn lost identity again, and became a lifeless thing, like an old sack. He was even a target for the stone I threw. Greatly daring, I watched to see the body move. But nothing happened. The stone hit the sodden clothing with a plonk, then shied away. Ashamed of my action I sped off down the new avenue in search of Ambrose.

Well, that was all of eighteen years ago, and to the best of my recollection I have not thought much of it since. Until these last few days. It is strange how in moments of great crisis the mind whips back to childhood. Somehow I keep thinking of poor Tom, and how he hung there in his chains. I never heard his story, and few people would remember it now. He killed his wife, so Ambrose said. And that was all. She was a scold, but that was no excuse for murder. Possibly, being over-fond of drink, he killed her in his cups. But how? And with what weapon? With a knife, or with his bare hands? Perhaps Tom
staggered forth from the inn upon the quay, that winter's night, all lit with love and fever. And the tide was high, splashing upon the steps, and the moon was also full, shining on the water. Who knows what dreams of conquest filled his unquiet mind, what sudden burst of fantasy?

He may have groped his way home to his cottage behind the church, a pale rheumy-eyed fellow stinking of lobster, and his wife lashed out at him for bringing his damp feet inside the door, which broke his dream, and so he killed her. That well might be his story. If there is survival after death, as we are taught to believe, I shall seek out poor Tom and question him. We will dream in purgatory together. But he was a middle-aged man of some sixty years or more, and I am five-and-twenty. Our dreams would not be the same. So go back into your shadows, Tom, and leave me some measure of peace. That gibbet has long since gone, and you with it. I threw a stone at you in ignorance. Forgive me.

The point is, life has to be endured, and lived. But how to live it is the problem. The work of day by day presents no difficulties. I shall become a Justice of the Peace, as Ambrose was, and also be returned, one day, to Parliament. I shall continue to be honoured and respected, like all my family before me. Farm the land well, look after the people. No one will ever guess the burden of blame I carry on my shoulders; nor will they know that every day, haunted still by doubt, I ask myself a question which I cannot answer. Was Rachel innocent or guilty? Maybe I shall learn that too, in purgatory.

How soft and gentle her name sounds when I whisper it. It lingers on the tongue, insidious and slow, almost like poison, which is apt indeed. It passes from the tongue to the parched lips, and from the lips back to the heart. And the heart controls the body, and the mind also. Shall I be free of it one day? In forty, in fifty years? Or will some lingering trace of matter in the brain stay pallid and diseased? Some minuscule cell in the blood stream fail to race with its fellows to the fountain heart? Perhaps, when all is said and done, I shall have no wish to be free. As yet, I cannot tell.

I still have the house to cherish, which Ambrose would have me do. I can reface the walls where the damp enters, and keep all sound and well and in repair. Continue to plant trees and shrubs, cover the bare hills where the wind comes roaring from the east. Leave some legacy of beauty when I go, if nothing else. But a lonely man is an unnatural man, and soon comes to perplexity. From perplexity to fantasy. From fantasy to madness. And so I swing back again to Tom Jenkyn, hanging in his chains. Perhaps he suffered too.

Reviews

Reviews

The New York Times
“From the first page ... the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of ‘Rebecca.’”

The New York Times
“Miss du Maurier is ... a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile. And in ‘My Cousin Rachel’ she does both, with ‘Rebecca’ looking fondly over her shoulder.”

“’My Cousin Rachel is double-distilled readers’ delight.”

Books I Done Read Rachel Krueger
After my long, exhausting fun-reading drought I kept picking up books and reading a few pages and then chucking them, because I have been reading things I don’t want to be reading for MONTHS now, full of long words and complicated syntax. I need something easy and delicious.

And I keep seeing Daphne du Maurier’s name everywhere and the woman has written scads of novels and that makes me nervous (see: Steel, Danielle) but some exceptionally literary people seem to like her, so when Danielle (Jackson, not Steel) from Sourcebooks asked if I wanted a copy of the re-released My Cousin Rachel, I lifted my long free-book-embargo and said yes. Free books make me itchy and reluctant because they are usually teh suck and as much as it may seem like I have no soul, it pains me to be all, Thanks for the free book, publisher, now HERE’S SOME BAD PUBLICITY!!!!!*

I could kiss DdM for not making me do this thing that it pains me to do. My Cousin Rachel is seriously the shit. And I kind of feel like I’m stating the obvious, like ’chocolate chip cookies are good with milk,’ or something, and you are all going to roll your eyes and make me feel like a rube, but IF YOU HAVE NOT HEARD, read this thing. It is broooooooooooding.

Philip’s parents both die when he’s wee, and his cousin Ambrose raises him as though he were a puppy, and then the book starts. Ambrose has the rheumaty in the joints, so he heads off to Italy every summer and eventually runs into his cousin Rachel. Cue violins. Philip is back home running the estate, so all he gets is letters from Ambrose about cousin Rachel and what an adept gardener she is and HOLYSHITTHEYGOTMARRIED! Because this is set in I can’t tell when, but when it’s still ok to kiss your cousins.

Anyway, Ambrose’s letters become more and more infrequent, and then suspicious, and then deranged, and then he dies. That isn’t a spoiler because you will see it coming from about page two. ANYway, Philip resolves in his heart to hate cousin Rachel both because she kept Ambrose from home those last two years, and because he is jeaaaaaaaaaaliz of her, but then cousin Rachel shows up in town and she is a fox! A charming fox! With tiny white hands and laughing eyes! What’s a fellow to do?

A fellow invites her to live with him for the duration of her stay. But a fellow is also chary around her, because of Ambrose’s suspicious letters. But a fellow is also subject to her tiny white hands and laughing eyes, and Ambrose is mouldering in a grave somewhere in Italy. INTERNAL CONFLICT!!!

And much brooding. You need to read this on a gloomy, Englandified day to really appreciate the brooding. You need to read this altogether. I need to read more DdM.

Eight and a half caterpillars.

A Lovely Shore Breeze Caite Fitzgerald
Our setting this time is several centuries later than our last meeting with the work of Ms. Du Maurier, the 19th century, but on the same Cornish coast. And our narrator this time is male, twenty four year old Phillip Ashley. Orphaned as a young boy, little Phillip was taken into the care of his older cousin Ambrose and goes to live with him on Ambrose’s estate. Ambrose had never married, so there was no woman of the house, no other children and after Ambrose dismisses young Phillip’s nursemaid and undertakes the boy’s education himself, no female influence at all in his upbringing. Not that Phillip finds any fault with that. He admires everything about Ambrose and strives to be like him, even sharing a similarity in physical appearance.
“There could not be a man more fair, more just, more lovable, more full of understanding...Although invariably courteous he was shy of women, and mistrustful too, saying they made mischief in a household...Eccentric perhaps, unorthodox- the west country has always been known for its odd characters- but despite his idiosyncratic opinions on women, and the upbringing of small boys, Ambrose was no crank. He was likes and respected by his neighbors, and loved by his tenants.”
They are content, the two bachelors, for some 20 years, young Phillip learning how to manage the estate he will one day inherit. That is until, Ambrose, then in his forties and suffering from bad rheumatism in the cold, wet winters of Cornwall, decides that he will spend some time in the warmer climate of the Mediterranean and leave the management of the estate in Phillip’s capable hands. He writes and stays in touch, telling of his travels, and then, out of the blue, tells of meeting a woman, a half English, half Italian widow in Italy. They share a love of gardening and, in fact, she is a very distant relative....their ’cousin’ Rachel. Before Phillip really knows what to make of this new friendship, Ambrose writes from Naples that he and Rachel are married and on their honeymoon.

Phillip is not thrilled with the news, jealous of sharing Ambrose’s affection and wondering how it will upset his future, but in a matter of months things turn even worse when he receives several letters from his cousin, very different in tone from his earlier ones professing his love for Rachel. Now he claims that Rachel is trying to kill him, poison him and Phillips set out at once for Florence, where the married couple are living, to come to Ambrose’s aid. But he is too late, arriving at Rachel’s empty villa to find out that his cousin has died, supposedly of a brain tumor and the widow is gone.

Phillip is convinced that Rachel has killed his cousin and pictures her as an evil, scheming witch. That is until a short time later, he receives a letter from the widow that she is in England and wishes to come to the estate to return Ambrose’s possessions. She arrives and is, of course, nothing as her pictured her. He begins to wonder if he could be wrong and that perhaps those letters were the result of madness brought on by Ambrose’s supposed illness. She seems so charming, so beautiful, so smart and she seems to easily wins over the staff and all the neighbors. Before he known what is happening, he finds himself being rather bewitched himself by his lovely cousin Rachel. What are her intention and is she an innocent widow, or a scheming murderer...yes, that is the question, and Ms. du Maurier will keep you guessing until the very end.
And maybe even a bit longer.

One again, I have found myself quite taken with Ms. du Maurier’s writing and her wonderful ability to create some excellent characters and again the setting in Cornwall creates a grand atmosphere. But this is a far different book from the last one of hers I reviewed, Frenchman’s Creek. No humor here, no dashing adventure. No, this is a a real psychological thriller, darker and more sinister, certainly less clear cut. It is not so much what happens in the story that creates that sinister feeling, but the way du Maurier is able to skillfully paint the characters, especially Rachel. The story is full of questions, tossing us back and forth in our opinion of Rachel.
A taut, well, written story that will no doubt grab you attention and not let it go until the very last page. The actual, very last page. If you like mysteries and thrillers, with a well written historic setting, My Cousin Rachel will be a very entertaining read for you. Another thumbs up for this one.

Musings of a Bibliophile Brieanna Louis-Jackson
I’m almost ashamed to admit that My Cousin Rachel is my first book by Daphne Du Maurier. As much as I love Gothic Fiction, I should have read this a long time ago. For years I’ve been meaning to read the acclaimed Rebecca, but never got around to it. So when the opportunity arose for me to read this book, I jumped on it. And I’m so happy that I did.

They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days. Not anymore, though.

And so begins the dark and winding tale of My Cousin Rachel.

Orphaned at seven years old, Philip Ashley was taken in by his Uncle Ambrose. Under the care of Ambrose, Philip was raised as heir to Ambrose’s Cornwall estate. Ambrose, just into manhood, taught Philip everything he knew and Philip looked up to his his uncle—Ambrose’s ideals becoming his ideals, especially the ones about not having any use for women. Ambrose believed that he got along so well without a woman that there was no need for them in his life, and Philip took to this notion from a very young age.

The approaching winter of Philip’s twenty fourth year, Ambrose retreats to the warmer climates of Italy for health reasons, leaving Philip behind to take care of the estate that he is heir to. Months later, Philip receives a letter from Ambrose stating that he has met a woman named Rachel—a distant cousin and widow left with the debt of her late husband. Later letters reveal that Ambrose has fallen in love with Rachel and married her. Philip is shocked by the news. His uncle had always been against women in general and to find out that he has married is unsettling. Philip, unable to grasp that Ambrose has actually fallen in love, thinks up many unsavory pictures of his Cousin Rachel.

When Philip begins getting letters from Ambrose reporting unsettling things about his health and new bride, Philip becomes alarmed and sets out to help him. He arrives in Italy to bad news, though: Ambrose has died and Cousin Rachel has left the country. Saddened by the news, Philip takes on his duties as head of the estate—heartbroken over Ambrose and convinced that Rachel is to blame for his death. Soon Philip receives news that Rachel is coming to Cornwall. His pride won’t let him turn her away so he invites her to stay with him, still thinking her responsible for his uncle’s death. But when Philip meets Cousin Rachel, she is not the woman that his wayward imagination thought her to be. This woman surely couldn’t be capable of murder, could she?

What comes next is a twisty tale of suspicion, love, good and evil. Many questions come into play regarding Rachel. Is she guilty of Ambrose’s death or an innocent? Is she out to get Philip now? Has Philip misjudged Rachel? What I loved about the story is that the answers to all of these questions are left ambiguous. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions from what can be learned through Rachel’s stay with Philip in Cornwall. My Cousin Rachel has one of those endings that is deliciously bittersweet. Never getting a clear cut answer to Philip’s suspicions, left me a unsure as to how I felt when the story came to a close. I replayed the story over and over in my head, attempting to come up with an answer that made sense. I think it’s safe to say that I was haunted by this Gothic Tale long after I finished the book. Grade A.

Reading Extravaganza Lilianna Swistek
Do you have books that as soon as you finished reading them, you were sorry the story ended? Or maybe you would read the story slower than usual, savoring every phrase and paragraph as one would savor a favorite piece of candy, because you didn’t want to part with it too soon? I hope you do and you would because I think that such books are the grand reward for reading altogether. And My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier was such a book for me.

It is a typical gothic mystery but at its best. A distant cousin Rachel bewitches Mr. Ambrose Ashley during one of his winter stays in Italy. Ambrose leaves his beloved estate in Cornwall every year in winter due to health problems, leaving his cousin, Philip Ashley, to look after the household. Ambrose raised Philip from infancy and it is no wonder that a twenty-four-year old boy loves Ambrose as his father and mother both. It is further no wonder that Philip is shocked and jealous of the mysterious cousin Rachel who he thinks stole Ambrose from him. The quick marriage ends as abruptly and unpredictably as it started. Mr. Ashley dies suddenly in Italy without ever having returned to Cornwall with his new bride. And now, cousin Rachel appears at the doorsteps of the Ashley’s estate leaving Philip with no choice but to make her welcome as the widow of Mr. Ambrose Ashley. Philip’s attitude towards her and the amount of trust he is willing to place in her will ultimately decide whether she is a woman of virtue but a victim of unfortunate circumstances or a conniving person with evil purposes.



As you can tell from my opening paragraph, I genuinely enjoyed My Cousin Rachel. It is one of the classics that I know I will be returning to time and again. The language was poetic and captured my attention right at the beginning. Mind you, I am not a fan of poetry, but when such flawless tone and manner of writing as we find in classic poems is engaged in a novel, I instantly fall in love with it. That is the case with du Maurier. There aren’t, after all, many novels out there from which I want to commit to memory passages found in the first ten pages. One such quote jumped at me right when I started reading My Cousin Rachel. It’s short but beautiful and strangely reflective of my own character:

“Disliking our fellow men, we craved attention; but shyness kept impulse dormant until the heart was touched.”(p.6)

That’s only a small taste of what Ms. du Maurier could do but it portrays perfectly, in my opinion, how there really is no need for elaborate descriptions of character, to capture the essence. And here goes my next point. Du Maurier’s writing in My Cousin Rachel, as in her other books, is an exquisite example of the golden rule for authors to show and not tell. While the descriptions of Cornwall’s natural landscape are rich but never boring, I could probably count on my fingers the times that any adjectives were used to describe the characters in the novel. And I came to know them like my own family or at least next door neighbors. Not once were I confused or frustrated by such a thing as lack of depth and trust me, I don’t think that the word “one-dimensional” ever existed in du Maurier’s dictionary. I think you get my feelings about My Cousin Rachel by now. I enjoyed it so much that I already wish I could read it again for the first time.

Bookloons.com Mary Ann Smyth
My Cousin Rachel, written by renowned author Daphne du Maurier, is a dark, gothic tale of steadfast love, mystery, suspense and intrigue. First published in 1951, it has lost none of its allure through the years. Its author was created a Dame of the Empire, a well deserved accolade.

Philip Ashley, raised by his wealthy cousin, is at first lonely, but then dismayed by his cousin Ambrose’s trip to Italy to escape the harsh winter of Cornwall. Ambrose meets and marries a younger woman, but then begins to have doubts about her. Finally sure that she is poisoning him, he begs Philip to come to him.

This is where Rachel enters the picture. Rachel, a widow now, arrives at her late husband’s estate. Is she a scheming individual out to take Philip for his inheritance? Or could she be a naïve woman unable to see that men are using her for their own intrigues?

Suspense builds and even though the reader is fairly certain where the plot is going, it is hard to put this story down.

In her day, du Maurier was a bestselling author. I remember loving her many books - two that stand out in my mind are Frenchman’s Creek and Jamaica Inn. She wrote so knowingly about Cornwall. I’ve always wanted to go there to see the coastline she described so clearly while in no way slowing down her stories.

Once Upon a Bookshelf Courtney Wilson
This is the third of du Maurier’s books that I’ve read. I do love the way she writes, it draws me into the story completely. My Cousin Rachel is told from the perspective of Philip Ashley, a young man of 24, who was brought up by his much older cousin Ambrose after the death of both of his parents. They live in a large estate in Cornwall, and for the past few winters Ambrose has had to travel to warmer climates to prevent him from becoming too ill. During one of his yearly travels, he ends up in Italy, only to meet and fall in love with Rachel - a widower who, soon after marrying her, he grows to hate and fear. Not too long afterwards, Ambrose dies, and Philip believes that Rachel is the cause of Ambrose’s death.

When Rachel comes to live at Philip’s home, he goes from hating her, to falling in love with her, to fearing that she is attempting to poison him like he believes she poisoned his older cousin.

While it took a while for me to get into the book, as soon as I hit about a third of the way in, I devoured the rest of it. The setting - ah! I love books that take place on estates in the English countryside. And the characters were wonderful. It was hard seeing them all through the eyes of Philip (the narrator) however, as his moods changed frequently, so he either saw only the good in people or (more often as the book went on) only the bad (in everyone else but Rachel). It can be hard, though, when reading a book that takes place through first person to know how accurate what they are telling you is - because you know that they’re not always going to tell you exactly the way things are, but more how they appear to them.

I loved that I was left wondering whether Rachel was really as at fault as Philip believed her to be, or whether Philip was dealing with the same sort of brain tumor (leading to delusions) that people believe Ambrose died of. It’s very ambiguous, and I want to go back and read the book again to see if I can gain any more evidence either way.

In fact, as soon as I finished the book, I went back and reread the first chapter. Like Rebecca and The Frenchman’s Creek, the first chapter of My Cousin Rachel takes place after the actual events of the novel. It gives the outcome of the whole book, but not how we get there, which is in this case the most exciting part (as it is with Rebecca). So yes, as soon as I finished, I reread the first chapter to see if there was anything I had forgotten that would shed a little bit of light on the final outcome.

But, I do have a question for those of you who have read all of du Maurier’s books (ahem, Rachel): do all of her books start after the story takes place and then go back to the beginning of the story?

The Bottom Line: I definitely liked this better than The Frenchman’s Creek, but not as much as Rebecca. As mentioned, I will definitely be keeping this on my shelf in order to read again in the future. I would recommend this book to people who did enjoy Rebecca and were looking for some more du Maurier to read.

We Be Reading Kristen Metson
After finally reading Rebecca, I felt very lucky to have a review copy of another Daphne du Maurier novel, My Cousin Rachel. This one has been recently re-released by Sourcebooks and I am so excited for readers to rediscover it!

The story is rather simple. Young Philip is raised by his bachelor cousin Ambrose. While away in Italy for his health, Ambrose meets and improbably marries a distant cousin, Rachel. Philip starts receiving troubling letters from Ambrose and eventually is worried enough to travel to Italy. However, he arrives too late and finds that Ambrose has died and Rachel has left. Philip vows his revenge against the woman that he believes responsible for his guardian’s death and returns to England. Three weeks later, Rachel shows up at Philip’s home. He is prepared to hate her but is surprised by her kind manner and deference to his feelings. He eventually falls madly in love with her. Will this lead to his downfall the same way that it led to Ambrose’s?

While reading this book, I kept comparing it to Wilkie Collins’ Armadale. It was similar with the older woman that comes into the life of the younger man. But while in Armadale you are fully aware of Lydia Gwilt’s vengeful plan and her deception of young Alan, in this book you aren’t sure of Rachel’s history or intentions. Yet this story gives the same feeling of discomfort as you read about the downfall of an innocent, if naive, young man.

This novel has the same attention to detail that Rebecca had and presents another beautiful country estate for readers to covet. While the story wasn’t as heart-breaking and emotional as Rebecca, it was definitely entertaining and suspenseful.

Hipster Book Club Bri Lafond
Daphne du Maurier—author of the classic Rebecca—wrote My Cousin Rachel in the 1950s, but the novel is set in the English countryside of the nineteenth century. The book opens forebodingly with narrator Philip Ashley describing the way criminals used to be hung at crossroads: "He swung between earth and sky… betwixt heaven and hell." As the novel concerns Philip’s struggle to understand the motives of the title character—to decide if her actions are those of heaven or of hell—the tone this dark opening sets is apropos.

Philip goes on to introduce himself, his guardian and cousin Ambrose, and the ancestral manor in which they live. Philip reveals early on that Ambrose has died under mysterious circumstances abroad and that Philip believes his death has something to do with the enigmatic Rachel, a distant cousin who married Ambrose shortly before his death. Suspicious of his cousin’s sudden death, he immediately envisions Rachel as his nemesis. Once Rachel arrives, Philip finds himself in a game of cat and mouse: Is Rachel the murderous black widow he envisioned? Or is she an innocent victim of chance? And has she set her sights on Philip as another potential victim?

One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the use of Philip Ashley as a narrator. As the novel progresses, Philip repeatedly changes his mind about this character or that one, so the reader begins to distrust his perception of people and events. For example, he begins loathing the very idea of his cousin before he meets her, but he immediately changes his mind upon the arrival of the seemingly meek and mild-mannered Rachel. Throughout the novel, Philip vacillates back and forth between loving and loathing Rachel, thinking her by turns a murderess and a victim of circumstance.

Rachel is largely an enigmatic figure, shown to the reader only through Philip’s skewed perspective. Trying to follow Philip’s constantly shifting loyalties through his first person narration can prove difficult and leads one to believe his view of Rachel is unreliable, particularly in the light of the novel’s historical context. Set in the mid-1800s, women like Rachel—husbandless and without a family to provide a dowry—were dependent on the generosity of men with means. One of the central conflicts Philip has with Rachel is over money: Ambrose died without an updated will, leaving Philip with everything and Rachel with nothing. Philip again changes his mind periodically over whether this is a fair outcome or not, leaving Rachel’s life and livelihood hanging in the balance. While Philip agonizes over his shifting opinions, Rachel attempts to make a life for herself in a time when a working woman signified the lowest of lower class outcomes. As the novel progresses, Rachel appears more and more to be an honest and generous woman, but the mystery of Ambrose’s death continues to cast its shadow over her character.

The periodic arrival of delayed letters from the dead Ambrose serve to further the plot and shift both Philip and the reader’s perceptions. Philip’s lawyer and old family friend reveals that Ambrose probably died of a hereditary brain tumor which caused him to behave erratically in his final days. Ambrose’s letters drip with paranoia—"Better keep silent though. She watches me all the time... they have taken on a dangerous proposition with me, and I will beat them yet"—and Philip vacillates between seeing them as the ramblings of a sick man and as desperate letters revealing the truth of a murderous wife. As Philip frequently changes his mind and tries to get at the truth, the reader begins to wonder if Philip himself is afflicted by the same disease as Ambrose.

A classic manor mystery in the tradition of the Brontë sisters with a modern psychological twist, My Cousin Rachel is a fine introduction to the sort of refined madness that defines Daphne du Maurier’s work.

A Reader’s Respite Michele Jacobson
In 1951, du Maurier released My Cousin Rachel and this one is, thus far in our du Maurier reading journey, A Reader’s Respite’s favorite. Told from a male, first-person point of view, this is the tale of Rachel, a woman who mysteriously worms her way into men’s hearts....right before they die, that is. Whether Rachel is what she seems is up to you, the reader, to decide. This is another Sourcebook’s reprint and boy, are we thankful.

Genre Reviews Debbie White
This tragic historical romance is set in England during, I think, the mid-1800s. The excellent world-building and use of symbolism created a brooding, mysterious atmosphere. The characters were realistic and sympathetic. The pacing was a bit slow compared to modern novels, but I didn’t find the novel dull.

The author very effectively uses characters’ body language to convey the truth of what’s happening even when the viewpoint character, Phillip, incorrectly understands what’s going on. I continued reading the story because I wanted to see what happened to cunning Rachel and naive Phillip through all the misunderstandings and manipulations.

The only "problem" I had was that the first chapter doesn’t make much sense until you’ve read the entire book. It’s more of an epilogue than a first chapter.

There was a minor amount of swearing and cursing. There was some very non-explicit sex (in fact, it’s only hinted at). Overall, I’d rate this "very good, fairly clean fun."

Cindy’s Love of Books Cindy Smith
PUB DATE: Orginally in 1951 but re-released in June 2009

A thank you goes out to Danielle at Sourcebooks for sending me this book to read and review. Thank you so much.

The was Daphne du Maurier’s tenth novel and it was published in 1951.

Historical fiction is a genre that I never really got into. I read historical fiction in high school but honestly never got into it. Although I am always willing to try in hopes that that book will be the one that lures in me and then I am hooked for life.

I enjoyed reading My Cousin Rachel. It was intriguing and suspenseful.

My Cousin Rachel begins in the 1840’s in Cornwall. The main character, Phillip Ashley is a young man about to inherit his cousin Ambrose’s estate. Ambrose is actually Phillip’s cousin but is like a father figure to him because he raised Phillip.

Ambrose has married a younger woman named Rachel. The got married in Italy. Just before Ambrose’s death he sends Phillip a letter informing him that he isn’t happy in his marriage and fears that Rachel isn’t the girl she portrays herself to be. Phillip cares a lot about his cousin so he decides to go and visit them and check out the situation. Perhaps help his uncle out. From the time the letter is sent and Phillips gets there his cousin is already dead. The death is rather suspicious.

Phillip then returns back to the estate in Cornwall grieving his cousin’s death. Suddenly Rachel appears on the doorstep. Phillip doesn’t trust her even though she is a beautiful woman. She is basically too good to be true. (We were warned about these kind of people.)

Before long Phillip begins to fall for her even though he thinks that she will eventually kill him like Ambrose.

What is Rachel up too? Is she really too goo to be true or does it just look that way? Did Rachel really love Ambrose?

The Literate Housewife Jennifer Conner
Philip Ashley, orphaned at an early age, was raised unconventionally by his older bachelor cousin Ambrose. Ambrose owns the estate and 500 acres on which they live. Ambrose did not care to have women around, so Philip’s exposure to the fairer sex was quite minimal. He only regularly was in the company of the women in his vicar’s life and Louise, his godfather’s daughter. As Philip grew into early adulthood, Ambrose’s health dictated that he spend the winters abroad. He never came back from him fourth winter away. Instead, he met, fell in love with, and married their distant cousin Rachel, who was born and raised in Florence. When Ambrose succumbs to what is believed to be a hereditary brain tumor before returning to Cornwall with his bride, Philip suspects foul play based upon letters Ambrose sent before his death. He is intent on making Rachel suffer for what happened to his cousin and mentor, but is he right in believing that she was behind such evil deeds?

I absolutely loved and enjoyed this novel from start to finish. Phillip’s remembrance of the body left to rot from the gibbett three weeks after a hanging sets the reader in the right frame of mind to ride the roller coaster of Phillip’s thoughts, plans, and emotions. As much as he complained that Louise and even Rachel ran hot one minute and cold the next, Philip need only read a posthumas letter from Ambrose or listen to a sob story to do exactly the same thing. I loved how he sulked when Rachel gave others her attention and how he preened when she smiled upon him. Oftentimes, men and women are not all that different. As much as Philip did not like to be viewed as a child, most especially by any man who might capture Rachel’s attention, he was so very immature in the matters of the heart. He failed to see and appreciate the unfailing affection of the one woman who knew him best - and loved him regardless.

Rachel is truly a character and deserving of the title credits. As Philip pondered who she was and what she looked like, so did I. The chapter in which she finally makes her appearance is a suspenseful to me as the ending. I wanted to know who this woman was. I wanted to know what such a woman looked like. While I was apprehensive of Philip’s initial desire for revenge against Ambrose’s wife, I never really quite knew where anyone ever stood with her. My opinions flip-flopped along with Philips until he make his fateful decision. At that point, I wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. All the while, I was hoping that his trust and faith in her was justified. Rachel was in league with Scarlett O’Hara, except that their motivations are completely different. Rachel is almost as sinister as she is selfish, making Scarlett more transparent. Her downfall in my eyes, however, was that she was unable to brush aside unpleasant realities with Scarlett’s ”Fidle-dee-dee” attitude.

After enjoying Frenchman’s Creek so much, I was a little concerned about how I would feel about My Cousin Rachel. I didn’t want to expect too much. I simply did not want to be disappointed. I most certainly was not. For me, the writing was as beautiful as I have come to expect from du Maurier. I would rank this novel right up there with the way I remember Rebecca. It did not have as much humor as Frenchman’s Creek, but the level of humor matched the tone of the novel perfectly. The ending serves really to expand the mystery surrounding Rachel. I’m not so sure there could be a happy ending for anyone she set her sights upon. As I finished this novel last night, I vowed to read all of her novels. She is just that good. The only thing I can’t say for certain is whether this book would be better read in front of a roaring fire with a glass of red wine or while lounging around on a beach or at the pool with a daiquiri. Either way, is there a better recommendation for a novel?

Passages to the Past Amy Bruno
Orphaned at 18 months, Philip Ashley is taken in and raised by his cousin, the consummate bachelor, Ambrose. Their relationship is a close one as they share not only looks, but emotions and mannerisms as well.

Ambrose travels to Italy one summer, leaving Philip to watch over the house. Letter writing is how they keep in touch and it’s the information written within these letters that carries the story. Ambrose writes to tell Philip that he has met his cousin Rachel, soon followed by another letter stating that they are now married and not long after that the letters become mysterious and full of paranoia - Ambrose has been suffering an unknown illness and seems to think his new wife is trying to poison him. Philip decides to go to Ambrose in Italy and find out for himself what is really going on. But when he gets there he finds that Ambrose has been dead for two weeks and cousin Rachel had already fled the villa. Convinced that Rachel killed Ambrose and makes a promise to himself to make her pay.

Back in England, Rachel shows up at Philip’s manor unexpectedly. His mind is already made up to hate her, however when they meet his image of her is thrown right out the door. She’s charming and dainty and sweet - she bewitches Philip from the start. She can’t possibly have had anything to do with Ambrose’s death. Or can she?

My Cousin Rachel explores the complicated mind of a woman and the men who try to decipher it. Du Maurier’s writing flows very well and the pace is fluid throughout. The gothic atmosphere combined with the mystery of who Rachel really is, kept this reader enthralled and turning the pages quickly.

Thanks to Sourcebooks for giving me the opportunity to read such a wonderful novel!

S. Krishna’s Books Swapna Krishna
When Danielle at Sourcebooks Landmark offered me a copy of My Cousin Rachel to review, I was ecstatic! I couldn’t wait to read another gothic mystery by Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, which is a classic in the genre that I love so much.

At its core, My Cousin Rachel is a novel of obsession. It is about what happens to one person when they become consumed by another. Within its pages is the emotion, irrationality, and clouded judgment that comes with obsession. Over the course of the novel, Philip loses the ability to think clearly as he becomes more and more infatuated with Rachel. He has trouble seeing the situation around him as it really is; his feelings for Rachel cloud everything.

The question that looms over the novel, and the mystery contained within, centers on the enigmatic Rachel. Who is she and what does she want? Is she a sinister woman with malicious intentions who married Ambrose for his money and drove him to an early death? Or is she simply a woman who is followed by misfortune and is as innocent and charming as she seems? The lack of answers to these questions create a sense of unease that lingers through My Cousin Rachel.

Though it is a “classic” novel, My Cousin Rachel is not difficult to read. The pages turn quickly as the reader becomes absorbed by the novel. I was completely hooked on the story, trying to figure out what was in Rachel’s head through every twist and turn.

I definitely recommend My Cousin Rachel, especially if you enjoyed Rebecca. This is a great read that you won’t want to miss if you enjoy gothic mysteries!

Thank you to Danielle at Sourcebooks for sending me this book to review!

The Book Girl’s Nightstand Iliana
I’ve just finished My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier and what a satisfying read this was. There was a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, there were betrayals and best of all an ending that left me surprised and wondering which one of the characters did I believe.
From the very beginning we know that there will be intrigue. Here’s how Philip starts his tale of his cousin Rachel.

“The point is, life has to be endured, and lived. But how to live it is the problem. The work of day by day presents no difficulties. I shall become a Justice of the Peace, as Ambrose was, and also be returned, one day, to Parliament. I shall continue to be honoured and respected, like all my family before me. Farm the land well, look after the people. No one will ever guess the burden of blame I carry on my shoulders; nor will they know that every day, haunted still by doubt, I ask myself a question which I cannot answer. Was Rachel innocent or guilty? Maybe I shall learn that too, in purgatory.”

Rachel is the woman Philip was determined to hate without even having met her. When his cousin Ambrose, who was like a father figure to Philip, goes to Italy he encounters Rachel, a distant cousin who is living in Italy. Through infrequent letters, Philip finds out of a whirlwind courtship and marriage between the two. Philip isn’t happy and worse yet when one letter he receives and it sounds like it comes from a madman, he goes to Italy himself to save his uncle.

Philip arrives too late though as Ambrose has died and Rachel has left Italy. Upon his return to Cornwall, Philip he learns that Ambrose has left him everything, the land, jewels, etc. and nothing for his wife. This suits him fine but one day a letter arrives with the news that Cousin Rachel has come for a visit.

For too long Philip has created an image in his mind of Rachel. She, the evil woman who insinuated herself into his cousin’s good graces. A foreigner who probably had something to do with his uncle’s death but what a surprise will be in store for Philip. When he meets the beautiful woman and she seems to want nothing for herself he begins to feel differently for her, so much so, that the reader knows his feelings go much deeper than he will even admit to himself.

Filled with gothic suspense this novel will no doubt have you wondering too as to what are Rachel’s real motivations and what will happen to the main characters. I throughly enjoyed this book and the characters. Actually one of my favorite characters is Louise who is Philip’s childhood friend. I thought it was interesting that from Philip’s description of her she would seem a bit like a silly girl but in the end there’s a scene where I think she really showed him that she was much more astute than what he had given her credit for.

A thank you to Sourcebooks for sending me this book. The only Du Maurier book I’d ever read before was Rebecca but now I can’t wait to read more. Do you have a favorite book of hers that you’d recommend? And, has anyone seen the film version of this book? I think I’ll have to see if I can find a copy. Would love to see it.

Book Review by Bobbie Bobbie Crawford-McCoy
My Cousin Rachel is a captivating Gothic story that pulses with emotion and dark undercurrents; you don’t want to miss it!

Product Description – From Amazon.com
“Philip Ashley’s older cousin Ambrose, who raised the orphaned Philip as his own son, has died in Rome. Philip, the heir to Ambrose’s beautiful English estate, is crushed that the man he loved died far from home. He is also suspicious. While in Italy, Ambrose fell in love with Rachel, a beautiful English and Italian woman. But the final, brief letters Ambrose wrote hint that his love had turned to paranoia and fear.

Now Rachel has arrived at Philip’s newly inherited estate. Could this exquisite woman, who seems to genuinely share Philip’s grief at Ambrose’s death, really be as cruel as Philip imagined? Or is she the kind, passionate woman with whom Ambrose fell in love? Philip struggles to answer this question, knowing Ambrose’s estate, and his own future, will be destroyed if his answer is wrong.”

My Cousin Rachel is the second book by Daphne du Maurier that I have read and reviewed; I’ve enjoyed this story ever-so-much-more then Frenchman’s Creek. The flowing plot includes some startling, yet very satisfying twists and turns that encourage the reader to devour the book’s content as quickly as possible, so they can find out more; it led me on a exciting chase of emotional ups and downs, during which time I was aware of the dark undertones suggesting that people might not be who they seem. Some gentle clues within the story nudge the reader in one direction while Philip Ashley’s naivety and inexperience with women forces the story to go another. This book is an easy read; the story flowed off the page and allowed me to escape into Philip and Rachel’s world for a few, extremely entertaining hours. This novel reminds me a little of A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick; if you love one, you will likely enjoy the other.
I very highly recommend this book!

????????? (9 out of 10 Diamonds) – Loved it!

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Trade Paper Specfications

• Length: 8.00 in
• Width: 5.25 in
• Height: 0.00 in
• Weight: 15.00 oz
• Page Count: 400 pages