My Cousin Rachel (Virago Modern Classics Book 11)

....captured my interest from the first few words, as Du Maurier most always does. "My Cousin Rachel" is a bit dark and brooding .. wonderful insight into character's personalities which drives the suspensful story...one of my favorites, right up there with "Rebecca."

I like many of Daphne Du Maurier books, including this one and when I moved, Rachel went missing. I bought a used copy from the store and it's a little beat up, but my old one was too, which is why I like this copy. It has that lived-in look.

I read this on a recommendation from a friend. Not really my forte but it was ok although I was confused with the ending. Rather abrupt and not conclusive. Certainly not the equal of other du Maurier stories.

I have read Rebecca, and Frenchman's Creek and thoroughly enjoyed them. I even have the CD of Rebecca and watch it still. So I thought this would be another great find. I was wrong. I did not like the way the story presented itself and the how the woman became involved with a much younger and innocent man....alll to HER advantages and her mental sickness!

I have not started reading this book yet, but when I received it, it looked brand new. My Mom gave me Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier one year and I love that book, one of my favorites, so I'm sure this is going to be a great story as well.

I was captivated by the story of Rebecca by this author, and looked forward to reading this book, however I was bitterly dissapointed.
The storyline was badly drawn and the ending was a complete surprise. I felt there should have been another chapter when the story finally made sense.

I'm so disappointed; this is the first bad experience I've had with a Kindle delivery. There are words and portions of the text missing, at
first, I thought I had recieved a preview, rather than the full work. I don't know what happened, but I hope it doesn't happen again! Only portions are readable, and then there's the gap with missing words. So obviously, this is NOT a reivew of the book itself.

An amazing classic by Daphne du Maurier, who may be better known for writing Rebecca (my favorite!). Still, though. My Cousin Rachel? Absolutely thrilling!

This is one of those books (just like Rebecca was for me), where I breathlessly hold on to every single word while I sit in my reading nook and devour the chapters. This book just encapsulates twists in the story, and it turns in directions you didn't know were possible, yet giving you everything your heart desires out of such a maze. If I could describe My Cousin Rachel in a few short adjectives, those words would be: tasteful, refined, dark, and mysterious. Oh, and amazing.

Phillip Ashley, twenty-four years of age, has just lost the one parental guide and fatherly figure in his life. Orphaned at a young age, his bachelor uncle Ambrose reared him in his own (not always traditional) methods. These two had been incredibly close. Suffice it to say, that when Ambrose (on holiday) writes to Phillip to say he has married their cousin Rachel in Italy, the news is quite shocking, especially since it seemingly comes out of the blue. Not long after, Ambrose dies in Italy, never returning home to Cornwall. Already the questions and the intrigue have begun, and it never stops.

Eventually this Rachel, now widowed, visits Phillip at the estate which will soon be put in his name, once his twenty-fifth birthday arrives. Phillip's perspective of Rachel changes over time, from imagining the worst of her to switching to, well, quite the opposite.

This is a book with an ending that... the reader just has to make up your own mind about. It's one that makes the blood pump in your veins and makes your thinking organ to do its work. What was the author trying to say in the end? Did good or evil triumph? That's for each reader to decide. It has left me with a fantastic, absolute thrill though, that's all I know for certain.

NOTE to the discerning reader & parents: The one thing I didn't approve of is how many times the characters so easily took the Lord's name in vain.

It's a Gothic classic from 1951, and the thrilling bits unravel slowly, building tension, drawing the reader in willingly. I could hardly wait to get through each chapter because the suspense was always there on the horizon, like something dangling in front of you just out of reach, and you always keep wanting it, and more.

What intrigue.

Orphaned at a mere 18 months of age, Phillip Ashley is taken in and raised by his much older cousin, Ambrose. Over the years, Ambrose grooms young Phillip to one day take over as heir to Ambrose's Cornish estate. Then the time come when Ambrose embarks on one of his frequent trips to Florence (where he spends the winters so as not to aggravate his health problems). This year though, Ambrose writes to Phillip to say he has become quite enamored by a woman by the name of Rachel, a distant cousin. The letters continue to come, illustrating the rapid development of the relationship. Before long Ambrose sends word that he and Rachel have married.

Ambrose extends his stay in Florence, renting a home there. Ten months away from England, his letters turn from that of a blissed out newlywed to being saturated in melancholy. The letters get alarmingly more frantic, showing a mental breakdown. A year and a half passes and Ambrose's letters begin arriving in near illegible script and a distinctly paranoid tone. Then one last cryptic letter comes urging Phillip to come quick to Italy, writing "she watches me... Rachel, my torment." Unfortunately, Ambrose dies before Phillip's arrival, so explanations regarding Ambrose's state of mind at the end remain elusive.

Phillip returns to England to take up his position as the new heir to Ambrose's estate. Shortly after settling into this new role, he gets word that Ambrose's widow is due to arrive any minute and wishes to spend some time on the land that meant so much to her husband.

The novel is narrated by Phillip. Through him, we get a first hand account of his initial impressions of Rachel, even how he imagined her from Ambrose's letters. He gives her a pretty hilarious ripping (describing what he imagines pre-introduction) but in person he finds her quite beautiful and beguiling. Still, he can't entirely shake suspicions that she may have had something to do with Ambrose's unexpected passing. They have a bit of a rocky start, but later Phillip chocks it up (at least in part) to Rachel having difficulty with his physical likeness to Ambrose.

Also in the mix is Phillip's longtime friend, Louise --- honestly, my favorite character in the whole story. Her quietly slipped in snark! When Rachel first arrives, Louise later remarks, "Mourning certainly does not appear drab on her." Reading that brought to my mind the scene in Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind when Scarlett goes to that first dance / social event after being widowed. But it irked me how annoying and almost bratty Phillip was around Louise. His poor behavior left me feeling like he certainly didn't deserve a friend of Louise's caliber.

A historical note in the edition I read from mentioned that du Maurier may have based Cousin Rachel off of Ellen Doubleday (wife of Nelson Doubleday of Doubleday Publishing), whom it was speculated Daphne had "confused" (as the historical note worded it) feelings for. Going into a du Maurier novel, it's often a given to expect a certain level of mystery to the plot. With this one, there were bits of mystery / intrigue here and there, but overall I didn't find as much suspense as I would normally expect from her work. Rachel was painted a bit like a Borgia in the beginning, but the element of suspense fizzed out a bit as the story progresses. While Rachel is undoubtedly an intriguing character, du Maurier doesn't quite land the full punch in terms of the character's level of sly dastardly-ness.

But true to her reputation, even here du Maurier does leave questions for the reader to work out. Was there a deeper motive behind the birthday plan? I was perplexed by Phillip's decision!

Listened to the original book on the Overdrive app.
I was expecting more from this novel. While the author's prose is well-versed and eloquent, the depth of the characters seemed lacking. The protagonist seems like nothing more than a spoilt young boy with all the entitlements and no sense. Obviously there are some thought-provoking scenes and questions of whether Rachel was the femme fatale or just the unfortunate victim of tragic events. But while this is true, the attitude and innate characteristics of Phillip Ashley left me very disinterested as to the outcome of this mystery. He went into fits of impetuousness and at times rage because he was not getting the outcome he desired. Moreover, the delusions of grandeur he experienced looked less like symptoms of poisoning and brain rumors and more like privilege and entitlement clouding his mind.

I just didn't connect with the characters very much in this book. But I was somewhat entertained. It was well written.

My Cousin Rachel is a mystery/psychological thriller novel written in 1951 by Daphne du Maurier. It's dark, mysterious, suspenseful, psychological, snarky, funny, and will likely leave you with lingering confliction about what all has transpired. This is not a who-done-it per se, but rather a story about whether there was a crime committed in the first place. This character-driven plot has plenty of reason for suspicion, along with an ending that left me jaw-dropped, but outside of the entertainment factor, I believe the writing has layers of meaning and purpose as well. Although this book has been recently adapted to film (for the second time), I had to remind myself that it was written close to 70 years ago, in which a story about a woman such as Rachel was likely a risk. Not because of her perceived character, but because she was developed as a woman capable of setting into motion a chain of events that allowed her considerable and individual wealth (thus power), and she functioned impulsively and independent of men without known consequences. Her character's confidence allowed her the use of perceived witchcraft and her sexuality (gasp) in a time when this was not acceptable...and when I speak of Rachel, I'm actually speaking of Daphne du Maurier who wrote Rachel (the feminist, innocent or murderous as she may be) into existence. Again, I am reminded of the brave and genius fiction writers of times past and am excited to add another posthumously to my must-read list. Just because it's not a new release or on the New York Times best seller list doesn't mean it's not incredibly worthy to be recognized again and again, hopefully for another 70 plus years.

My favorite quote:
"I could not believe it possible that a girl I knew and trusted could have so damnable a mind, and speak—that was the greatest hell—with so much logic and plain common sense to tear apart another woman like herself."

The Kindle book is not the full version. I bought and returned the Kindle version of this book. It is not the full version. I wish the store would include that somewhere in the description, perhaps saying "abridged" or "child version;, the way it is seems like false advertising to me.
Otherwise, Daphne DuMaurier is a 5-star author (at least :)) , and I would have loved to sit down with this novel last night.

This is a suspense story that takes it's time to build. While the narrator, Philip, reminisces about what happened with his cousin Rachel, the reader is constantly left guessing until about Rachel's true intentions and her past.

Philip Ashley is not a character I liked a whole lot as I read more about him. He's sheltered and a curious mixture of phlegmatic detachment and impulsive immaturity, prone to jumping to conclusions and acting on them without much thought, while also keeping his emotions locked away as much as possible. For a character to be so introverted I suppose I thought he would have been more thoughtful and aware. But as a narrator he was perfect to tell this story because he was not equal to dealing with Rachel who had charm and sophistication and plenty of secrets to keep the reader on edge. And while you couldn't trust Rachel, you equally couldn't trust Philip which kept increasing the suspense.

I can't talk too much about Rachel without revealing the basic plot point of this book - did she bring about the murder of Ambrose Ashley and is she planning something similar for Philip, or is she innocent and all the evidence against her merely circumstantial. It's difficult to determine, and conflicting information avalanches the reader from the beginning, so that there is an aspect to the ending that feels very open to interpretation. I have my own feeling one way or the other about Rachel and I found the way I interpreted the ending to have a very profound effect on me, which showed me that the way this plot was built was very effective. The story's pace flags at times - especially in the beginning before Rachel arrives, but I think the story is so well written, and paints the characters in such murky lights that the novel is ultimately very intriguing and satisfying.

The other aspect that was so intriguing about this book - which was really brought home by the ending - is the power of femininity over a man. Rachel holds this sway over more than one man, and yet all of her power comes from feminine charm and interest. She's contrasted very well with Louise, who is Philip's childhood friend and long thought to be the girl he would marry. Philip treats her terribly though, especially when he becomes obsessed with Rachel, but Louise remains steadfast and loyal and yet not very effective. It's interesting to read how these two women work, and how Rachel is much more effective at snaring attention than Louise.

The setting in this book created a wonderfully immersive atmosphere - from the heat and opulence of Italy to the solid strength and beauty of Cornwall, I felt like I was in those countries, experiencing the emotional twists and turns in this story. It keeps you guessing, and packs an emotional punch by the end.

The version I received for the Kindle (the one with the daffodils on it) is NOT a copy of the 348 page book. It is a bare bones summary of the book that is 87 pages long in simple, non-atmospheric language suitable for a ten year old. As another reviewer said, it's Cliff Notes.

Having now read the summary, the actual book is spoiled for me. It's not that there isn't a place in the world for summaries, but the store shouldn't advertise something as being 348 pages long when it's actually 87 pages.

A delicious psychological thriller, if it's fair to describe it using a term that wasn't around when it was written. Written in 1951, My Cousin Rachel still feels fresh and suspenseful. For most of the plot, you're reading with a sense of dread, but then at the very end comes a twist to make you question whether you were right in the assumptions that you were making.

The story is narrated by Philip Ashley, who lives in a grand country house in Cornwall with his adored cousin and guardian Ambrose. For health reasons, Ambrose travels to Italy to spend the winter in a warmer climate where he ends up meeting - and marrying - a distant, half-Italian cousin of theirs, the eponymous Rachel. He stays on in Italy where his health worsens and he writes ominous letters to Philip accusing Rachel of always watching him, thinks she is trying to do away with him, and saying that there is no one that he can trust.

Ambrose dies, and Rachel travels to England to come and stay with Philip, who has decided in advance that he hates Rachel. Of course when he meets her, he finds himself falling for her. Because Philip is narrating we never know what is going on in Rachel's head, whether she cares for Philip or is using him, whether she played a part in Ambrose's death or whether he had delusions due to a brain tumour.

Most of the book is about Philip and how he feels - and despite the fact that he's in his early 20s, he is a petulant child of a man. We realise that he has fallen hard for Rachel long before he does and feel a sense of dread at how willing he is to ignore all the warning bells that are ringing incessantly. I was desperately curious to find out how du Maurier would being the story together and the ending does not disappoint.

WOW! I liked MY COUSIN RACHEL even better than REBECCA!

This dark, old-fashioned style mystery gives the reader plenty of clues to contemplate, some suspicious, evil characters to dissect, and others who's naïvety and impulsive acts will make you cringe!

As for the ending......I loved it, but you'll have to decide for yourself if Rachel is innocent or guilty of crime(s)......but IMHO spoiler she is absolutely, positively 100% guilty...guilty...guilty!!! And I still cannot believe all the clues Philip destroyed........but then, thankfully, it did not matter in the least. end spoiler

What a great classic tale!

(recommend reading with no prior knowledge going in

Dark, Atmospheric, Brooding, Riveting,Gothic, Mysterious are all words to describe My Cousin Rachel.

This was picked by my book club years ago and quickly became a favorite of mine. I was hooked from the very first page and could not put this book down. It is not a page turner in the classic sense, but this book is a mystery and psychological thriller of sorts and it creeps up on you (or it did me!).

Philip Ashley's older cousin, Ambrose (the man basically raised Philip) has died. Philip is crushed and suspicious about his cousin's death. He and his cousin used to spend all of their time together. Bachelors who were happy to attend social outings without a female at their side. But then Ambrose starts becoming ill and decides to go to a warmer climate where he meets a young beautiful widow, named Rachel. Philip is shocked to learn that his cousin has married. Then receives word that his beloved cousin is dead. Philip is suspicious as his cousins last letters to him sounded strange - full of suspicions.

Enter Rachel. She arrives at Philip's inherited home and makes herself at home. Is she the delicate flower he sees before him. Is her grief real? Did she share Philip's love for Ambrose? Is she hiding a secret? Is she devious? Is she a liar? Is she pretending? Did she murder his cousin? Oh, the questions that are brought up for Philip!

This book is so good. I loved how the book feels dark, yet beautiful and opulent. The tension mounts
as this book progresses.

As with Daphne du Maurier's earlier novel Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel is the sort of dark and gothic book Gillian Flynn might have written had she been born half a century earlier. In this one, narrator Philip Ashley's cousin is abroad in Italy when he falls in love, gets married, and promptly dies, leaving his widow to make her way back to Philip's English estate. He's suspicious of the role Rachel played in his cousin's death, even as he finds himself falling in love with her himself. There's a delightful tension here for readers to try and work out whether Rachel is a conniving murderess or Philip is a deluded manchild, and although it seems pretty clear which reading du Maurier intended to be correct, she never quite confirms it beyond all reasonable doubt.

Gripping read but with lots of questions unanswered
Daphne du Maurier is a very good writer. For me this book was a page turner. The descriptions were very clear so it was easy to visualise whatever the context.

The story of Ambrose is, even to the end, a mystery unsolved. What happens to Philip Ashley is narrated by Philip himself, but there are interventions such as by his godfather that give the reader sight of what was another aspect of Philip’s real story.

Tension is built up and maintained right to the end. What makes this a great book is that right at the end, the reader is still left wondering what had really happened to Ambrose, and what Rachel was really like.

A lot for the reader to think about and that is the reason why the story does not leave you, even when you have come to the end.

I recently found this is not the original book and it is not 300+ pages of suspense. It was horrible. It is a abbreviated version of the plot which you can read under an hour's time. Don't know how to get my money back but save yours. the store needs to fix this and refund other buyers. My descriptions of plot and characters is based on this short version and not the original which I'm certain contained more suspense and better development of characters.

First and foremost, the haunting mystery and suspense of this novel grabs readers from the start. "My Cousin Rachel" is a well plotted story with its main theme focused on a beautiful worldly woman and a conservative young man, your narrator, inexperienced in the many ways of women. It is a love story, but with the love comes the dissection of thoughts that give the story it's alternating moods of hot and cold. As a reader you find yourself wondering about and attempting to forecast the outcome, only to have your theory sprout limbs and offer multiple possibilities. You'll enjoy watching the novel grow.

I believe what is so amazing about this novel is how it triggers reader's thoughts of trust in relationships, both past and present. The power of a woman's charm over an unsuspecting man, as well as a man's need to claim ownership over a woman he desires is laid out to perfection. As with all new relationships, communication, or lack thereof, drives Rachel and Philip's relationship forward, backward and sideways. Being inside the head of each as they try figuring out and understanding the other is a treat.

I took away one star, maybe unjustly, simply because as a man I still cannot fully say I understood Cousin Rachel's Venetian ways. If narration had alternated more into her thoughts and words, my Martian intellect might better understand her actions. But then it wouldn't be such a wonderful mystery would it Venus? Classic Literature!

Quote from My Cousin Rachel:

I thought about it for a moment. Then I let it all come with a rush of words. Why hold back anything to rot?

First time the store shopper. I was looking for the book, and did not realize this was a short play format until I received it. Too much hassle to return it for the cost. I'm better off going to the second hand book stores.

Why, why, why did I wait so long to read this book??? My Cousin Rachel blew me out of the water in its' greatness and left me wondering why I hadn't read it sooner! It is the story of Phillip Ashley and how his entire world changes when Rachel comes into his life. Rachel is the widow of his beloved Uncle Ambrose who is recently deceased. Everything Phillip has ever known changes when his cousin Rachel arrives.....and his life will never be the same.

This is basically going to be a gush fest so be prepared. I adored this book. Just adored it! The atmosphere and underlying tension in this book was just amazing. It had me well and truly hooked as I was reading. My Cousin Rachel has this creepy feeling to it where you know something bad is going to happen and all you can do is wait for it. This feeling made the atmosphere of the book so creepy and intense. I just couldn't put the book down! (And I'll admit to peeking at the ending when I was almost finished because I couldn't take it any longer. I had to know. And it still didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel.) Rachel and Phillip are on this destructive path together that neither of them realizes, and all the reader can do is wait for it to happen. Even then knowing that there couldn't possibly be a happy ending to the story, I was blown away by the ending. It left me thinking, and I had to go back and reread the first chapter again. And then the ending again. And I was still left wanting to discuss this one with someone. It was just that good!

I don't think I need to even summarize my feelings on this one. I LOVED it, plain and simple! I would reread it again without a second thought and want a copy of it for my own shelves. Just thinking about it now makes me want to read it again so what can I do but recommend it to all of you! Highly recommended!!!

Bottom Line: An amazing read.....nothing more to say other than that!

Disclosure: I checked this one out from my local library but you can bet I will be purchasing my own copy!

Another good one from Daphne du Maurier. good-not great.
This is the story of a man-Philip Ashley-who fell in love with his cousin's
widow. A widow who possibly? is responsible for the death of the cousin.

To return to the start of this tale. we go back to a time before, when Philip's
beloved cousin Ambrose travelled to Italy and there he met Rachel,a lovely
widow woman and unexpectedly,Ambrose married her only after knowing her for a
short time. Ambrose was sending letters to Philip and the last two were alarming.
Ambrose stated he felt he was being poisoned. soon after,Philip travelled to Italy
to discover Ambrose had died and Rachel had left suddenly with most of Ambrose's
belongings. Philip's first reaction was to be very angry and think that something
evil had befell Ambrose and Rachel was the one who did it...Philip returns home to
England and who shows up? Rachel.
Over a few weeks,Philip fell in love with her and blindly so. He wanted so much to
marry her,he was not seeing the real Rachel and WHO is the real Rachel? A money
hungry beauty? An innocent woman caught in unusual circumstances? so,what will happen
to Philip? Will he too be poisoned?

I found the whole novel to be ambiguous but,not frustratingly so. It is never quite clear IF
Rachel did poison Ambrose. Maybe she did,maybe not. At one point Philip seems to be
under the influence of poison(for several weeks) but,again,it is not clear "what" exactly.
I think the author intended the reader to decide. I think she poisoned both men, only
because she wanted wealth but,she did have feelings for both men,perhaps in her heart,
wanted to do good in some way(returning Philip's family jewels near the end). Rachel is
an enigma . I will not spoil the end. I did like it. it was "just",(somewhat).

I recently re-visited Daphne Du Maurier when I was laid up with foot surgery. There are few authors who can weave a spell like she does, and make you forget everything around you so that you race through the book to see how it all ends up. Readers who like happy endings will not love "My Cousin Rachel" (spoiler alert), but the book is so skillfully written that you forgive Du Maurier for bumming you out at the end. The narrator, Phillip Ashley, is a reclusive orphan who had been raised by his uncle, Ambrose, who was an inveterate bachelor and woman-hater. On doctor's advice, Ambrose leaves chilly, rainy Cornwall (this part of England is the setting for many of Du Maurier's novels) for the warmer climate of Italy every winter. One winter, after Phillip was a young man in his early twenties, Ambrose writes that he has met a distant woman cousin with Cornish ancestry who had been born and raised in Italy. They became friends, then fell in love, and Ambrose did the unexpected -- he married her. His letters to the adoring nephew Phillip become more and more infrequent and sketchy. Alarm bells go off when Ambrose writes that he has fallen into ill health and suspects his cousin, Rachel and her insidious "advisor", Rainaldi, of poisoning him. Phillip, frantic, goes off to Italy to see Ambrose, only to be told by a servant that his uncle has died. Beyond upset and deeply suspicious himself by now, he vows to find out if his uncle had indeed been poisoned by this unknown cousin. But before he has a chance to investigate, she turns up on his doorstep at Cornwall, ostensibly to return Ambroses' effects. No money had been left to the widow. This is when the story begins it's fascinating twists and turns, as we see the innocent and inexperienced Phillip completely manipulated by a charming, beautiful older woman. Sexual though she is, there is also a touch of the maternal in her treatment of Phillip, which further captures his orphan's heart. Other characters in the book, such as his godfather, Mr. Kendall, and his daughter, Louise, watch with much concern as Phillip does things so totally out of character that they fear not only for his safety but his immortal soul. I will not describe the last chapters, only to say that you simply can't put the book down until you finish it, then you have no idea if the narrator is right or wrong. An intriguing story, masterfully told by one of the best Gothic writers ever.

My Cousin Rachel is my third book by Daphne du Maurier, and re-confirms to me once again why she is regarded as one of the great writers of the 20th century. Du Maurier's style is full of imagery, even symbolism, and yet nothing is superfluous; each scene, each passage makes a clear and definite contribution to the whole. My Cousin Rachel, even more than her previous two works, reads like a longer version of a short story in its sparseness and foreshadowing.

Daphne du Maurier subtly adjusts her style to fit the time period in which her books are set, and this was most evident to me in My Cousin Rachel. Set in 19th century Cornwall (with a brief passage in Italy), the dialogue, especially, felt more restrained and formal than in her other works, which contributes to the Victorian setting and feel of the novel.

I won't recap the plot, as countless other reviewers have already done that and this is not a book report, after all. I will only comment on the book's famously ambiguous ending which leaves many readers wondering "did she, or didn't she?" For me, there really wasn't much if any ambiguity at all. Although she didn't absolutely state what Rachel had or hadn't done, du Maurier left plenty of clues along the way to make it pretty clear. Although she did throw in a few contradictory tidbits they never raise any serious doubt, at least not to my mind, but they do make the book significantly more interesting.

Although My Cousin Rachel is as skillfully written as Rebecca (which is one of my all-time favorites) I think there are a couple of important reasons why it has never achieved quite the level of popularity that Rebecca has. One, is that My Cousin Rachel lacks the twists and plot surprises of Rebecca. When reading Rebecca for the first time you really have no idea where the story is going to take you; with My Cousin Rachel it is much more straightforward and predictable. Du Maurier even weaves in subtle clues along the way that are almost like signposts of the road ahead (for example, the recurrence of laburnum trees).

But perhaps the more significant reason why My Cousin Rachel is less popular than Rebecca is its less-likable narrator. In Rebecca the narrator (the young and never-named second Mrs. De Winter) is an innocent bystander for the most part, who engages our sympathy from the first page and holds it all the way until the end; in fact, by the end we admire her even more than we did in the beginning. With My Cousin Rachel it is just the opposite. In the beginning the narrator Phillip Ashley engages our sympathy with his naivete, his innocence, his inexperience, and his unswerving love and loyalty for the cousin who raised him, Ambrose. However, this changes abruptly upon his first sight of Rachel; not only does he fall in love with her, but he begins to act like a complete fool, disregarding the good advice of everyone who loves and cares about him, and even discounting the letters and notes left behind by Ambrose. At the end Phillip does come to his senses but never reclaims our sympathy; rather, the reader almost recoils from what he becomes, as symbolized by Louise who asks him near the end, "What have you done?!"

My Cousin Rachel showcases du Maurier's amazing skill at showing the reader the whole picture by using the most subtle of language (for example, Phillip's abrupt switch mid-way in the book from referring to her constantly as "my cousin Rachel" to simply "Rachel"). That she is able to reveal Phillip's foolishness and pig-headedness, and even allows us to see him through other people's eyes, in spite of the fact that he himself is telling the story, is evidence of her superb talent as a writer.

My Cousin Rachel will definitely be a future re-read and is a solid five stars; how could anything by du Maurier be any less?

My daughter told me that the movie version of this book is coming out soon. The trailer looked good and so I decided to read it first. I really wanted to like this but I did not. The protagonist was stupid to the point where the reader starts to find him irritating to say the least. I’ve read “Rebecca” and loved that. Although this wasn’t nearly as good, I’d still like to read some of Du Maurier’s other books.

This is a devilishly clever book, as it draws the reader in to collude with Phillip's shadow side, which is a projection onto Rachel. (I personally experienced this type of reaction, when I was taken in by stories told to me by a good friend, who I later discovered was suffering from paranoia due to drug use.) The author gives very clear descriptions of the illnesses suffered by Rachel's second husband Ambrose and her obsessive young devotee, Phillip. Again I can personally attest to the hostility displayed by a dying relative who was suffering from a brain tumour. This is very accurately portrayed in the novel as happening to Ambrose. Rachel herself is similar to the book’s author - sexually free, independent, choosing her own destiny - until in the book the story takes a destructive turn. Please read it again, looking at it from this viewpoint and you will be amazed. The author even adds poisonous seeds at the end, just to get the reader going again. Yet all of our gardens are full of poisonous plants, to humans, cats or dogs, etc. I am in awe of the cleverness of such authors. For example, the story Picnic at Hanging Rock: This is an account of a mystical merging into the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime, at a sacred site. Yet it takes the reader on a merry dance when the rest of the characters in the book are convinced that the girls have been murdered - which is not the case. Wow - these books are classics indeed. They are psychological masterpieces.

Daphne du Maurier is growing on me. While quite not as good as Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel is as suspenseful and well plotted.

The book is written from the 1st person POV of Philip Ashley. Philip is a 25-year old heir to his beloved older cousin Ambrose, who for years have been substituting Philip's dead parents. Unexpectedly, on one of his doctor-advised trips to Italy, 43-year old Ambrose marries his (and Philip's) distant cousin Rachel. Soon after the wedding Philip starts receiving alarming letters from his cousin - Ambrose accuses his wife of slowly killing him. Philip doesn't know what to make of these letters - are these allegations true or they are delusions produced by Ambrose's tumor-affected brain? The young man rushes to Italy to check for himself, only to find his cousin dead and buried and Rachel gone. Soon after Philip's return to England, Rachel shows up for a visit and she is not quite what the young heir expected her to be. Is she a cold-blooded murderer or simply a victim of a series of very unfortunate events?

My Cousin Rachel is a very well written, tightly plotted mystery. Du Maurier skillfully builds suspense throughout the novel, throwing in a good amount of love, obsession, jealousy, passion, and deceit. While I am not sure Philip's male voice is completely believable (at times he sounds a tad feminine), his changing affections towards Rachel are. Rachel's subtle play at getting young and naive Philip to become enchanted with her without him even realizing it is masterfully done. Oh, this woman knows how to flirt and entice! An ambiguous ending is a plus too.

I am definitely up for some more du Maurier.

Philip Ashley lost his parents from an early age, but his cousin Ambrose was always there for him. Ambrose, not much older than Philip, took care of his young cousin, and growing up hadn't been so difficult. They look alike, share the same views towards women and society in general. Actually, they are both recluses, preferring spending their idle times at their estate. But then Ambrose travels to Italy, where he meets and marries a woman named Rachel in Florence. After a series of bizarre letters from Ambrose, Philip decides to travel to Florence, where he discovers that his cousin is dead. Infuriated, Philip vows to hunt Rachel down and make her pay. To his luck, she arrives in England. Rachel is a mysterious creature. At first, Philip is somewhat bewildered. Who is this woman? Is the demure, small creature the monster he had pictured? Then the unthinkable happens -- he falls in love with Rachel. But the question remains, who is Rachel? What happened to Ambrose, and was she responsible? Philip is similar to Ambrose in more ways than one, and he will soon find out just what transpired in Italy...

My Cousin Rachel is filled with gothic suspense that, like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, makes you want to turn the pages. Daphne Du Maurier had a gifted way of adding mystique and intrigue in the characters more than with the story or gothic elements themselves. She really had a way of making the characters -- especially the creepy ones -- come alive with her unique language. This is the first novel of hers that I read that is told from a male character's point of view, and I was enthralled with the story. Like Rebecca, I was able to picture everything in my head as though it were a horror film, more entertaining and far more intelligent than a film, in fact. A book critic describes My Cousin Rachel as "bewitching and beguiling," and that, in a nutshell, describes the title character to a tee. I couldn't make her out. Is she manipulative and cunning, or caring and self-sacrificing? Du Maurier creates quite an intriguing tale of obsession that I couldn't put down. You won't want to put it down either.

This mystery novel's dramatic tension stems from the fact that the reader is never quite sure if the eponymous character is a scheming villain or simply an emotionally fragile woman who follows her impulses. Du Maurier's portrait of Rachel is richly drawn, and the romance that develops between Rachel and her younger cousin Philip, the story's narrator, is complex and convincing.

Twenty-four-year-old Philip has good reason to believe that Cousin Rachel, whom he is meeting for the first time, is not the person she is purporting to be. However, she is a beautiful woman (although he doesn't realize it at first) and he is not insensible to her charms. He ends up falling head-over-heels in love with her despite his misgivings. He then alternates between: a) suspecting his cousin of terrible crimes, including the murder of Philip's cousin, Ambrose, Rachel's former husband and the man who had been a father figure to Philip; and b) devising explanations for her behavior that would exonerate her from blame. In a similar fashion, the reader vacillates back and forth, one minute thinking, "She's trouble! Run while you can, Philip!", the next minute sympathizing with Rachel and thinking, "I'm sure she means well." Du Maurier demonstrates great skill as a writer in maintaining this sense of uncertainty throughout the novel. The ending is surprising.

Most of the action takes place on a sprawling estate along the coast of Cornwall, and although Du Maurier never actually specifies a time period the novel appears to be set in the late 19th century. "My Cousin Rachel" was published in 1951, but is written in a slow moving, character-driven Victorian Gothic style that heightens the sense of mystery, unease, romance, and excitement.

When I read Rebecca last year, it instantly became one of my favorite novels. The second Du Maurier book I read was Jamaica Inn. While it was a well-written novel with plenty of mystery to go around, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed when compared to Rebecca.

My Cousin Rachel should be the second Daphne Du Maurier novel you read if you loved Rebecca. It is a psychological mystery reminiscent of something written by John Fowles. In this novel, Ambrose Ashley is advised to go to Italy for the sake of his health. His cousin Philip, who he raised as his own son, is distressed to see him go, but soon begins enjoying being master of the estate.

Things change when Philip learns that Ambrose has married an Italian countess. Before Ambrose and his bride return to England, Philip receives a few cryptic messages from Ambrose suggesting that Rachel is attempting to harm him. Philip departs for Italy immediately, but upon his arrival learns that his cousin has died and his widow vanished.

The fun begins when Rachel turns up in England and seeks an audience with Philip. Before Rachel's arrival, Philip creates a sundry of images in his head of this woman who possibly killed his cousin. First he imagines her as an old invalid, then she is a silly young girl. When Rachel arrives in England, Philip is so enraged by the images he has conjured up in his imagination, he refuses to even see her.

At the request of his god father, Philip agrees to meet with Rachel at the Ashley estate. He is surprised to see that the real Rachel Ashley resembles none of the faces he had imagined for her. Every suspicion he had of her begins to vanish as Rachel casts her spell on Philip and the readers. Just when the evidence begins to pile up against her it is easily explained away. The question is, did she murder her husband? If I had to pick a favorite between My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca, I don't think I could. Both novels are two of the best I have ever read.

A hotel built in 1926 in rainy Seattle - where the TV had nothing to offer and I had left my computer at home--was a fitting place to read this book. It pleasantly occupied me for a couple of days, and then I finished it and had to find something else to read, which turned out to be "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy. What a transition -- pre-Victorian era romance followed by nonstop, almost senseless killing.

Not that both authors aren't very good writers, because they are. But they say that one key to good story telling is to create characters that the reader cares about, and in "No Country" the central positive character is killed off, while the totally unsympathetic, inscrutable killer is allowed to live. That's the kind of paperback that, except for the last page, you want to throw away as soon as you're finished. However, I'll hold onto my 1952 edition of "Rachel" (for which I paid 23 cents in 1991 and just read 20 years later), even though I'll never read it again, unlike "The House on the Strand" which I've read multiple times.

Daphne Du Maurier liked to tell stories from a man's point of view, and her women characters were often not very sympathetic. Rachel is such a person, and yet you want her and the 24-year-old Philip to become lovers and marry and be happy, but that's not how it works out, or we wouldn't have much of a story.

One of the entertaining things about "My Cousin Rachel" is that it's centered around a young man who, as a member of the property-owning upper class, lives a life radically different from our own. There is little pressure on him to do anything, and so he spends his days gardening, riding horseback about his lands, visiting with the poorer farmers who rent from him, etc. At home in his huge house, everything is done for him, including bringing hot water for his bath and lighting the fire. Such people live in an archaic but sort of charming world. In the late afternoon they retire to their rooms to rest and then dress every evening for dinner, which includes the attentive company of servants, if no one else, but usually also involves friends or acquaintances with whom they drink, tell stories, etc. It's a rough life. Of course, you wouldn't want to get sick in such a day and age, which Philip does, but fortunately he survives to live out his life as a gentleman of leisure, which as he sees it involves "farming the land well, looking after the people" and remaining "honored and respected", although (curiously) not necessarily happy.

I read this book as a sort of appetizer before reading Rebecca for an online bookclub. While it isn't quite up that standard, it does not disappoint.

The story is told by Philip Ashley, the orphaned cousin of wealthy British landowner Ambrose Ashley, who for health reasons goes to Italy during the long winter months and there meets and marries his cousin, Rachel Sangaletti. She, a widow whose husband died in a duel and left great debts, shares Ambrose's love of plants and gardening. Ambrose never returns to England after their marriage, telling Philip that his health is not good and won't permit him to travel home. The last two letters he receives convince Philip that his cousin is in grave danger, and he travels to Florence to try to help him. When he arrives, there is no sign of Rachel, only a servant at the villa who tells Philip that Ambrose has died. The entire Ashley estate is left to Philip, since Ambrose did not rewrite his will to include his new wife. The circumstances of his death are somewhat questionable, and Philip is determined that Rachel will have no part of the Ashley wealth...until he meets her.

If you are a fan of the Brontë sisters, I believe that you will enjoy this one, as it has a sort of Jane Eyre-ish feel to it...not in the story but in the mood. Ms. du Maurier's skill as a writer is excellent, even in telling the story in a man's voice. Maybe it was because I had read Rebecca that I was better able to anticipate where the story was going, but this one did not seem to me as quite as mysterious as the more famous novel. I read one review that said this one was more suited to be a novella, and I would tend to agree with that. It could have been shorter and not lost much at all. If anyone were thinking about reading these two stories, I would suggest reading My Cousin Rachel first. It is not quite as good as Rebecca but most definitely worth reading.

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!

That is the question that will keep readers on the edge of their seat until the final twist on the very last pages. Phillip Ashley was orphaned at a young age and raised in 19C Cornwall by his older cousin Ambrose. Health issues force Ambrose to spend time in warmer climates and he meets and marries a distant cousin Rachel, the widowed Countess Sangaletti. A cryptic note arrives from Ambrose hinting at being poisoned and Phillip heads to Florence to find Ambrose dead of a brain tumor (so the doctors say.....) and Rachel disappeared, with Rainaldi her close friend and "financial advisor" handling her affairs.

Phillip heads home and as rightful heir takes over running the family estate, but constantly broods on his hatred of Rachel and builds an image of her that is completely different when he comes face to face with her. Instead of the murdering she-devil he's built up in his mind, Phillip doesn't quite know what to make of this tiny, elegant and very enigmatic cousin of his. Rachel weaves herself into the lives of Phillip making herself indispensable to the household until Phillip finally finds himself in love with her and forgets his prior suspicions. Phillip realizes his majority at his 25th birthday and he presents Rachel with what Ambrose would have willed to her if he had lived long enough to sign a new will. At that point everything changes between Rachel and Phillip and .........

Well I'm not going to tell you, read it for yourself. This was a fabulous read that had me gripped from the very first page and kept me guessing until the very end (actually she still keeps you guessing but you have to read it for yourself to find out why). There's a good reason Du Maurier is considered the master of romantic suspense. Highly highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

I loved 'Rebecca' but often do I feel bad for Daphne DuMaurier, for it seems that 'Rebecca' is credited as her only worth while effort at writing, but latley here I have found as I read more of her novels and short stories, that Ms. DuMaurier has emerged as my own very favorite writer. Her tales, although vastly different from one another, I find are not usually what I relate to at all, but her characters and their behaviors and attitudes. And, after reading a substantial amount of DuMauriers work, I think I would say 'My Cousin Rachel' takes the cake for her best.
'Rebecca' may be well known for it's ever famous opening line, 'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...' but 'My Cousin Rachel' seems to adapt not only a similair opening feel, but a better one. From the first page DuMaurier is refrencing death and the way it is written is beautiful. Her main character is highly likeable and there are many twists and turns throughout the book. I found that I could not put it down. I also found DuMaurier is quite excellent as usual in writing about the human relationship between men and women. Rachel is a complex character who always remains mysterious but I too could not help falling in love with her. There are so many beautiful one liners and moments that remind me so much of 'Rebecca' only as I mentioned, 'My Cousin Rachel' is better. I also found it very powerful, especially the ending.

All in all, a brilliant and haunting work. Hands down the best work from my favorite author.

A real page turner. I had read the book long time ago and had completely forgotten. I am glad I read it again. Actually I listened to the audio version. I enjoyed every minute of it. I drove aimlessly to finish the last 100 pages.

It is a confession of sorts by Philip, the protagonist, who falls in love with his cousin Rachel, who was married to his mentor, benefactor and father figure, Ambrose. After Ambrose marries Rachel, a widow, who grew up in Italy, he is sadly disillusioned by her behavior and imagines she was after his money and was poisoning him. Rachel had a close friend Renaldi, who Ambrose suspects was in cohorts with Rachel, in destroying him. He writes to Philip to visit him in Florence and save him. But Philip is too late. By the time he arrives in Florence, Ambrose is dead and his cousin Rachel had left town. Philip vows revenge and goes back to England.

In one of the most dramatic turn of events, Rachel woos him with her charm, grace, patronizing, and by just being herself. Philip falls in love with her and bequeaths the entire estate and jewelry, which was his to keep, according to Ambrose will, when he reached 25. On his 25th birthday, delirious, he proposes to Rachel. who was 10 years his senior. Rachel just laughs thinking it is all in good humor.

When confronted by his persistent proposals, Rachel rebuffs Philip and to compound insult to injury, Renaldi shows up at the estate. Philip is outraged and imagines Rachel is up to her old tricks and he was going to be the next victim like Ambrose.

What will Philip do? Is Rachel a cold blooded calculating murderer?

This book reminded me of "Of Human Bondage", another classic by Somerset Maugham. But this Philip is not feckless.

A must read.

Du Maurier shines here in her tale of a mysterious woman and the hold that she develops over a younger man. The story is riven with with ambiguity and doubt. It is easy to see what Hitchcock saw in du Maurier with her fine sense of the essential strangeness of others, the partiality of vision and particularly sexual power and vulnerablity. It is taught and engrossing, beautifully written with hardly a word out of place. As good, in its own way, as Rebecca. More subdued, and all the better for it.

I decided to read an old fashioned novel after too much contemporary literature and this was the perfect book to turn to. I loved Du Maurier last time I read her, decades ago, and found I love her still. Brilliant writer. A cracking story of intrigue that I looked forward to reading every night. I’ll now watch the film but doubt it will be nearly as good as the book.

Buyer be aware! I'm very glad I read the reviewers of this Kindle version before buying. To charge $10 for an abridged version of 300 page masterpiece by Daphne du Maurier and NOT mention the fact in the description is dishonest. I bought a digital version elsewhere. Happy reading!

My Cousin Rachel has some admirable qualities. It is very well performed by Jonathan Pryce and I'm not sure it would have held my attention the way Rebecca did in print. Like all of Miss du Maurier's books, it has a very ambiguous ending and I had to listen to it 4 times to understand it. But that's OK.

If you are looking for some light, gothic entertainment, this is a good book for that. But if you are looking for something deep, I would suggest not choosing this book. I also do not think it would make a good discussion book for a book club (something I know a lot about having been in at least one over the last 12 years).

I would seek out this reader again, and I am sure that I have not read my final du Maurier. I do love books that take place in Cornwall where the weather is as much of a character as anything or anyone else.

Which should I read next? Frenchman's Creek or Jamaica Inn?

Just finished this novel and am at a lost of words.

First off, this was my very first Daphne did Maurier book, and I absolutely loved her writing. It was very engaging and she weaved a fascinating tale.

I appreciated Philip as the unreliable narrator as it kept you guessing how events truly occurred and about the actions of others, though he wasn't likeable.

And that ending! That'll be on my mind for a good while. Definitely would recommend this!

A slow-burn psychological thriller that will have you constantly asking “Is She or Isn’t She?” Philip Ashley, the first person narrator of this tale, is a very sheltered young man who was raised by his wealthy cousin Ambrose. When Ambrose travels to Italy and suddenly gets married and then abruptly dies, Philip is determined that his widow Rachel is to blame. Then the beautiful Rachel shows up in Cornwall and thoroughly bewitches him, making the gauche young man an even more unreliable narrator.

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.

Genre Reviews
[...]

Like everyone else in the world and her brother, I was instantly captivated by Daphne Du Maurier's 'My Cousin Rachel' (published in July of 1951) from the first time I read it as a teenager. Since then I have read and re-read this marvelous book several more times, and I think I have finally managed to put my finger on the hook which was from the very start it securely implanted in my cheek.
From the opening chapters an image of Rachel emerged in my imagination as a Franco Zeferrelli heroine - a delicate combined portrait of Madame Bovary and Jane Eyre in looks, but painted in the fine Italian chiaroscuro worthy of Da Vinci.
In my imagination a streak of light catches Rachel's very soignèe, very tightly combed and knotted dark hair, and shows off to its best advantage her beautifully shaped head. I see the simple and exceedingly elegant cut of her black dress, and her dark, suggestive beauty offset by her pale and sensitive hands, and the creamy flesh of her slender neck emerging above the tall stiff collar. I see the dark and fading browns and greens of a renaissance landscape with plane trees and cypresses in the background... I see some of Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess' in her as well... I hear a Donizetti aria or two - 'Regnava Nel Silenzio' and 'Una Furtiva Lagrima', because of course such passion as she may inspire inevitably compels the headlong rushing in of fools, as well as its predictable aftermath.
But above and beyond all of that, the most insistent, most confusing, and most disorienting sound I hear is Phillip's voice:
It is a voice that comes out of his mouth without ever being his. I now know that this is because it is in fact a woman's voice. - or more accurately, the voice of a castrato taken over by a women, - perhaps like that of Pauline Viardot's Orpheus singing 'J'ai Perdu Mon Eurydice' in a mist of grief and passion.
As a writer, Daphne du Maurier is a superb ventriloquist, and her throwing of Phillip's voice quite tricked my cognitive ear, though my intuitive ear was not so easily persuaded. It took me all these many disquieting years to discover that no man could ever speak of a woman in the way Phillip speaks of Rachel, but only a woman who finds her own sex a source of confounding fascination, which is to say, a lesbian.
When I construe Phillip as a young dyke, 'his' voice, a breaking mezzo/contralto, fits exactly.
The richness of this book is that it is teeming with the unseen ghosts of literary and cultural symbols - the ghosts of the Brontës (during whose lifetimes the novel is set), the noble and tormented ghost of Radclyffe Hall's Stephen, the ghost of Lucrezia Borgia with the whiff of poison clinging to her reputed ring, and perhaps even the tantalising ghost of the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile - the smile which intimates there is something behind it that we could never see. The atmosphere is filled with the anxious echoes of a past that is persistently insinuating itself into the present.
The chord Du Maurier strikes is rich in resonance and harmonics. It goes on echoing and reverberating, because throughout its long vibration, which in this novel is the tension of a prolonged falling in love, the sound of voice and the image of the speaker appear not to be the same.
Phillip,the first person protagonist, seems completely unable to hear his own voice. Nor does he seem able to grasp the implications of his emotions or his actions. He consistently and unswervingly evinces the bafflement of a young girl who falls in love with another young girl, or a woman, without ever having the slightest inkling that despite everything they are led to believe about what they should expect to encounter within the strictly heterosexual constraints of conventional romances of the common and garden sort, girls do in fact fall hopelessly and irrevocably in love with women.
Rachel captivates Phillip from the start, and the secret of her power over him rests in no small part on his utter lack of preparedness for such an encounter. Long before he meets her he has created an unattractive image of her which he is determined to dislike. He is certain that he will be impervious to her. He has no idea that she is the kind of woman who captivates without effort, and with an inescapable finality. Nor does he know he is exactly the kind of person who always falls fatally in love.
When Rachel creates an exotic garden paradise in which she and Eve and the Serpent are one, and we readers are uneasily aware that Phillip, a young girl in boy's clothing, could never be her match. Ambrose, Phillip's older cousin who was Rachel's husband, like the ghost in Hamlet's , did not survive his marriage, and has died under mysterious circumstances.
Even though deceased Ambrose and androgynous Phillip are central characters, besides a butler, a guardian, a dog, and a dead man, there is not one convincing living and breathing male in this story. Even Rainaldi, Rachel's sinister Italian friend and lawyer, with his slight build and waspish manner seems more like a peevish spinster than a real man.
Rachel is the dark lady of Phillip's sonnets, but she is also the Muse - the Goddess - and as such we know that with her mysterious beauty, her 'otherness', elusiveness and unattainability she can never be cast as a wife. Doom hangs over us all from the start.
I know that reading this book as a young girl, I sensed all of this without ever being able to know or grasp any of it. Like Phillip, without noticing what was happening to me, I too had fallen in love with Rachel right away. Even the very seeds she saved - or hid in her darkly ambiguously sinister manner- had a name suggestive of delicate blossoms and warm lips - Laburnum....
Daphne admitted that her inspiration for Rachel was Ellen Doubleday the wife of her American publisher. We shall never know whether or not this particular passion was fulfilled, as was her affair with the famous actress Gertrude Lawrence.
I am now unable to escape the realisation that the ghost in this book was Du Maurier herself , with her impeccable persona of a very proper and very married English lady who nonetheless possessed the incongruous, undeniable, spot -on, pitch-perfect modulation of a lesbian sensibility.

Daphne du Maurier's style of writing takes some getting used to. I read "Rebecca" and still can't tell you what it was about. This book is better, although still weird. It reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock 's storytelling style.

The novel isn't as suspenseful or satisfying as Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. It's a slow read, sections were redundant and the ending was predictable. The main character seemed like a complete idiot--which may have been intentional, but was frustrating nonetheless.

This book is about obsession, and how it can blur the line between reason and madness. I will forever wonder about the innocence or guilt of Rachel; she is a complicated enigma that will surely cause readers to reflect about her character, long after they have finished the book. At worst, she is a deceitful, conniving vixen who uses her charms for personal gain; at best, she is an endearing flirt who is too naive to understand the power of her charms on a young, inexperienced young man like Phillip. Because Phillip is the narrator, all of his motivations, vulnerabilities, fears, doubts and insecurities are fully explored, which makes for a fascinating mind journey. He seems to have as many flaws as his cousin Rachel does, and yet her innermost thoughts and feelings remain just out of reach. The four stars are because I felt the set-up for the ending was too convenient and too contrived. This complicated character study deserved more than its easy, predictable finish.

Before reading this book, you must clear your mind of preceptions inferred by critics insisting that Du Maurier is a writer of romance. First and foremost, Du Maurier writes about murderers. Like Patricia Highsmith, she masterfully allows you to see through their eyes and feel all that they feel regarding the misdeed they contemplate or have already committed. As in most of her male-narrated fictions, you will find yourself so enthralled by the circumstances observed and described that you inadvertantly cheer for and empathize with a protagonist as immoral as Highsmith's Tom Ripley is ammoral.

Philip Ashley is such a creation. Here, you must depart from Richard Burton's 1953 movie version of this character---in the film of the same name, we watch a young and beautiful Burton pout and snarl rather than see the events through his eyes. In the novel, Philip is the product of a woman-free household. He is young, sheltered and almost churlish from his lack of society. Living on a large Cornish estate with his older cousin Ambrose, Philip is groomed in tradition--he will run the Ashley estate and become a magistrate like his cousin before him; he has no need for women fussing about him. In short, he has learned Ambrose's lessons quite well. Imagine his surprise when Ambrose departs for Italy and months later writes back to inform Philip and the staff at the estate that he has taken a wife--a half-Italian distant cousin, Rachel Sangiletti. Compound this surprise with letters received from Ambrose describing a deteriorating health punctuated with headaches, violent outbursts and an apprehensive distrust of his wife's frivilousness with regard to money. When Ambrose suddenly dies, Philip finds himself in a frenzy of his own; his target, the unsuspecting Rachel, newly-arrived in Cornwall with Ambrose's possessions. Prepared to hate her, Philip encounters a woman far different from what he expected. Like his mentor, Ambrose, Philip falls in love with her and similarly follows the road that Ambrose traveled where his misogynic training is turned on its ear. Only when Philip's rosy picture of Rachel is tested by actions Philip doesn't quite understand, does his world cloud with Ambrose's ingrained suspicions.

This novel truely unlocks the door to Philip's mind and emotions. We see only through Philip's point of view; Rachel, although the book is named after her, is a secondary figure--a shadow not quite comprehended by our hero.

This book is definitely recommended to all those who have enjoyed 'Rebecca'--I imagined Rachel to be like Rebecca, knowingly or unknowingly inciting their rather solitary men to committing acts of extreme violence. The wicked question Du Maurier leaves floating around in the reader's mind is this: Are Rebecca and Rachel evil women who justifiably are killed--- or ---are they just women who serve no other good function but to die?

After seeing the movie (which is, for some reason, not available on video last time I checked) and reading the book, I recently listened to an excellent audiobook version of My Cousin Rachel, narrated by Jonathan Pryce. I actually like this story even more than Du Maurier's better known Rebecca. The novel is told from the standpoint of Philip, a self-centered and inexperienced man of twenty-four. It is a challenge to have a story told by a very flawed narrator, but it makes things more interesting if it's done well, as it is here. Philip was raised by his older cousin Ambrose, who dies shortly after marrying the mysterious Rachel. Rachel comes to the estate, which is soon to be in Philip's possession. He initially blames Rachel for Ambrose's death, but almost immediately falls under her spell. He is soon helplessly in love with her. The rest of the novel is a psychological mystery --is Rachel kind and generous or ruthless and conniving, as Philip first suspected? The genius of My Cousin Rachel is in its two primary characters, Rachel and Philip. The first is the archetypal mysterious, beatiful woman who may be either good or evil. Philip is also a complex and interesting character. Just as the reader becomes exasperated at his naivete and immaturity, we are shown that he is also capable of great love and devotion. His faults, we understand, are due to his background. My Cousin Rachel has a classically English gothic atmosphere (the setting is Cornwall), a la the Bronte novels. It is at once a mystery, a romance and a fascinating psychological study.

This book shows Du Maurier's cleverness as a writer in keeping the reader guessing as to the identity of the villain or even what is really happening.

The author's skill kept second-guessing my own understanding of what I read on the page

I liked this more than "Jamaica Inn," but "Rebecca" is still the best.

My Cousin Rachel, just reading from the title, you can get the feel of the story from the domination affected by the prefix 'My'. The story was told by Philip, whose older cousin, named Ambrose, married an attractive long-lost cousin, Rachel. Brought up only by male adults, Philip didn't have a clue about society with women, except for a female best friend whom he considered as a sister. When the blow of Ambrose death came, all Philip ever wanted was to get revenge on 'my cousin Rachel'. But instead of doing that, upon their first meeting, he became tranced and passionately in love with her, reliving the tragedy.

This novel is a mix between mistery novel, dark gothic and gender war, which were woven with clear description and provoking dialogs. It opened with a first question: What made a man kill his wife?. All questions after that will lead to that first, with a clue you can find in the last sentence of the first chapter. Full with paradox and irony but not too fullblown. Each character was well drawn: background, personality, way of life (vivid description of Cornwell), and mystery. No villain was proven. It left the answer to each reader.

dapne du maurier's books--all seem to gave tragic shades to them. we see through only phillips eyes--it is his feelings about racheal that form our own. we are curoius about racheal-and when she does arrive in england-we accept her as does phillip. it is not till, he reads the letter from ambrose is he doubtful of her-and not till she plans to leave for italy does suspision root it self firmly in his mind and ours.but phillip is only 25--an age which younge men often let emotions control them---which leads to the tragic end. the queations one asks at the end are -was racheal innocent? we may feel that she was "good"-and phillip himself is not sure if his suspisions were well founded--but the thing is can we be sure?--as this books shows-suspision is indeed the cancer of the mind.

This Kindle edition of My Cousin Rachel is not the book. It is some weird abridged version with very simplified language, almost childlike. It is 87 pages long, where the actual book is 300plus pages. I have no idea who this version is intended for but, more importantly, I did not see it indicated anywhere that it is an abridged version. the store did refund my $, which was only 2.99. Gonna go to the library and get the original.

I have read several books by Daphne DuMaurier, and My Cousin Rachel is my favorite. This novel is not light reading, but it is intensely gripping in all of its twists and turns. It is truly a work of art. It has an unusual ending. I don't care for reviews that give the plot away, but I just want to say this; at the end the reader is left to make up his or her own mind as to whether Rachel was good or evil. I chose to come to the conclusion that she was good. Other readers may have reached a different conclusion. My Cousin Rachel is an outstanding piece of literary achievement! The movie was very good although it did not do the book full justice. I thought that Olivia DeHavilland was perfectly cast as Rachel.

An astonishing look into the mind of a reckless young man driven close to madness by jealousy and suspicion. Going even deeper than "Rebecca", this book explores the confusing shadow-play of modern romance and its darker side: obsession. The ending is perfect, leaving just the right questions posed and unanswered. I've read this book three times, and I'll surely read it again. Btw, the BBC did the perfect serialization of this book in the 1980s, with Geraldine Chaplin in the title role. How come this isn't available on video?

Daphne du Maurier is a master of the slowly unfolding mystery. Her characters are tortured, misguided and amazingly cruel. This is the type of book that you can't put down while reading and can't forget when done. I highly recommend it.

Not as deep and dark as Rebecca, but definitely Rebecca and Rachel are similar characters. This seems to be a good preparation by the author for her most well known book, Rebecca. It is short and in some ways a simple plot, but very satisfying.

Of course, this is a 5-STAR book! It's movie fame precedes it, as does the author's acclaim. I'd never read it before, but upon reading, I found it to be quite close to the film: A masterpiece of dark gothic mystery. Wonderful. If you've only seen the movie, get the book and settle in to enjoy this classic.

The Good:

Forbidden fruit: crushing on your older cousin-in-law. Narrator losing his mind in his lust.

Style: "Waste matter was borne away upon this river, wisps of straw, and vegetation, yet to my imagination, fevered almost with fatigue and thirst, it was something to be tasted, swallowed, poured down the throat as on might pour a draught of poison."

The Bad:

Two-thirds of the way through I began to suspect there would be too many questions left unanswered.

This book is great. I just happened upon the film version of this book a couple months ago and liked it enough to give the book a try. It was my first Du Maurier and I loved it. Since then I have read Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and Frenchman's Creek.
My Cousin Rachel is definitely the best of the bunch, with Rebecca at second. THe other two are very enjoyable but a little far-fetched.
Before I read this book I had no idea what Du Maurier was like, I just assumed she was some trashy twentieth century writer like Agatha Christie (sorry AC fans). I would put "Rachel" on par with Thomas Hardy's work- its that good. It could be called a gothic novel, though it is more modern in approach. Overall somewhat similar to Jane Eyre or Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
This book is a bit slower than her other works, but much more believable, in depth, and serious. It is a frustrating mystery at the end, was Rachel good or bad? I like to tell myself that Du Maurier herself never decided, never "knew", and that is why it is so ambiguous.

The word Interesting covers a lot of ground. It can mean Unique or Fascinating, and it is a polite way to say you think something is ugly or stupid.
I'm not sure completely which definition of Interesting I would use in relation to this book, because it was really weird, and yet it was a good story as well. I think it's one I would need to read several times to really figure out.
For someone who is new to Daphne du Maurier, I recommend Rebecca, The House on the Strand, and The King's General. Save this one for when you know you like her strangeness enough to appreciate it regardless of how it is presented.

This is one of the most fascinating and moving novels I have ever read. The story is not about pirates, smugglers or wildly romantic adventures. It is a real life love drama, in which an inexperienced young man falls in love with a woman of the world. A possible crime plays an important role, but the real story is about the feelings of Rachel and Philip for each other. For me, the most dramatic person is Rachel, whose character and way of life don't fit into the dreams of Ambrose and Philip. Not until the last page it becomes clear what kind of a woman Rachel really is, at least for me. (For some readers the questions remain.) At the end there are no winners, no bad guys, only victims. Even after I finished reading the book it kept me under its spell for days. I think this is because Rachel and Philip are so like real people, because Rachel remains a fascinating woman who I would like to have met in real life. For me it belongs to the top of my favorite novels. If I could take five books with me to a deserted island where I had to spend the rest of my life, this one would be one of them.

My Cousin Rachel is one of my favorite books of all time. As I dived into its pages, I found myself being led through the emotions of the narrator. Daphne du Maurier wrote the book in such a way that every new emotion is perfectly believable--the narrator's reaction is real and understandable. I eagerly read on, wishing to know the truth behind the mystery surrounding the widow Rachel. Finally, I got to the end. It forced me to think and speculate. I had to draw my own conclusion from the facts--which, I think, is what partly made the book so unforgettable.

If you want mystery, an interesting plot, content for not only eating but digesting, or just plain enjoyment, you'll like this book.

I loved this book. I loved Rebecca and this is right up there with that great classic. The tone of this book is a bit different, but still very mysterious. The book was written in 1951, but the story is timeless. Did Rachel kill Ambrose? Did she come to Philip merely for the money? Can what motivates people ever really be known? Also a great look at life in Cornwall.

A wonderful title but the book does not measure up to Rebecca.
An enjoyable read, the tension in the story line is present from the opening sentence and is sustained throughout the novel. Interesting characters and settings translated well to the big screen in the 1953 movie by the same name starring Olivia de Havallind and Richard Burton.

This book is great. I just happened upon the film version of this book a couple months ago and liked it enough to give the book a try. It was my first Du Maurier and I loved it. Since then I have read Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and Frenchman's Creek.
My Cousin Rachel is definitely the best of the bunch, with Rebecca at second. THe other two are very enjoyable but a little far-fetched.
Before I read this book I had no idea what Du Maurier was like, I just assumed she was some trashy twentieth century writer like Agatha Christie (sorry AC fans). I would put "Rachel" on par with Thomas Hardy's work- its that good. It could be called a gothic novel, though it is more modern in approach. Overall somewhat similar to Jane Eyre or Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
This book is a bit slower than her other works, but much more believable, in depth, and serious. It is a frustrating mystery at the end, was Rachel good or bad? I like to tell myself that Du Maurier herself never decided, never "knew", and that is why it is so ambiguous.

The word Interesting covers a lot of ground. It can mean Unique or Fascinating, and it is a polite way to say you think something is ugly or stupid.
I'm not sure completely which definition of Interesting I would use in relation to this book, because it was really weird, and yet it was a good story as well. I think it's one I would need to read several times to really figure out.
For someone who is new to Daphne du Maurier, I recommend Rebecca, The House on the Strand, and The King's General. Save this one for when you know you like her strangeness enough to appreciate it regardless of how it is presented.

This is one of the most fascinating and moving novels I have ever read. The story is not about pirates, smugglers or wildly romantic adventures. It is a real life love drama, in which an inexperienced young man falls in love with a woman of the world. A possible crime plays an important role, but the real story is about the feelings of Rachel and Philip for each other. For me, the most dramatic person is Rachel, whose character and way of life don't fit into the dreams of Ambrose and Philip. Not until the last page it becomes clear what kind of a woman Rachel really is, at least for me. (For some readers the questions remain.) At the end there are no winners, no bad guys, only victims. Even after I finished reading the book it kept me under its spell for days. I think this is because Rachel and Philip are so like real people, because Rachel remains a fascinating woman who I would like to have met in real life. For me it belongs to the top of my favorite novels. If I could take five books with me to a deserted island where I had to spend the rest of my life, this one would be one of them.

My Cousin Rachel is one of my favorite books of all time. As I dived into its pages, I found myself being led through the emotions of the narrator. Daphne du Maurier wrote the book in such a way that every new emotion is perfectly believable--the narrator's reaction is real and understandable. I eagerly read on, wishing to know the truth behind the mystery surrounding the widow Rachel. Finally, I got to the end. It forced me to think and speculate. I had to draw my own conclusion from the facts--which, I think, is what partly made the book so unforgettable.

If you want mystery, an interesting plot, content for not only eating but digesting, or just plain enjoyment, you'll like this book.

I loved this book. I loved Rebecca and this is right up there with that great classic. The tone of this book is a bit different, but still very mysterious. The book was written in 1951, but the story is timeless. Did Rachel kill Ambrose? Did she come to Philip merely for the money? Can what motivates people ever really be known? Also a great look at life in Cornwall.

A wonderful title but the book does not measure up to Rebecca.
An enjoyable read, the tension in the story line is present from the opening sentence and is sustained throughout the novel. Interesting characters and settings translated well to the big screen in the 1953 movie by the same name starring Olivia de Havallind and Richard Burton.

This book was very skillfully written, with outstanding characterization and wonderful descriptions. The open ending will leave different readers with different interpretations of the main characters and what happened.

This emotional noval should most definitely be put in the catagory of one the greatest novels of all time. It displays the strengh of love as a Englishman, Philip, will do anything to get love in return from an Italian woman, Rachel. The reader becomes deep into the story as the plot thickens as a result of the the book's realistic theme. The reader is desperatly trying to discover the truth about Rachel until the end when a shocking event occurs. My Cousin Rachel is by far one of the most amazing books of the bookshelves.

This is NOT the entire novel. This is basically a clifsnotes. Please look around and find the full novel. Do not purchase this unless you want the bare minimum "basics" of this story. The original novel, however, is very well written and a great read.

Although this book was written many decades ago - in the 1950's - it did not seem at all dated in writing style or subject matter. The characters were all well developed and the descriptions and settings clearly described without being overly "wordy". The book held my interest from the first page through the last.

As a huge fan of Du Maurier, I was generally unimpressed by this novel in comparison to her others, such as Rebecca, The Scapegoat, Jamaica Inn, and The House on the Strand. I find Du Maurier wonderful, if inconsistent, alternately delivering atmosphere, thrills, and unusually gripping late-night storytelling. This novel promises all of the above, but ultimately delivers an unsatisfying ending that leaves the reader feeling the story was somehow derailed at its high point. If the benefit of a melodramatic period piece is an un-put-downable book, My Cousin Rachel doesn't make the grade. Stick to some of Du Maurier's other works.

I can't say enough about this author's exceptional writing style. The mystery, intrigue and varying perspectives all kept me turning pages rapidly and vacillating about the title's character with each turn. I was surprised to learn that Daphne Du Maurier was also the author of The Birds and of course I am familiar with that movie as well as Rebecca. Still, I believe this story is my favorite by this author.

While I did not read this version and therefore cannot comment on whether it is abridged or not but in general I absolutely loathe books in which the main character is such a fool, such a naive, gullible, idiot.

The book was not bad but I think the author wrote too much about the letters which Philip had found. I am sure that the last chapter was the best part of the book. I don't like the part in the middle very much because it was lenghty and quite boring. I found it a little bit sad that Philip hadn't seen his cousin Ambrose before he died. But all in all the story was interesting.

When i read Rebecca i decided i wanted to read anothor book by the same author. I picked this book because i thought this would be another fabulous book, but i tunred out boring and dull untill the very last page.

I had read this book back in the 50s when my mother got it from her book club. I'd forgotten how involved it is. Poor Philip seems so naive as to be laughable. Of course that is an important feature of the story. There is a slight weakness near the end. Surely workers would have put up a sign. Still it tells a good story about an intriguing woman.

What a unique love story! Even though I felt like I kind of knew what to expect (curse you movie trailer!!!!!), it kept going in directions that took me by surprise. However, I didn't find the atmosphere quite as brooding and mysterious as I expected to, which was a little disappointing.

Phillip was a fun main character in that he was younger and more naive than a typical hero. He is constantly changing his mind about the other characters and his own values, causing him to be a rather unreliable narrator. He's easily influenced by the thoughts and opinions of those around him, which makes him seem wishy-washy. And he falls in love with Rachel so easily! It's like reading a high school romance, but set in 1800s England!

Rachel was appropriately mysterious. Although I was certain as I was reading the book that she was no murderess, I was not ever sure of her motivations. Is she in love? Is she gold-digging? Is she really just "impulsive" as she in constantly described? Her relationship with her financial advisory, Rainaldi, was also suspicious. Though, again, I doubted Rainaldi was evil, he seemed to have some ulterior motive in everything he did. I didn't trust him any more than our heroes did.

My biggest disappointment was with the surprise ending. I understand that this is one of those books that people argue about. Did Rachel poison her husband or not??? But to me it was clear throughout the story, and especially at the end, exactly what du Maurier intended us to think. I don't think it's supposed to be questionable at all. And so the big reveal felt anti-climactic to me.

That being said, I very much enjoyed this book and its characters. I'm happy to give it a place on my shelf, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who likes a historical fiction romance.