Mrs. De Winter [Paperback]

Susan Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1999

REBECCA was Daphne du Maurier's most famous and best-loved novel. Countless readers wondered: what happened next? Out of fire-wracked ruins of Manderley, would love and renewal rise phoenix-like from the ashes of the embittered past? Married to the sophisticated, wordly-wise Maxim, the second Mrs de Winter's life should be happy and fulfilled. Bu the vengeful ghost of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife, continues to cast its long shadow over them. Back in England after an absence of over ten years, it seems as if happiness will at last be theirs. But the de Winters still have to reckon with two hate-consumed figures they once knew - both of whom have very long memories...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This sequel to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca depicts the further adventures of Maxim de Winter and his second wife.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

What happened to Maxim de Winter and his second wife after Manderley burned? This suspenseful "completion" of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca begins with the couple's return to England, following a ten-year, self-imposed exile, for the funeral of Maxim's sister Beatrice. In a voice true to the original story, Hill's Mrs. de Winter chronicles Rebecca's continuing shadow on their life: a mysterious wreath bearing a card with the initial "R" is discovered near Beatrice's grave, and unwelcome visitors include Jack Favell, who has visions of blackmail, and Mrs. Danvers, who seeks revenge. The narrator's happiness with Maxim is threatened by his first wife's invasive presence. Can she protect him from the past, or will Rebecca's murder be avenged? Sure to please du Maurier fans, this is highly recommended for public libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/93.
- Heather Blenkinsopp, Mercy Coll. Lib., Dobbs Ferry,
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Random House (September 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099284782
• ISBN-13: 978-0099284789
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I wish that I had never picked it up!, June 10, 2000

By 

Mary Beth Keller - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mrs. Dewinter (Mass Market Paperback)

My mother introduced me to Rebecca when I was twelve. I've adored the book ever since. I never wanted the book to end, and longed to know what happened to the characters after the tragic fire at Manderly. I was so excited to pick up Mrs. DeWinter. Two chapters into the book, I knew that I had made a dreadful mistake. I felt an obligation to finish the book, and I did. Ms. Hill causes readers to loathe Maxim, to think of him as a boorish lout. The second Mrs. DeWinter reads as flat, neurotic and weak. If I could erase this book from my memory I would. It is a disgrace to the original.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful dreadful book, May 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mrs. Dewinter (Mass Market Paperback)

I can't think of a single good thing to say about it. It reads like an entry to those one of the Worst Writing contests--it is so bad, it's like a parody of pointlessly melodrama. Mrs. De Winter spent nearly the entire book inside her own head, sharing her thoughts, fears, and aimless existence and it sounded just like this: "I think I knew at once, in an instant, things would never be the same again, they couldn't be the same, not now, not ever, I was a fool to think otherwise, oh WHY didn't I see, why COULDN'T I see, that things were different but forever the same, always the same, they couldn't be otherwise, I know that now, I think I knew that then, but until that instant I didn't believe, didn't want to believe, that for me, things were just as before, exactly as before, forever haunting us, forever coming between us, just as before, unchanged........." Bleah.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Competently written, but overall a huge disappointment., September 7, 2006

By 

Nina M. Osier (Randolph, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mrs. De Winter (Paperback)

The second Mrs. de Winter narrates this book, as she did Daphne du Maurier's classic REBECCA, to which it professes itself the sequel. She remains otherwise nameless, and through the first half of this novel sounds very much like herself. Author Hill has du Maurier's style down cold, in fact. In that respect I was very pleased.

The novel's second half, on the other hand, kept me reading almost solely for the beauty of the writing. As Maxim de Winter and his second wife make a permanent return to England, after 10 years in voluntary exile, the characters regress alarmingly and infuriatingly. Mrs. de Winter loses all the growth she attained during the first book's events, and during her years in exile. Maxim loses the wonderful complexity that made him such an intriguing hero. Was the point to get rid of the du Maurier book's moral ambiguity? If so, Hill accomplishes this quite nicely. She has her heroine tell us repeatedly that "we make our own destiny," and she sees to it that wrong is punished in proper black-and-white terms. By the time she's through, the characters who seemed so real precisely because they had as many dimensions as flesh-and-blood people have been rendered simple, manageable, understandable...and boring.

Competently written, but overall a huge disappointment.