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    Rebecca's Tale
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    Rebecca's Tale
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    Rebecca's Tale
    Ebook599 pages11 hours

    Rebecca's Tale

    By Sally Beauman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    April 1951. It has been twenty years since the death of Rebecca, the hauntingly beautiful first wife of Maxim de Winter, and twenty years since Manderley, the de Winter family's estate, was destroyed by fire. But Rebecca's tale is just beginning.

    Colonel Julyan, an old family friend, receives an anonymous package concerning Rebecca. An inquisitive young scholar named Terence Gray appears and stirs up the quiet seaside hamlet with questions about the past and the close ties he soon forges with the Colonel and his eligible daughter, Ellie. Amid bitter gossip and murky intrigue, the trio begins a search for the real Rebecca and the truth behind her mysterious death.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 2, 2009
    ISBN9780061955778
    Unavailable
    Rebecca's Tale
    Author

    Sally Beauman

    Sally Beauman was born in Devon, England, and is a graduate of Cambridge University. She began her career as a critic and writer for New York magazine and continued to write for leading periodicals in the US and the UK after returning to England. In 1970, she became the first recipient of the Catherine Pakenham Award for journalism, and at the age of twenty-four, was appointed editor of Queen magazine. Beauman has written for the New Yorker, the Sunday Times, and Telegraph Magazine, where she was arts editor. Her novels, which include the New York Times–bestselling sensation Destiny, have been translated into over twenty languages and are bestsellers worldwide. In addition to her works of fiction, Beauman has published two nonfiction books based on the history and work of the Royal Shakespeare Company: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Centenary Production of Henry V (edited by Beauman, with a foreword by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, 1976), and The Royal Shakespeare Company: A History of Ten Decades (1982). Sally Beauman is married to the actor Alan Howard. They divide their time between London and a remote island in the Hebrides. They have one son and two grandchildren.

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    Reviews for Rebecca's Tale

    3.5/5

    204 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Reading Wide Sargasso Sea reminded me that years ago I'd bought a copy of Beauman's novel — which in effect gives the other side of the story about Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. Although chastened by the Rhys book, I plunged in anyway.

      The novel has four narrators: Colonel Julyan, who was Maxim de Winter's old pal and who was keen not to raise too many questions about Rebecca's death; a young scholar who's come to snoop around Manderley for reasons of his own; Rebecca herself in a discovered diary from twenty years earlier; and Colonel Julyan's daughter Ellie.

      It's something of a problem that the first narrator we encounter is Colonel Julyan. He's portrayed as a somewhat irascible, rather likable, slightly devious but in all truth pretty boring old fart — which is absolutely fine and dandy so far as Beauman's tale is concerned, but not for the poor reader who has to spend the first hundred pages or so in Colonel Julyan's company. It was here that I felt my training, as it were, with Wide Sargasso Sea came in especially useful, because I plowed on nevertheless.

      And I'm extremely glad I did so. By the end of this longish book about three days later I was quite literally breathless. The unraveling of the mystery surrounding Rebecca — in her life as much as her death — makes absorbing reading, and the last quarter of the book is all the more compulsively readable because one spends it in the company of Julyan's daughter Ellie, easily the most attractive and sympathetic of the four narrators. Jolly good stuff.
    • 4/5
      Excellent companion book to Rebecca.
    • 3/5
      Everyone thinks they know Rebecca's story. But when a mysterious person starts sending Rebecca's notebooks to her old friend, the cracks in the tale begin to show.I am automatically intrigued by a book that promises a continuation on a story I really enjoyed, and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is a great Gothic classic.Beauman puts an intriguing spin on the mystery behind what truly happened to Rebecca all those years ago, and utilizes some excellent and surprising twists to keep this an intriguing mystery.The book feels too long. I love a good, epic tale, but Rebecca's Tale felt like it contained too much filler.I wouldn't say drop everything and read this book, but if you liked Rebecca, I would recommend giving Rebecca's Tale a chance.
    • 4/5
      At the end of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Manderley is ablaze and the new Mrs. Maxim de Winter is unsure whether the previous mistress of Manderley died of suicide or was murdered. In Sally Bauman's, gothic novel it is now twenty years later and this novel is told through four voices: Col. Arthur Julyan, a friend of Maxim; Ellie, Arthur's devoted daughter; Terry Gray, a local historian, and Rebecca herself through her diaries. As the first three re-investigate Rebecca's diaries and the events surrounding Rebecca's disappearance at sea and subsequent discovery, the reader obtains a better glimpse behind the woman who longed to live at Manderley along the sea as a child and possible cause of her death. If Daphne Du Maurier was still alive, she would recommend this book.
    • 5/5
      I should first say that I'm not a diehard fan of Rebecca (though I do quite like it), so my response to Rebecca's Tale may be different from truly devoted fans of the original novel. The novel is divided into 4 parts, each with a different narrator (I won't name them here in case that counts as a spoiler!). Beauman does a good job of giving each character his / her own distinct voice; some writers attempt to narrate with different characters, but everyone sounds the same-- that's not the case here. Chalk one up for Beauman's style. I think what I liked most about Beauman's novel was the themes she chose to pick up and elaborate on from Rebecca: death sealed in persons (along with sterility), the life in nature, the notion of place (and breaking away from it), and a few others. Explorations of sexuality are also more explicit in this novel; even nature becomes almost overwhelmingly fecund. The novel still hovers at the question of who Rebecca was in life, but it also tries to pick apart who and what she has become in death. I should emphasize that this is NOT a retelling of Rebecca but a "further-telling" of, perhaps, Manderly itself and the lives of all it touches. It's not a remake, and it's overall not an attempt to explain (its weakest moments are, in fact, when it DOES try to explain, and that's why I give it 4 stars, along with the fact that it can be rather obvious in its "mysteries" at some points). Recommended, especially after rereading Rebecca.
    • 4/5
      A complicated read but excellent writing. The story is a little dry in the beginning as the author fills us in on the original story of Rebecca. The story begins to take off and soon the reader is determined to follow all the threads with the characters who are searching for the answer to Rebecca's death in the first novel. Very well written and quite well done!
    • 4/5
      I never read Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, but have watched the movie and loved the story. I think this author did a great job. The story read like a classic old novel full of dark secrets and mysteries. A woman, newly married, must learn to how to run her husband's estate, but there are those who may not want her there. Great story!
    • 4/5
      Excellent companion book to Rebecca.
    • 1/5
      Dreadful. Re-read DuMaurier's original, and use your own imagination. Beauman drains the shadowy anti-heroine of all mystery and spirit, rewriting her as misunderstood and abused, instead of dangerous and romantic; she also insists on linking every character in the original novel by a random process of dot-to-dot, so that Manderley becomes some incestuous tangled web. The author's 'original characters' are also very weak and cliched, and the reader cares little for them, put off by the first person narrative instead of feeling invited in to their world. Contrived, convoluted melodrama; Rebecca deserves more than this.
    • 4/5
      This is fascinating as a revisionist text because one desperately wants to know what really happened to Rebecca. (There are powerful hints in du Maurier's novel to suggest that Maxim simply found her too passionate, rather than a devil.) The third section of the novel is the most engaging and sad as Rebecca tells her own tale, but the shifts and hints never firmly reveal her fate. The fourth section then veers away from Rebecca to deepen the feminist reading and, ultimately, destroy the romance and mystery: a great shame.
    • 5/5
      I should first say that I'm not a diehard fan of Rebecca (though I do quite like it), so my response to Rebecca's Tale may be different from truly devoted fans of the original novel. The novel is divided into 4 parts, each with a different narrator (I won't name them here in case that counts as a spoiler!). Beauman does a good job of giving each character his / her own distinct voice; some writers attempt to narrate with different characters, but everyone sounds the same-- that's not the case here. Chalk one up for Beauman's style. I think what I liked most about Beauman's novel was the themes she chose to pick up and elaborate on from Rebecca: death sealed in persons (along with sterility), the life in nature, the notion of place (and breaking away from it), and a few others. Explorations of sexuality are also more explicit in this novel; even nature becomes almost overwhelmingly fecund. The novel still hovers at the question of who Rebecca was in life, but it also tries to pick apart who and what she has become in death. I should emphasize that this is NOT a retelling of Rebecca but a "further-telling" of, perhaps, Manderly itself and the lives of all it touches. It's not a remake, and it's overall not an attempt to explain (its weakest moments are, in fact, when it DOES try to explain, and that's why I give it 4 stars, along with the fact that it can be rather obvious in its "mysteries" at some points). Recommended, especially after rereading Rebecca.
    • 5/5
      Rebeccas's Tale is a continuation of Rebecca. It takes place years later. There are 3 people telling their versions of Rebecca and her mysterious notebooks. The 3 people lives intertwine with each others.I read some of the other reviews. I liked this book. But I do have to admit I haven't read Rebecca I've only seen the 2 versions of the movie.(My favorite being the black and white one). I had already decided that I would read Rebecca when I read this. I'll review back to see if my rating changes.
    • 1/5
      Appalling. Completely tries to discredit Du Maurier's original vision of 'Rebecca' and a slur on a fantastic novel.
    • 5/5
      A perfect postscript to one of my favorite novels! Thank you...
    • 4/5
      I am a big fan of Daphne du Maurier, especially Rebecca, so just had to pick this up and read. This follow-on to Rebecca occurs about 20 years after her death, wrapping stories up, creating more intrigue, and providing back story. I think Beauman did a superb job and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Her writing style was sufficiently similar to create a good tone to flow from Rebecca. We can all quibble about what should have happened, or what the story should have been, and alternate scenarios are certainly possible, but this is her take on it and it works as well as any other could. Her attention to the original story and it's details plausibly tie up Rebecca very well.
    • 3/5
      #unreadshelfproject2019. I really had high hopes for this book. I was really disappointed. It went in far to long and many of the characters were overkill. I enjoyed it when I first started it, but the more it progressed, the less interested I became. I though it was going to be a what happened after take that followed along with Rebecca. It was not. I should have realized that Du Maurier probably did not plan a second book and therefore Rebecca should have been left alone. I’ve come to the conclusion that authors should not mess with perfection by trying to write a sequel or prequel to a classic.
    • 5/5
      I’ve recently read the three novels that are continuations or, or inspired by, Daphne Du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’. Of the three – ‘The Other Rebecca’ by Maureen Freely, ‘Mrs De Winter’ by Susan Hill and ‘Rebecca’s Tale’ by Sally Beaumann, the first prize must go to Beaumann. She keeps the voice of the original well, in terms of time and place, but the first narrator, in a novel of four parts, is the aged Colonel Julyan, who presided over Rebecca’s inquest. He’s always had his suspicions about what truly happened, but the mistake that Favell made, and perhaps readers too, is that he didn’t keep his suspicions quiet in order to protect Maxim and his family name, as was implied. He kept his silence in order to protect Rebecca, as he’d been very fond of her. The novel starts with him reminiscing over the past, because an upstart author wants to write yet another book about the Manderley mystery, which has become folklore in its part of the world. Julyan recollects his long relationship with the De Winter family, and I loved his description of being a boy, playing at the great old house. His portraits of the terrifying De Winter matriarch, (Maxim’s grandmother), the kind but wilting Virginia (his mother) and her glorious sisters, and of Bea and Maxim as children, are wonderful. The story draws you right in from the start because what happened to Rebecca was wholly tied up with the way the De Winters were, an ancient family going back eight hundred years. There’s more than a whiff of authors like P G Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, in the light, acerbic wit of the writing. This is nowhere near a ‘women’s romantic novel’ as I'd mistakenly believed.

      I was surprised – and pleased – to find ‘Rebecca’s Tale’ keeps to the ‘canon’ found in Hill’s ‘Mrs De Winter’ – i.e. what happened to the De Winters when they returned to England, or at least as much of that as Julyan and other major characters can possibly know – which is only the bare facts. Still, this novel carries on neatly from Hill’s, (and was written afterwards), and it seems to me that Beaumann must have known of that book and kept to the same story. Or the similarities are just uncanny coincidences…

      Part Two of the story is told by Terence Grey, the writer who’s in Kerrith investigating the story of Rebecca. Grey is a complex character, with secrets and tragedies of his own. His interest in the old story lurches towards obsession, dangerously so. Through Grey we meet some of the other characters from ‘Rebecca’ and hear their version of events – such as the cousin Jack Favell, Frith the erstwhile butler of Manderley, and other colourful Kerrith characters. The truth about Rebecca, it seems, is more convoluted than everyone thought. Her own history is revealed in tantalizing glimpses – the girl she’d once been and the woman she became who was mistress of Manderley. The reader begins to learn about her heritage. While Grey investigates, an anonymous individual is sending notebooks of Rebecca’s to Colonel Julyan, and is also perhaps the same person who leaves a wreath at Rebecca’s old boathouse cottage, and sends a piece of her jewellery to Favell. Mysteries mount, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!

      Part three is Rebecca’s own tale, as found in the second notebook sent to Julyan. But we know already that Rebecca is often a minx. Is her testimony reliable? Whether this is true or not, it’s riveting to read. A free spirit, Rebecca was born ahead of her time, totally unsuited to a woman’s life in the early part of the 20th century. She suffered for her difference, as she was rarely understood. And the tragic way she narrates her story to an unborn child she believes she is carrying is moving while being unsentimental. Naturally, Rebecca’s tale is cut short by her own death. Many threads are left dangling.

      Part four is related by Ellie, Colonel Julyan’s daughter. Hers is a strong, true voice, but even she has her obsession with Rebecca, seeing in the dead woman a promising template for female emancipation at a time in history when women were fighting for their rights, and most men still regarded them as mistresses, mothers or domestics. Ellie’s is undoubtedly the most political account, but she is also a vibrant, convincing character with her own desires and dreams. Ellie uncovers more mysteries, and in one case solves one, while simultaneously growing as a person. During her account, the narrative never falters. All four narrators, each with their distinctive voice, carry the story along at a good pace, but it is still deep and ponderous – and I don’t mean that in a bad way. This is not a short or shallow book by any means.

      Most, but not all, of the threads finally weave together and the reader is left to make up their own mind. You don’t feel in any way short-changed by that, though. What Beaumann has done is create a convincing account, including the difficulty of discovering historical truths, when the main protagonists are dead. Some truth died with them. Rebecca affected everyone she met, often dramatically. She is perhaps all the things everyone ever thought her to be, and more, a girl who fought to survive throughout a difficult childhood and adolescence, who set her will at making an adult life for herself, to her liking. But she is always human, believable. Her gift to Ellie is revealed at the end of book, perhaps far different from what you expect all the way through. I loved that. My favourite book of those I’ve read over the past few years is ‘The Little Stranger’ by Sarah Waters, but Sally Beaumann’s ‘Rebecca’s Tale’ will now be stored on the same shelf.
    • 1/5
      Rebecca was a wonderfully, haunting gothic tale. Rebecca's tale is not. It's not even a decent detective story. Rebecca is a vivid character, a character that colours the lives of everyone in the original work, you are left to wonder at her. She is accomplished, beautiful and everyone desires her, yet.. It is made clear in the original story that she is manipulative, a liar and she had numerous affairs (confirmed by Flavell and Danvers).

      However, Miss Beauman decides that clearly Rebecca is a modern heroine who must be praised for cuckolding her husband. After all she was being emotionally oppressed by the man apparently so everything her character does is justified. It is a very modern approach to the character and pushed so throroughly that we have to hate the timid original narrator. Indeed when Mrs De Winter appears, she does not seem to have aged, in fact, she seems as dreamy and timid as from the first book.

      Rebecca's Tale does not give us a true picture of Rebecca, it gives us a rosy, sympathetic view. She is portrayed as this ultimate feminist, obviously wonderful because she doesn't settle into a 'wifely' role and perfectly entitled to cheat on her husband, because he doesn't stoke her fire enough. Rebecca in the original is ambivalent, she's a strong woman, yet deceitful; accomplished yet her likeability is a façade, she is a bright star that burns. Her truth can be seen through many of the characters in Rebecca, not just Max. Mrs Danvers confirms that she hates the men in her life and that she slept around, that Maxim was tricked into marriage. Yes Rebecca is a vivid character, yet this obsession to turn her into a modern heroine who is railing against traditional constraints is terrible and doesn't work.

      Maxim is also terribly dealt with, once again, the depths of the character are ignored and Miss Beauman focuses on the 'evilness' of being a man unwilling to endure scandal. Maxim always struck me as a troubled character, one driven to the ultimate act of revenge, struck by guilt and his attention to duty. Yet Max De Winter is ignobly killed off.

      I found Rebecca's tale unsatisfying as it seemed determined to push modern attitudes on the main characters and ignoring the many facets of the original cast. There was a determination to push Rebecca as a victim of terrible men and really, there was more to the character than that.
    • 2/5
      Modern sequal to Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier...not as good as expected.