My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

"But a lonely man is an unnatural man, and soon comes to perplexity. From perplexity to fantasy. From fantasy to madness"

I picked up a copy of this re-release of Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel when it was published to accompany the new film adaptation. One of the great things about new adaptations for me is the renewed attention given to great writers and the original texts. I'm fascinated by the way purists deplore any adaptation that varies from their view of the author's original intent.

Du Maurier is as much a creator of great films; The Birds, Don't Look Now, Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, as she was as a writer of great literature. Hitchcock was a huge fan and du Maurier herself invested in her own movie adaptations and tried to influence casting decisions and filming locations. My point, is that My Cousin Rachel can be read through different mediums and various lenses which merely adds to the cult of Daphne du Maurier in adaptation. In my view,  adaptations are more often concerned with the 'myth' of the original text and the author rather than the text itself, anyhow....

The premise of My Cousin Rachel is straight forward. Elderly Ambrose Ashley winters in Italy, for his health, where he falls in love with his younger cousin Rachel and writes home to his young nephew Philip in Cornwall that he won't be home for a while. Time passes, Ambrose marries Rachel before becoming ill with an apparent brain tumour. Philip travels to Italy but arrives to find that Ambrose is dead.

Its from this point that the plot gets a whole lot more interesting. Rachel travels to England to meet Philip who is already suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his Uncle's death. Snippets of evidence are revealed in letters or through late night conversations. The novel owns much to gothic literature with its dark isolated country-house setting, lonely and mourning Philip and enigmatic and mysterious Cousin Rachel who is at once alluring and fatally dangerous.

Philip's emotional confusion is excellently portrayed by du Maurier; is Rachel an irresistible temptress or a cruel murderer? But it is Cousin Rachel who is the star of the piece. Du Maurier leaves much to the reader to interpret but whichever way feel you're in safe hands with such an accomplished writer who creates truly iconic female leads. My Cousin Rachel is a great read.

I read this novel mostly on the train into Marylebone.

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier published by Virago, 342 pages.     

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