Rebecca's Tale

"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." --p. [4] of cover "April 1951. It is twenty years since the death of Rebecca, the hauntingly beautiful first wife of Maxim de Winter. It is twenty years since the inquest, which famously - and controversially - passed a verdict of suicide. Twenty years since Manderley, the de Winters' ancient family seat, was razed to the ground." "But Rebecca's tale is just beginning." "Family friend Colonel Julyan receives an anonymous parcel in the post. It contains a black notebook with two handwritten words on the first page - Rebecca's Tale - and two pictures: a photograph of Rebecca as a young child and a postcard of Manderley." "A mysterious young scholar by the name of Terence Gray has also appeared in town, looking for clues to Rebecca's life and death. His presence causes a stir in the quiet hamlet, and the tongues that had wagged about Rebecca years before now attend to the close ties Gray has formed to the Colonel and his single daughter, Ellie." "Amid the intrigues of this small coastal town, Ellie, Gray, and the Colonel begin a search for the real Rebecca. Was she the manipulative, promiscuous femme fatale her husband claimed, or the Gothic heroine of tragic proportions that others have suggested? Was her death really suicide, or was it murder?"--BOOK JACKET.

For anyone who has ever dreamed of going to Manderly again...

Though Rebecca de Winter has been dead for 20 years, her memory still haunts those who loved her. Her old friend and ally, Colonel Julyan, was the local magistrate at the time of her death. He had the painful task of investigating its circumstances. And though the secrets he learned during the inquiry have stayed with him, the burden of that knowledge is heavy, and there are things he has yet to find out.

Julyan enlists the help of his daughter, Ellie, and Tom Gray, a young scholar with a mysterious past of his own. With the discovery of Rebecca's diary, they each, for their own reasons, pursue the truth about the enigmatic woman's death, and try to piece together the mysterious story of her life.

Detroit Free Press

If you've never read 'Rebecca, ' Beauman's book is still a cracking good read.

On the 20th anniversary of the death of Rebecca, the first wife of Maxim de Winter, family friend Colonel Julyan receives an anonymous parcel containing a notebook - marked "Rebecca's Tale" - and two pictures. Has she kept her word to haunt him for ending up in the de Winter crypt? From Sally Beauman, the bestselling author of DESTINY, comes the superbly daring and completely captivating companion to one of the best-loved novels in the English language.'A masterly piece of literary resurrection' Penny Perrick, Sunday Times Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 9, 2009).