Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Mrs. de Winter by Susan Hill BOOK REVIEW / Dreaming of Manderley again: 'Mrs de Winter', Susan Hill's sequel to 'Rebecca' was published this week, but Natasha Walter found it timid; 'Mrs de Winter' - Susan Hill: Sinclair-Stevenson, 12.99 pounds. LAST night I went to Manderley again. I peered through the gates, heart beating with anticipation, but instead of grand lovers playing out their romantic struggles, I saw two middle-aged chaps in a Gloucestershire garden having a squabble. I left as soon as I could, but it will never seem the same again. Of course sequels, like second wives, have to run the gauntlet of odious comparisons. It would be difficult for Mrs de Winter to be anything but a poor, gauche substitute for her incomparable predecessor. But anyone can be persuaded. The second wife was seduced by that immortal line, 'I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool,' and Susan Hill by the immortal offer of pounds 650,000. One feels the same amused pity for Mrs de Winter's dreams of equality ('Daphne du Maurier would have approved,' says the dust-jacket) as we did for Mrs de Winter's silly idea, in that Monte Carlo hotel, of stepping into the first wife's shoes with ease. But though we sympathised with Maxim's desire for a companion in the empty mausoleum of Manderley, few readers have ever felt the need for a successor to Rebecca. The apotheosis of Daphne du Maurier's art, Rebecca is an assured and finished work. We close it knowing that the whole story has been told, all innocence lost. We know that Mrs de Winter is no longer a child, because Maxim tells us so: 'It's gone forever, that funny, young, lost look that I loved. It won't come back again. I killed that too . . .' We know that she has accepted her husband's past and that the couple have entered on an adult sexual relationship, because she tells us so: 'We began to kiss one another, feverishly, desperately, like lovers who have not kissed before.' And with the assumption of knowledge, the terrible power of Rebecca's old intimates, Mrs Danvers and Jack Favell, ceases. Even before the whole truth comes out, Mrs de Winter changes a menu without consulting Mrs Danvers, taking charge of Rebecca's old empire. No one can dispute that by the end of Rebecca, Maxim and his wife are a self-sufficient couple, welded by fire: 'The devil does not ride us any more. We have come through our crisis.' It is part of the slightly trashy side to Du Maurier's consummate art that we don't wonder, what next? Such unreal, iconic lovers only exist for the wheel of the tale to come full circle. Given this absolute sense of an ending, the only way to start again on the de Winter story would be to add a daring new twist that would have played to the Du Maurier pitch of intrigue and mystery. There could have been a crazy discovery that Rebecca was not dead after all, perhaps - and Susan Hill lays a red herring suggesting that very thing in the only moments of fun in her workaday 400 pages. Or we could have moved, in the style of Wuthering Heights, into a new generation with a Rebecca-like daughter of Jack Favell's or a Maxim-like son of the de Winters. But Susan Hill declines to trust her own imagination, and just fiddles impotently with Du Maurier's grand inventions. It brings to mind Mrs de Winter sitting down at Rebecca's desk for the first time, and being so overwhelmed by all the evidence of her predecessor's energy that she can hardly pen a childish, blotted letter. This timid sequel begins when Maxim and his wife return to England for Maxim's sister's funeral. They get so frightened by a picture of Rebecca that they run away again, and then on a whim return to buy a house in - of all places- the Cotswolds, to be terrified all over again by Mrs Danvers and Jack Favell. Without much emotional impetus, this wavering back and forth between Europe and England provides a tentative, dragging opening that lasts for 200 or so pages, as though Hill had run out of ideas before she even began. Throughout it all, Mrs de Winter, although 10 years older, has the same reactions as the gauche, childish character we long ago saw her shrug off. Not only does she have a little fainting fit in an Italian villa when she remembers Mrs Danvers, but she is still 'scruffy, ill sorted, drab, aware of the buttons that had broken on my cardigan'; she still follows Maxim around like a little dog; and she even begins to distrust and hate her husband for his dark past, which stands at loggerheads with everything the two had achieved before. Eventually we realise that there is nothing here except the old ghosts, dragged out of their dignified retirement and forced to dance again. Here is Jack Favell, met by unlikely chance in the brisk light of post-war London, 'his eyes hot and blue and wild, staring, staring into my face'. Here is Mrs Danvers, come to call while Maxim is away: 'The face was narrower and more lined, there seemed even less flesh on the white skull . . .' But without the spectral darkness of Manderley, the sound of the sea and the colour of the rhododendrons to frame them, their power is nothing. We cannot sympathise with the older wife in her own home who scrabbles around after Mrs Danvers, apologising and knocking over the biscuits, in the way we could tremble with the young bride standing fearfully in Rebecca's dim rooms. The denouement, such as it is, comes at Mrs de Winter's garden party. Jack and Mrs Danvers confront Maxim together, but lit by the soft Gloucestershire light, and heard through Susan Hill's gentle, hesitant intonation, there is no force in the confrontation. Jack Favell holds out an envelope of 'evidence', but we never find out what's in it. 'I thought that Favell might laugh, or hit Maxim, or take some dreadful paper that told the truth out of the envelope, or even . . . make a lurch for me . . . Then, without a word, as if he had collapsed somehow within, Favell swayed, turned and walked out of the drawing room.' For some reason, this inconclusive scene is frightening enough to force Maxim to his death. But no word is spoken that bears any of the weight of that tolling soliloquy when Maxim confessed his guilt to us 10 years ago. Seeing that the telephone is broken, Mrs de Winter wanders off to bed rather than calling for help after Maxim rushes off in a storm, white-faced, to assuage his guilt. Would Du Maurier ever have stooped to such a clumsy device? Throughout the media jamboree attending this sequel, Rebecca's remaining lovers will feel like Mrs Danvers - dour, uncomprehending, and dismissive of the newcomer's ineffective attempts to please. The peace of Manderley, they will mutter, should never have been disturbed. We only wanted to dream about going back. Join our new commenting forum. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Mrs. de Winter (1993) Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The narrator frustrated me so much when I read du Maurier's Rebecca that I picked this book up in hopes that Susan Hill had taken the main character and transplanted a spine into her body. Unfortunately this is not the case. The second Mrs de Winter is still a pathetic, submissive little twit with no authority. She has no name, so let's just call her what she is: Wimpy Pushover de Winter. I truly hope I never have to read another book with such a poor excuse for a woman as a main character. If Susan Hill had killed her off I would have been appeased; someone needs to put this creature out of her misery ( ) Leaves & Pages. This is a book for fans of du Maurier’s now classic, noire -romantic-suspense novel Rebecca ; I suspect anyone else would be completely bemused. Would this be what is termed as “fan fiction”? Mrs. de Winter started off reasonably promisingly, but quickly got tedious. Susan Hill was very conscientious about channeling du Maurier’s voice as preserved in Rebecca , but in my opinion the greatest weakness of the book is that she stuck to that voice too strongly, instead of taking the characters to the next level. I give Hill credit for trying, hence the (generous) 3.5 rating, and it is obvious that she holds Rebecca in great esteem, but I found this sequel ultimately boring and very depressing – wait! – no! – not merely depressing – downright sad is a better description. It was also about two hundred pages too long for the content, and very wordy and repetitive. The plot was contrived and unbelievable, and the ending, quite frankly, was deeply disappointing. Rebecca ended on a tragic note, too, but it was a fitting conclusion to what had come before, and is likely one of the reasons why the story is so highly regarded. I tend to agree with those who say that Rebecca is du Maurier’s masterpiece. It is very much a polished and completed piece of work, and decidedly a stand-alone book, and a sequel written by another author should then at least be creative and take us in a new direction – “What if?” This just didn’t happen here. And that’s really too bad, because from what I’ve heard, Susan Hill can write. Mrs. de Winter continues the story that du Maurier so teasingly but perfectly tied up in 1938 in Rebecca . Fifty-five years later that book is still so widely read and admired that a sequel by a contemporary author comes in for much discussion and is greeted with high hopes. Interesting and cleverly imagined sequels are occasionally created on the coattails of classic novels, but they are rare creatures. Sadly this particular attempt was, in my opinion, quite decidedly a “miss”. In Susan Hill’s take, Maxim and the first person narrator, his second wife so famously left unnamed in Rebecca , have not seemed to grow or emotionally develop in the ten years subsequent to the burning of Manderley. If anything, they have degenerated. At the close of Rebecca , the second Mrs. de Winter has found a new maturity and confidence and faces her future with fortitude and a certain stubborn grace. Maxim himself has become a much more likeable character as he unbends enough to confess his failings to his new wife; their marriage looks like it may actually work, having weathered the storm of the murdered first wife and the malicious Mrs. Danvers and her revengeful arson. In Mrs. de Winter , Maxim comes across as a boring, immature, moody manic-depressive, and his wife as just plain pathetic: still dowdy and unsure of herself, and acting much younger than her age. No wonder Maxim walks all over her, in this re-interpretation, even more so than in the original – she’s a true “Kick-Me-Charlie”. Spoiler alert, for both Rebecca and Mrs. de Winter . If you want to be surprised, stop reading now. Mrs. de Winter starts with a funeral in England. We don’t immediately know who has died; we find out on page 20, after much long-winded scene-setting and flashbacks, that it is Maxim’s sister, Beatrice. It is now ten years after the burning of Maxim’s family estate, Manderley. As those of you who have read Rebecca will remember, Maxim has been emotionally scarred apparently beyond recovery by the whole saga of first having murdered his lovely but secretly treacherous first wife, Rebecca, and then narrowly escaping justice. Rebecca’s death has been officially recorded as a suicide, and Rebecca’s devoted ex-nanny, Mrs. Danvers, has set fire to Maxim’s beloved house in revenge – she knows the truth. Maxim has confessed all to his young second wife, and she in turn has forgiven him everything in her relief at finding out that Maxim is not still in love with his first wife, as she has been mistakenly thinking all along. (Interesting that Maxim can quite calmly deal with being a murderer, but the loss of his palatial estate sends him over the final edge. Not the most admirable of characters, when one steps back for some perspective, to put a house ahead of a human life, but in the original he shows enough character to allow us to conditionally forgive his numerous sins.) The two have gone to live in Europe, to escape all the apparent gossip that is being generated by the complicated tragedy. Though Maxim is widely viewed as a bereaved husband and not a murderer, he is such a sensitive type that even a whisper about Manderley or Rebecca apparently gives him the jim-jams. His second wife meekly caters to his neuroses. As the sequel begins, the second World War has just ended. Maxim and second Mrs. de Winter have apparently spent the war years safely ensconced in Switzerland. Maxim has no intention of going back to England, even for his sister’s funeral, but Mrs. de Winter convinces him that he must. It seems that she is dreadfully homesick and welcomes the chance to return to her homeland, even if the reason is the pathetically tragic death of a beloved wife and mother. They get there, see Beatrice buried, and are reluctant spectators to her widower Giles’ deep distress. There is a terribly disfigured war hero son about as well. For a while I thought that was going somewhere, but it was a dead-end – he is merely part of the background colour. A mysterious funeral wreath appears, seen by Mrs. de Winter alone – the card is signed with dead(!) Rebecca’s signature initial. Oh my! What could this mean?! The note is hidden, but naturally not destroyed – and we know that it’s going to cause trouble later. (Cue foreboding music.) Maxim is ready to head back to Europe, but Mrs. de Winter begs to stay in England for a while. He half-heartedly agrees, but pouts enough so that his wife starts viewing him with a certain distaste. After all, she has been a willing silent partner in his great deception, and has put up with his moody behaviour these past ten years. All she really wants to do is find a quiet corner in England, settle down and have a few babies. Many pages pass. Eventually Maxim surprises his wife with the news that he has bought her a small country house. La la la – life is looking up! Mrs. de Winter sneaks away to London to inquire of a gynecologist why she’s not getting pregnant, which is kind of a strange little side story because I thought the implication in the original story was that Maxim chose to remain childless, so I’d assumed they were actively practising some sort of birth control. There were condoms in the 1940s, were there not? Well, according to Ms. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. de Winter were unable to have children due to bad luck, not from human preventative measures. The doctor tells the Mrs. that she’ll get pregnant once she learns to relax and be happy, and she is so thrilled by this she prances straight off home intending to break the good news. But wait! Suddenly there appears on the scene the wicked Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin, who immediately announces his intention to blackmail Mrs. de W. With what I’m not quite sure. (My attention was wandering a fair bit at this point.) So much for less stress! Darn, no baby for you, Mrs. Maxim. (Yes, I’m being very facetious. I was strongly annoyed at the author by this point, and no longer enjoying the book in any way, shape or form.) More pages about this and that. Shades of the Manderley costume ball in the original book – there is a party. Jack Favell shows up but is shot down. (Figuratively, not literally. Luckily for Jack, Maxim doesn’t have a firearm handy, as he did when Rebecca annoyed him severely in her turn.) Mrs. Danvers also shows up, but is coldly dismissed by Maxim. After the party, Maxim is all sad and angsty. “It is justice!” he moans, and proceeds to exit the scene and drive fatally into a tree. The ashes are scattered, predictably, into the ocean off the coast of Manderley. The book is gently put down, contrary to inner impulse. It is, after all, a library book, and we must return it in good condition. Mrs De Winter by Susan Hill, First Edition. Condition: Very Good. 1st. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Mrs. De Winter. Hill, Susan. Used - Hardcover. CIRCA 1993, FIRST EDITION, FINE Condition with FINE DJ, Morrow/Avon Publishers:NY, BOOKEM DANO 0BS#00.3236. MRS. DE WINTER. HILL, SUSAN. Published by 1ST EDITION NEW YORK WILLIAM MORROW AND COMPANY 1993, 1993. Used - Hardcover. Pages 349pp HARDCOVER, PINK PAPER BOARDS QUARTER-BOUND IN WHITE CLOTH WITH GOLD TITLES 1ST EDITION DUSTJACKET F/NF. Mrs de Winter. Hill, Susan. Published by William Morrow, New York, 1993. Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good. Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: very good. First edition. White cloth spine stamped in gilt with sides of lilac paper covered boards. Hint of a bump to bottom corner of upper panel else a clean, unmarked copy in a tight binding and bright, unclipped dust-jacket. Mrs de Winter. HILL, Susan. Published by Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993. Used - Hardcover Condition: Good. Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st ed. Bargain book!. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Mrs. De Winter. Susan Hill; Daphne Du Maurier. Published by William Morrow & Co, 1993. Used - Hardcover Condition: Fine. Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First edition, first printing with full number line. A fine copy in a fine mylar protected DJ. See my photos, more available upon request. This book is in my possession and will ship securely packed in a cardboard box. Mrs de Winter. HILL, Susan. Published by Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1993. Used - Hardcover. 1st ed. A tidy copy in tight binding. The sequel to Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca'. Used - Very Good. VG hardback in VG dustjacket. Mrs de Winter. HILL,SUSAN. Published by sinclair-stevenson london 1993, 1993. Used - Hardcover. first edition 374pp+ads. NF (v.sl.shelf wear) in NF d/w (v.sl.rubbed). Mrs de Winter. Hill, Susan. Published by Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993. Seller: Cameron House Books, Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom Contact seller. Used Condition: Fine copy. Condition: Fine copy. Dust Jacket Condition: Near fine photographic dw. First Edition. 233 x 152mm, black cloth, spine lettered & blocked in gilt, pp.[iv] 374, blank leaf following text, 3pp publisher's advertisements, final page blank, red endpapers, top edge red. Dustwrapper unclipped. The sequel to Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca'. Mrs de Winter: The Sequel to Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca' Hill, Susan. Published by Sinclair Stevenson, London First edition . 1993., 1993. Used - Hardcover. First edition hard back binding in publisher's original black cloth covers, gilt lettering to spine. 8vo 9�" x 6�" 384pp ISBN 1856193306. Fine in Fine dust wrapper, not price clipped. Dust wrapper supplied in archival acetate film protection. Member of the P.B.F.A. MODERN FIRST EDITIONS. Mrs De Winter. Susan Hill. Published by Charnwood, Leicester, 1994. Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good. Glazed Pictorial Boards. Condition: Very Good. First Large Print Edition. minimal wear to this copy. internally clean. 403pp. Ex-Library Usual Markings. Mrs de Winter. Hill Susan. Published by Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1993. Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good. Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of this novel written as a sequel to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. A VG+ copy in a VG+ DW. Mrs de Winter. Hill, Susan. Published by Sinclair-Stevenson / Reed Consumer Books Ltd, London, 1994. Seller: The Print Room, Lilley nr Luton, United Kingdom Contact seller. First Edition Signed. Used - Hardcover Condition: Near Fine. Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First edition, first impression in the smaller reset edition of this book. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR IN BLUE INK, WITHOUT DEDICATION, ON TITLE PAGE. Some very slight edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, corners rubbed and bruised. Not price clipped (�6.99), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg++ copy. 374pp. Out of the fire wrecked ruins of Manderley, could love and renewal rise phoenix like from the ashes of the embittered past? This is the story of Maxim and the second Mrs de Winter. After ten years it seemed as if happiness could be theirs, but the vengeful ghost of Rebecca was still there, casting its long shadow over them. Signed by Author(s). ISBN 13: 9780688127077. Susan Hill's novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Llewellyn Rhys awards, and the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year, and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She is the author of 56 books. The play adapted from her famous ghost story, The Woman in Black, has been running in the West End since 1989; it is also a major feature film. Her crime novels featuring DCS Simon Serrailler are currently being adapted for TV. Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College London. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells, and they have two daughters. Susan Hill was appointed a CBE in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Honours. www.susan-hill.com. From AudioFile : This sequel to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca follows the De Winters as they pick up the pieces of their lives after the fire which destroyed Manderly. Many characters from the original text reappear and continue to wreak havoc in the life of the tender heroine. The melodrama of the tale is echoed by Lisanne Cole, whose reading perfectly suits the plot. Cole gives the listener a reading that soars and dives along with the fortunes and moods of the heroine. The brief musical subtext at the end of each side adds considerably to the haunting effect. R.B.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine. "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title. Shipping: US$ 4.99 Within U.S.A. Other Popular Editions of the Same Title. Featured Edition. ISBN 10: 0380721457 ISBN 13: 9780380721450 Publisher: Avon, 1994 Softcover. Vintag. 2001 Softcover. Mandarin, 1994 Softcover. Thornd. 1994 Softcover. Customers who bought this item also bought. Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace. 1. Mrs. De Winter Susan Hill and Daphne du Maurier. Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. As new. Seller Inventory # 30-03493. 2. Mrs. De Winter. Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. New. In good + dj. Real nice book. Quantity Available: 1. ISBN: 068812707X. ISBN/EAN: 9780688127077. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: ABE529175689. Seller Inventory # ABE529175689. 3. Mrs. De Winter. Book Description Condition: New. book. Seller Inventory # M068812707X. 4. Mrs. De Winter. Book Description Condition: New. A+ Customer service! Satisfaction Guaranteed! Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 068812707X- 2-1. 5. Mrs. De Winter. Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. Minor shelfwear to DJ. Tight unread copy .Synopsis: The sequel to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca returns to the world of Manderley and the haunting presence of Rebecca in the lives of Maxim de Winter and his young wife. 250,000 first printing.About the Author: Susan Hill has been a full-time novelist, short-story writer and playwright since 1963, whose works have been translated into 15 languages. She counts among her many honors the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She is also a regular broadcaster for radio and television, and a book reviewer for numerous newspapers and journals. Born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, Ms. Hill and her family now live in Gloucestershire. Jean Marsh is a British actress perhaps best known for co-creating the television series Upstairs, Downstairs and for portraying house parlor maid Rose Buck in the same series. She and Eileen Atkins also co-created the 1991 television series The House of Eliott. Marsh has had several film appearances, including Return to Oz, Willow, and The Heavy. Jean has also made many appearances on British and American television programs, including The Twilight Zone, Crooked House, Sensitive Skin, and UFO. Jean's audiobook credits include narrating Susan Hill's Mrs. De Winter, Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, and Roald Dahl's The Witches. Seller Inventory # 003436. 6. Mrs. De Winter. Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st. new in mint condition!!with unclipped dj Book Listing Includes actual photo of the book. Seller Inventory # 008348. 7. Mrs. De Winter Hill, Susan and Du Maurier, Daphne, Dame. Book Description Condition: New. 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?. Seller Inventory # 9780688127077. 8. MRS. DE WINTER. Book Description Condition: New. New. Seller Inventory # Q-068812707x. 9. Mrs. De Winter Hill, Susan and Du Maurier, Daphne, Dame. Book Description Condition: New. New. Seller Inventory # Q-068812707X.