My Cousin Rachel

by Daphne du Maurier

book data

1,202 ratings, 3.75 average rating, 165 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		23%
4		38%
3		29%
2		6%
1		1%

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published

January 2006 (first published 1951) by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers

binding

Paperback, 374 pages

characters

Philip Ashley, Ambrose Ashley, Rachel Ashley, Rainaldi

isbn

1579125697 (isbn13: 9781579125691)

description

I threw the piece of paper on the fire. She saw it burn ...Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. ...more

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10/23/08

Misfit rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Did she or didn’t she? That is the question that will keep readers on the edge of their seat until the final twists on the very last pages. Phillip Ashley was orphaned at a young age and raised in 19C Cornwall by his older cousin Ambrose. Health issues force Ambrose to spend time in warmer climates and he meets and marries a distant cousin Rachel, the widowed Countess Sangaletti. A cryptic note arrives from Ambrose hinting at being poisoned and Phillip heads to Florence to find Ambrose dead of...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

7 comments

01/29/08

Chuck Adams rated it:

(review of isbn 1585790370)

Read in January, 1960

Though I read this book years ago, I've never gotten it out of my head. It's the kind of old-fashioned storytelling that seems to have gone out of vogue, but remains for me the most satisfying kind of book. DuMaurier, in her day, was a big deal, with her books always on the bestseller list. I don't know when this novel was published--sometime in the '40s, I guess--but I remember that I read it as a teenager, and then went on to read another four or five of her novels, three of which (Rebecca, Fr...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

06/01/08

Carine rated it:

Read in June, 2008

This novel could easily have been a short story or a novella, and the story suffers from being stretched out too much. The narrator is annoying - props to du Maurier for writing believably in a man's voice, but because the narrator's thoughtless and you always have reason to doubt Rachel's motives, you're not really invested in any one character.

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

06/13/08

Laura rated it:

Read in January, 2001

One of du Maurier’s most popular novels, it nonetheless left me a bit irritated. Young Philip has been reared by his beloved cousin Ambrose, who, to Philip’s chagrin, ups and marries some widow while he’s spending the winter in Florence. He then stays in Florence to settle the widow’s “affairs”, gets sick, and dies. Imagine Philip’s surprise when the widow turns up in England and he find himself falling in love with her himself! Is she the innocent woman who nursed his failing, del...more

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06/22/08

Fabio rated it:

Read in June, 2008

It took me 2 days to finish My Cousin Rachel - ok, I was home with the flu, but still couldn't put it down...with my great surprise I found it nearly as good as Rebecca, with which it shares many elements: the vast and ancient property near the sea, the presence of someone passed by, paranoia, untold secrets...
Daphne Du Maurier is a master in building suspense and depicting in depth the characters, their emotions and weaknesses. Her style is also so essential and linear that there's not a ...more

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12/22/08

Karen rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Old-fashioned, gothicish, suspensesque, romanticated fun. I tend to like books with unreliable narrators, and this is a fine example.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

3 comments

06/06/09

Debbie rated it:

(review of isbn 1402217099)

bookshelves: historical, romance

Read in June, 2009

This tragic historical romance is set in England during, I think, the mid-1800s. The excellent world-building and use of symbolism created a brooding, mysterious atmosphere. The characters were realistic and sympathetic. The pacing was a bit slow compared to modern novels, but I didn't find the novel dull.

The author very effectively uses characters' body language to convey the truth of what's happening even when the viewpoint character, Phillip, incorrectly understands what's going ...more

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06/13/09

Ti rated it:

(review of isbn 1402217099)

bookshelves: books-sent-to-me

Read in June, 2009

I cannot believe that this book was originally published in 1951! I read Rebecca ages ago and loved it but I had never even heard of My Cousin Rachel until just a few months ago. I'm so glad I did.

This is one of those stories where you sort of know how things will play out, but you continue to turn the pages because the characters are so richly drawn and the evil is almost too subtle to pick up that you feel the need to really focus on every line as some little clue might pop up. I j...more

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06/02/09

Kipi rated it:

(review of isbn 1585790370)

bookshelves: classics, mystery, read-in-2009

Read in June, 2009

I read this book as a sort of appetizer before reading Rebecca for an online bookclub. While it isn't quite up that standard, it does not disappoint.

The story is told by Philip Ashley, the orphaned cousin of wealthy British landowner Ambrose Ashley, who for health reasons goes to Italy during the long winter months and there meets and marries his cousin, Rachel Sangaletti. She, a widow whose husband died in a duel and left great debts, shares Ambrose’s love of plants and gardenin...more

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03/06/09

Crystal rated it:

bookshelves: book-group-quality, sarival-bkgrp

Read in March, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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02/10/09

Phoenix rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Currently reading this, it's completely fantastic, first of all you don't normally find du Mauriers in new print editions in the Barnes and Noble and there it was, on one of the main tables, what a find when i was browsing, AND it was in the bargain section (where the best books are found of course). Daphne doesn't disappoint, never does. This is one of her better books, better than, oh, i don't know, Rebecca, that's for sure, Rebecca was irritating, actually. First of all the character was a...more

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04/16/09

Liliana rated it:

(review of isbn 1402217099)

bookshelves: historical-fiction, mystery---thriller, own-it, romance

Read in May, 2009

Do you have books that as soon as you finished reading them, you were sorry the story ended? Or maybe you would read the story slower than usual, savoring every phrase and paragraph as one would savor a favorite piece of candy, because you didn’t want to part with it too soon? I hope you do and you would because I think that such books are the grand reward for reading altogether. And My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier was such a book for me.
It is a typical gothic mystery but at its be...more Do you have books that as soon as you finished reading them, you were sorry the story ended? Or maybe you would read the story slower than usual, savoring every phrase and paragraph as one would savor a favorite piece of candy, because you didn’t want to part with it too soon? I hope you do and you would because I think that such books are the grand reward for reading altogether. And My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier was such a book for me.
It is a typical gothic mystery but at its best. A distant cousin Rachel bewitches Mr. Ambrose Ashley during one of his winter stays in Italy. Ambrose leaves his beloved estate in Cornwall every year in winter due to health problems, leaving his cousin, Philip Ashley, to look after the household. Ambrose raised Philip from infancy and it is no wonder that a twenty-four-year old boy loves Ambrose as his father and mother both. It is further no wonder that Philip is shocked and jealous of the mysterious cousin Rachel who he thinks stole Ambrose from him. The quick marriage ends as abruptly and unpredictably as it started. Mr. Ashley dies suddenly in Italy without ever having returned to Cornwall with his new bride. And now, cousin Rachel appears at the doorsteps of the Ashley’s estate leaving Philip with no choice but to make her welcome as the widow of Mr. Ambrose Ashley. Philip’s attitude towards her and the amount of trust he is willing to place in her will ultimately decide whether she is a woman of virtue but a victim of unfortunate circumstances or a conniving person with evil purposes.

As you can tell from my opening paragraph, I genuinely enjoyed My Cousin Rachel. It is one of the classics that I know I will be returning to time and again. The language was poetic and captured my attention right at the beginning. Mind you, I am not a fan of poetry, but when such flawless tone and manner of writing as we find in classic poems is engaged in a novel, I instantly fall in love with it. That is the case with du Maurier. There aren’t, after all, many novels out there from which I want to commit to memory passages found in the first ten pages. One such quote jumped at me right when I started reading My Cousin Rachel. It’s short but beautiful and strangely reflective of my own character:

“Disliking our fellow men, we craved attention; but shyness kept impulse dormant until the heart was touched.”(p.6)

That’s only a small taste of what Ms. du Maurier could do but it portrays perfectly, in my opinion, how there really is no need for elaborate descriptions of character, to capture the essence. And here goes my next point. Du Maurier’s writing in My Cousin Rachel, as in her other books, is an exquisite example of the golden rule for authors to show and not tell. While the descriptions of Cornwall’s natural landscape are rich but never boring, I could probably count on my fingers the times that any adjectives were used to describe the characters in the novel. And I came to know them like my own family or at least next door neighbors. Not once were I confused or frustrated by such a thing as lack of depth and trust me, I don’t think that the word “one-dimensional” ever existed in du Maurier’s dictionary. I think you get my feelings about My Cousin Rachel by now. I enjoyed it so much that I already wish I could read it again for the first time.
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1 comment

01/03/09

Maureen rated it:

(review of isbn 1844080404)

Read in January, 2009

daphne du maurier haunts me. not only do her books reverberate with ghosts (of the past, imagination, emotion to name a few) but her writing stays with you, your mind being tormented by the tales she's told you. even as i read this book, i found myself comparing it to rebecca. i would deeply love to compare those two books here, especially their haunted aspects but i love the book enough not to want to possibly ruin that adventure for anybody who may read these remarks. suffice to say that i fou...more

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2 comments

12/10/08

Angie rated it:

Like Rebecca, once you finish the book, you have to reread the first chapter to get even more out of the book. Daphne Du Maurier does a great job with her endings. If you're a happy ending type person, you might be a little disgruntled with her books. I usually am a happy ending type person, but I love her endings---ther is always a surprise and not too descriptive. It always makes me wonder---what really happened? I like that. It makes me want to reread it and then I discover even more the next...more

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03/27/09

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 1402217099)

bookshelves: arcs, gothic-fiction, read-in-2009

Read in June, 2009

Orphaned at 18 months, Philip Ashley is taken in and raised by his cousin, the consummate bachelor, Ambrose. Their relationship is a close one as they share not only looks, but emotions and mannerisms as well.

Ambrose travels to Italy one summer, leaving Philip to watch over the house. Letter writing is how they keep in touch and it's the information written within these letters that carries the story. Ambrose writes to tell Philip that he has met his cousin Rachel, soon followed by a...more

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12/12/08

sahiga rated it:

(review of isbn 1844080404)

Read in May, 2009

I really wanted to give this book three stars, but only in comparison to her other books, and only because I have high expectations for Daphne du Maurier. I read this book in about one sitting. Years ago this was standard practice for me, but now that's quite a feat. I can't seem to concentrate when I read anymore, but something about her writing draws me in and and holds me tight until I'm almost but not quite suffocating inside of her words. It's a really nice kind of suffocation. She drives c...more I really wanted to give this book three stars, but only in comparison to her other books, and only because I have high expectations for Daphne du Maurier. I read this book in about one sitting. Years ago this was standard practice for me, but now that's quite a feat. I can't seem to concentrate when I read anymore, but something about her writing draws me in and and holds me tight until I'm almost but not quite suffocating inside of her words. It's a really nice kind of suffocation. She drives creative premises toward increasingly disturbing and yet inevitable conclusions. I'll be honest. I'm glad most people don't write this way, or else I'd have an infinite to-read list and I might never allow myself the chance to do anything but read.

My Cousin Rachel is, as advertised, a lot like her most famous novel Rebecca in that it also explores jealousy, love triangles with the dead, and the true nature of a beautiful woman who may or may not be all she seems. The end of the book also connects to the first chapter, which makes so much more sense in retrospect. But these stories aren't the same. My Cousin Rachel seems to be analogous to what might have happened between Maxim and Rebecca before Rebecca even begins. The Maxim-like character, Philip Ashley, is now at the center of this book, and seeing him up close with so much flesh makes me kind of nauseous. And I guess it's what makes this book even more disturbing--not because the question of Rachel's nature is left unresolved, but because the true evil could lie in the narrator himself.

I can't talk about what makes him evil. That would give away a lot of the psychological depth of this book. But I will say that he's not evil in an intelligent way. Philip is an idiot. He's annoying, impulsive, illogical, and possibly certifiably insane. I pitied him at the beginning, but once I saw him in action I just thought...wow. Stupid. Scary. Rachel isn't likable either. She's very bland. Maybe that's just because I was expecting her to be like Rebecca, who wasn't bland at all. But this is a different story after all.

I've never been a fan of du Maurier's characters anyway. I guess I should say that in spite of finding her characters to be major duds, I love, love her books. And I love doppelgangers!(less)

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07/15/08

Julie rated it:

bookshelves: audiobooks

Read in July, 2008

I really like how this book is written. It's old England with a sense of mystery. I think the characters are fairly well-drawn as well, but the main character, Phillip Ashley (spelling may be wrong, as I'm listening to an audiobook), is killing me! When he met his adopted father's Italian wife, although he was predisposed to not like her, it's like he completely loses his mind when he meets her! All his judgment, common sense, and intelligence is completely ignored so that he can think of her fa...more

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3 comments

03/17/08

Rebecca rated it:

Read in October, 2008

I definitely liked My Cousin Rachel better than Rebecca. The ending of Ms. Du Maurier's books for me are never quite what I am seeking, but this one did pretty well. The way Philip changes his mind about his cousin so easily simply by her looks and her demeanor is interesting. I wonder if my own opinions are so easily swayed. I was never fond of Rainaldi. Is it just me, or do you form opinions on characters based on who is writing (which character) about them? I'm sure Rachel found somethi...more

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02/08/08

Somantika rated it:

bookshelves: british

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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3 comments

01/07/08

Cissy BlackKitty rated it:

bookshelves: all-time-favs

Read in July, 1991

recommends it for: those who enjoy psychological thrillers

I only just re-read this book this week, after many years, and loved it even more. My Cousin Rachel is one of my all time favourite books, alongside with Rebecca (which I wrote my MA thesis on). It is a fabulous, complex, intriguing read... Nothing is really what it seems. Who is in fact the villain of the novel -- the two clumsy, strange Cornish relatives, Ambrose and Philip, or this mysterious cousin from Italy, Rachel? I must say that my sympathies and feelings were mixed already when reding ...more

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