"My Cousin Rachel" by Daphne du Maurier: A Classic Tale of Mystery and Suspense

E. Armstrong: I became fed up with the modern books I have been reading so decided to try a classic again. This did not disappoint. Enjoyed it all the way through - to the twist at the end!

United Kingdom on Aug 20, 2023

Celestine: Ambrose is the central character of the book, although never directly appearing in the story. All we know of him is through Philip and then Rachel.
Rachel is not a real character. She's only a substitute for Ambrose. The reason why Philip loves Rachel with such passion is that he can now indulge without sanctions his love for Ambrose through an heterosexual character. She is Ambrose in female form or so does he projects his vision on her. When she comes to Cornwall, it is Ambrose who has come back and life can resume as happily as before, or even more so, as physical love can now be consummated (at least in Philip's belief).
So the Rachel that we see taking shape through Philip's mind is a figment of his imagination. He tries and mould her to his desire and at first she complies. She feeds his fantasy in order to reach her own goals. He starts to trust her, then falls under the self inflicted delusion she feeds. When he his totally under her spell, he has fallen under her power or is it the powerful vision of his own delusion? He believes in her totally and gives in to the construction of reality he has deceived himself into and she's has helped him forge for her own...

United Kingdom on May 12, 2023

lawyeraau: This is a beguiling, beautifully written Gothic tale. Mysterious, ambiguous, yet mesmerizing in its telling, it draws in the reader. It is is a story of good and evil. Yet who in this story is good? Who is evil?

Ambrose Ashley is a wealthy man, living on a large and beautiful estate in Cornwall. His heir is his young cousin, Philip, whom he has raised as a son. Ambrose is about twenty years Philip’s senior.

Ambrose travels to Italy for health reasons, but while there, he meets a woman with whom he falls in love and marries. When Ambrose dies unexpectedly without a new will, his widow, Rachel, travels to Cornwall. Philip, suspicious of the circumstances of Ambrose’s death for a number of reasons, is determined to make short shrift of Rachel’s visit, only to find himself unexpectedly drawn to her. She all but weaves a spell over him. So besotted by her does Philip become, that he seems to completely lose his senses, He becomes somewhat irrational and makes decisions that are sure to be problematic and defy reason.

Yet, is Rachel misunderstood? What are her motives? Why does she act as she does, in ways that are subject to many interpretations? Is Philip...

United States on Dec 08, 2021

fra7299: It was good getting back to reading Daphne Du Maurier, and her book My Cousin Rachel is a reminder that I need to read more of her works. (I read Rebecca years back and loved it.) As she did with Rebecca, Du Maurier paints vividly a Gothic, mysterious tale that keeps the readers both engaged and guessing, a novel filled with anticipation as to what will come next.

The basis for the story is young Phillip Ashley inheriting the rights to a great Cornwall estate. He admires his older cousin Ambrose and reflects at times and the memories of him. At one point, Ambrose goes off to Italy and Phillip gets word that he has married his cousin Rachel. Points of the narrative are told through letters of correspondence from Ambrose and Phillip’s reminisces of the past. When Ambrose dies suddenly, it raises quite an alarm in Phillip’s mind. However, being young and naïve, what is the reader to make of Phillip judgement? Rachel visits, and the reader waits in anticipation for what is to follow.

One effective technique that Du Maurier effectively employs is simply crafting an air an ambiguity throughout. As we explore further along in the novel questions arise in our heads: Is...

United States on Nov 28, 2021

Allie Farrell: Orphaned as a young lad, Philip Ashley was taken in by his older cousin, Ambrose, whom he admires above all mortals. Ambrose makes Philip his heir to his country house and huge estate in Cornwall. Ambrose goes abroad for his health, meets an Italian woman named Rachel, marries her, and dies less than a year later. Ambrose's final letters to Philip are full of fear. He believes he is being poisoned, and warns Philip against his new bride.

Then Rachel comes to Cornwall to see Ambrose's ancestral home, and invited by an entranced Philip, stays with him at the estate. Philip soon becomes captivated by Rachel's beauty and personality, and he becomes blind to her faults. Then Philip, too, is beset by fever and unbearable pain. Is he, too, destined to die of poisoning?

I liked the book very much. It was atmospheric in a way that only du Maurier is capable of, and the sense of doom throughout the book kept my heart beating quickly and my breath short. What set this book aside for me from the other du Mauriers i have read, is that I really did not like any of the major players, save for a young woman in the neighbourhood, Louise, who talked sense and was clearheaded. I was...

Canada on Mar 08, 2020

James J. Cudney IV (Jay): Why This Book
After reading Rebecca several years ago, I placed My Cousin Rachel, another of Daphne du Maurier's famed novels, on my To Be Read (TBR) shelf. Earlier this year, a Goodreads buddy, Michael, and I were chatting about various books when we decided to do a buddy read together, selecting this wonderful Gothic edition. We were both interested to see if it lived up to the hype and how it compared to the author's other words. We agreed on early March and got to it this week. I've only started doing buddy reads in the last few months, but they are quite fun... I recommend them.

Approach & Style
I purchased the Kindle Reader version from Amazon to read on my iPad. It contains ~350 pages and took me four days to read. The novel is written in first person point of view and told from the perspective of Philip Ashley, a 24-year-old English man set in a somewhat unknown time, but likely the early/mid twentieth century given some of the details in the background setting. The language is intense and full of amazing imagery and astounding descriptions.

Plot, Characters & Setting
The novel centers around the Ashley family. Philip's parents die when he is...

United States on Apr 13, 2018

Katherine Sunderland: My Cousin Rachel is brilliant - but you knew I was going to say that!

It opens with the description of a man hanging from a gibbet - "betwixt heaven and hell" - on Bodmin.

"I can see it now, moving with the wind like a weather-vane on a rusty pivot, a poor scarecrow of what had been a man. The rain had rotted his breeches, if not his body, and strips of worsted drooped from his swollen, limbs like pulpy paper."

We are used to contemporary thrillers opening with a dead body and we are probably more hardened to the shock of the description of the decaying body but there is something very striking and unnerving about this opening paragraph and Du Maurier instills a sense of uneasiness from the outset.

The story continues with Ambrose, Philip's cousin, telling him that this should be a warning to all to live a "sober life" and to "see what a moment of passion can bring on a fellow." Then, a chilling clue as to what we might expect in this dark and brooding tale he adds: "If we killed women for their tongues, all men would be murderers."

Philip Ashley is an orphan who has been raised by his older cousin Ambrose. Ambrose is single and Philip will...

United Kingdom on May 16, 2017

Officer Dibble: Ambrose Ashley is minor gentry raising his orphaned young cousin Phillip in a male-only manor house set in mid 19th Century Cornwall. Ambrose takes the waters in Italy and falls for the mysterious Rachel ultimately driving Phillip to fierce jealousy and then fury as news filters through of Ambrose's sudden death. The story then takes off as Rachel unexpectedly appears to simply say hello or to take over Phillip's newly inherited empire?

Phillip's antagonism is transformed by the elfin Rachel who is after all, '..middle-aged. Quite thirty-five.' His repeated mantra of loathing of 'my cousin Rachel' transforms to an adored Rachel in which, as a loved-up little puppy, he completely throws away his heart and his throne to the new Queen Bee.

The novel deliberately begs dozens of questions many of which are left up in the air, which is either frustrating, or intriguing, depending on the reader. Rachel is either a manipulative bitch or a tortured soul but above all else she proves to be in control in a supposed man's world. Phillip is reduced to contemplating 'throttling' her as the only way out.

The style is interesting. It is excellent story-telling. Slight...

United Kingdom on Jun 13, 2009